The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

New Releases – October 17 to 23, 2016

Here is the list of new release for October 17 to 23!

Rita Mae Brown: Cakewalk (This will be the 5th in the Runnymede Series. This is not a mystery)

Karen MacInerney: Fatal Frost (This will be the 2nd in the Dewberry Farm Mystery Series.)

Sandra Orchard: Another Day, Another Dali (This will be the 2nd in the Serena Jones Mystery Series.)

James Patterson: Kill or Be Killed (This will contain four “BookShot” – Amazon describes these as “Novels you can devour in a few hours” – previously only available as e-books.)

David Rosenfelt: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (This will be the 15th in the Andy Carpenter Mystery Series.)

Maggie Toussaint: Doggone It (This will be the 3rd in the Dreamwalker Mystery Series.)

Sprite, Cola, and Cocoa: More than Fun Drinks…

cocoa(For those of you who only want to read my entries about mysteries, this one’s not for you.)

My husband and I finally forgot about how difficult life becomes when you adopt a puppy. Our last “puppy” (if you can call our 16 and a half year old dog, Sprite, a puppy) passed away five years ago. Yep! It took us all these years since Sprite was really a puppy to forget about the chewing of furniture/walls/shoes, the almost hourly wake-ups during the night, the baby rails locking off the kitchen, and the continual need to sit on the floor playing tug-of-war and squeaky-ball-toss.

And, I’m happy to say that it’s a terrific thing that we forgot! We are absolutely in love with our new little girl. (This is something that my husband and I keep reminding ourselves!)

Her name is Cocoa.  We considered for a long time naming her “Cola” as a sort of tribute to our beloved Bichon, “Sprite” (although Sprite was not named for the soft drink but rather for elf-type sprites because of the way she hip-hopped on the grass when she was a little puppy.) Our new puppy is so dark that we considered Cola to be a good name because of the color and the reference to Sprite. Also, she has almost no tail so “Cola”, (meaning tail in Spanish) seemed like a fun reverse description.

However, we just couldn’t get used to calling her Cola. Somehow when we tried Cocoa, the name just seemed to fit. So, Cocoa it is!

Cocoa, being the runt of the litter, is quite tiny. Sprite was very big for her breed, but Cocoa is very small for her’s. I’m surprised that her tiny size was not the cause for me hurting my foot a few days after we brought her home. She is so small that I am always worried about her scooting under my feet. As I stepped over the dog fence in our kitchen, I caught my foot and went sprawling on the floor. My son was holding Cocoa at the time, so she was not to blame, just my being in a hurry. (We went to the ER and nothing was broken, but I have been limping around for a couple of weeks now.)

Unfortunately for my husband, because of my foot I haven’t been able to share in the night time duties. I’m getting a whole lot better which means that I’ll be doing more than just providing him with step by step “helpful” instructions about how he should be doing things. (I sure hope he isn’t as “helpful” to me when I am taking care of Cocoa during the night.)

Well, I just thought I’d let you all know about our family’s newest addition. I have to go now, Cocoa’s nature is calling!

Can Anyone Name These Cozies?

clipart_questionLately I’ve gotten a number of questions in the comments by people looking for the name of a Cozy novel or series that they read at one point, but can no longer remember the name of the book or of the author. Many of these have easy answers, but a few have stumped both me and the readers who have seen them. Since the front page gets more visitors than anywhere else, I thought I’d try again to get an answer to what series these people are looking for!

From Kathy:

I read a beginning sample of a book and do not know the title or author, I was hoping someone would help me locate and read the entire thing! beginning synopsis: A female character just got home, upon checking her messages-or her secretary had messages – I recall a work situation – a husband of a dog show competitor called to say his wife had passed away, would she go and get the woman’s dogs to find homes for them. He had put them in the garage in crates. I believe they were welsh corgis, she went to get the dogs and all the files, fed them and took them to go to a vet for boarding the next day. thanks all I read – would love to find the book and finish the story – Thanks, (I love your site, it gives me more books to look forward to reading)

EDIT: The general consensus is that this is probably the Melanie Travis Mystery Series by Laurien Berenson. Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

From Pam:

Hopefully, someone who knows the book and author I am looking for will read this and help me with my quest.

(cut part here for a book series I’m pretty sure I answered)

The second book is about a wedding planner in Washington DC who has a male friend, a caterer, I believe, prone to funny comments and histrionics and a female friend who owns a florist! Murder claims the life of a member of the mother of the bride, I believe!

If anyone recognizes these descriptions in the above synopsis’ please let me know! They were really enjoyable reads that I would like to read again!

EDIT: Most people who have written in have suggested that this is probably Laura Durham‘s Anabelle Archer Mystery Series. Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

From knightshift:

Very happy to have stumbled upon this site today. I love books which feature dogs and I was hoping some-one maybe able to identify this book, for a query posted on a different forum that I too would like to read.

The heroine is a dog trainer. She has 3 dogs. She is asked to go on an undercover mission with some kind of government agent. I remember them escaping on a boat and I think the mission was on an island. She took one of the dogs with her, I think it was because “what kind of government operation would have a dog on a boat?”. I know that the bad guy comes after them at the end, after you think everything is going to be cleared up by other government types. And I do believe that the bad guy kills two of her dogs, which really upset me at the time. I think one of the dogs was named Sweet Pea.

There is a part at the end where she is calling her dog (Wiley???) to jump onto the boat. But she is using a hand signal to tell him to stay. So he is going back and forth, kind of dancing around. And then the guys who work for the bad guy are even telling him to “jump”.

Thanks for your help.

For this last one, I suggested Deadly Tides by Susan Holmes, which is NOT the correct answer unfortunately. So that’s definitely not it!

So, if you’ve got a suggestion for any of these readers, please chime in! I’d love to be able to reunite these visitors with their favorite Cozies that they have unfortunately forgotten the name of!

PS EDIT: Naturally I put up these questions then walked away from the computer all day >>> big mistake on my part! Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions!

New Releases – October 10 to 16, 2016

Here is the list of new release for October 10 to 16!

Tasha Alexander: A Terrible Beauty (This will be the 11th in the Lady Emily Mystery Series.)

Margaret Atwood: Hag-Seed (This will a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.)

Jenna Bennett (aka Jennie Bentley & Bente Gallagher): Scared Money (This will be the 13th in the Savannah Martin Mystery Series.)

Catherine Bruns: Burned to a Crisp (This will be the 3rd in the Cookies & Chance Mystery Series.)

 D.W. Buffa: Hillary (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

Kieran Crowley: Shoot (This will be the 2nd in the F.X. Shepherd Mystery Series.)

Barbara Early (aka Beverly Allen): Death of a Toy Soldier (This will be the 1st in the NEW Vintage Toy Shop Mystery Series) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

Nancy Grace: Murder in the Courthouse (This will be the 3rd in the Hailey Dean Mystery Series.)

James Patterson: Filthy Rich (This will be a True Crime Stand Alone.  – John Connolly & Tim Malloy)

Paula Paul (aka Paula Carter): A Killer Closet (This will be the 1st in the NEW Irene Seligman Mystery Series.)

Alexander McCall Smith: Precious and Grace (This will be the 17th in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.)

Wendy Corsi Staub: Something Buried, Something Blue (This will be the 2nd in the Lily Dale Mystery Series.)

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