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

Can Anyone Name These Cozies?

October 11, 2016

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!

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New Releases – October 10 to 16, 2016

October 10, 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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Teresa Trent: Pecan Bayou Mystery Series

October 8, 2016

A Dash of Murder (Pecan Bayou Series Book 1) One of the really nice things about anthologies is reading stories/novellas/novels by a smattering of authors. I recently read Happy Homicides 4: Fall Into Crime, in which I was able to enjoy some of my tried-and-true authors’ fall/autumn Cozies as well as finally read a Pecan Bayou Cozy, because the author, Teresa Trent, is now on my favorite authors list!

Right after I read Falling for Murder in that anthology, I read A Dash of Murder, the first in Teresa Trent‘s Pecan Bayou Mystery Series. This is a Halloween Cozy which reminds me quite a bit of Jill Churchill’s Jane Jeffrys series and Kate Borden’s Peggy Jean Turner Mystery Series. They remind me of the other two series in the ease of Trent’s writing style and the holiday setting. (I found out that Trent is an author who sets a lot of her Cozies during the holidays. Yay!) Recently, it has been a “plus” for me when I don’t have to use my Kindle’s dictionary. (I am happy to say that the vocabulary in this Cozy included words I am familiar with. I know this may sound like an odd statement to a lot of you, but I wonder why some authors feel the need to throw in “impressive” words!)

In this Halloween Cozy, Trent includes a lot of Halloween elements. The plot involves Betsy’s Aunt Maggie doing a local TV station’s Halloween ghost-busting show at the old, abandoned Tuberculosis hospital. Creepy Halloween fare!

Betsy has a seven year old son (Zach)) who she is raising on her own. Her husband left the house one day while Betsy was pregnant with Zach, and he simply never returned. Betsy supports Zack and herself by writing the Helpful Hinter, a column for the Pecan Bayou Gazette. She has been collecting household hints her entire life, so this seemed like an ideal (paying!) occupation. Also, Betsy has written a household hints book and she does efficiency-evaluations.

I’ve already mentioned Betsy’s Aunt Maggie. She is a member of the Pecan Bayou Paranormal Society, of which there are three active members. Unfortunately for Betsy, one of the members is a snowbird who only lives in Pecan Bayou between Thanksgiving and Memorial Day, which means that Betsy fills in for her from time to time, even though she’s not a paranormal enthusiast.

Aunt Maggie’s son, Danny, has Down Syndrome, as does Teresa Trent’s son. I love that Danny is an integral character in the series! Brava, Teresa Trent!

You get a sense of a quaint, Cozy town when you read this mystery. The restaurant owner is Zach’s Scout leader, Dr. Mac is the physician everyone sees, Howard is the other member of the Pecan Bayou Paranormal Society (who happens to have his PhD in paranormal psychology, Stanley is the local NUTV station’s director, and Art is the county coroner who plays poker with Betsy’s dad, who is the sheriff.

Of course, a corpse is found – and plenty of people had reasons to not like this person. I was totally surprised to find out whodunit, and am not quite sure if there were clues that I had missed, or not.

As I said earlier, I have added Teresa Trent to my favorite authors list. This Cozy was a short, fun, quick Halloween read – and it even includes recipes and helpful hints!

If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

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Four New Cozy Mystery Holiday Books Coming November 2016

October 4, 2016

November will have five new Cozy Mystery releases with Holiday themes! That’s plenty for one post so I’m just going to dive right into it!

First will be the only non-Christmas themed mystery coming up, JoAnna Carl‘s Easter themed The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha, which will be the 16th in the Chocoholic Mystery Series.) As the manager of a chocolate shop, Lee McKinney certainly expects to be busy during the Easter season. What she doesn’t necessarily expect is that she’ll be busy with murder, as the relative of a new hire turns up dead at a nearby vacant store nearby. Lee will need to work fast to keep her employee out of trouble in the Easter season. JoAnna Carl also writes under the name Eve K. Sandstrom, and under this name she writes the Down Home Mystery Series and the Matthews/Svenson Series.

Next up will be the first of our Christmas-themed Cozies, Kate Carlisle‘s Deck the Hallways, the 4th in the Fixer-Upper Mystery Series. Shannon Hammer is volunteering some of her time to renovate an old home into cheap housing for homeless families, and she’s brought in many of her neighbors and family, including her father. When the miserly banker who had been backing the project gets into an argument with Shannon’s father, it seems like a minor unpleasantness – until the banker turns up dead. Now Shannon will need to solve the mystery to keep her father out of the suspect lineup! Kate Carlisle also writes the Bibliophile Mystery Series, starring rare book expert and restorer Brooklyn Wainright.

The second of our Christmas-themed Cozies will be Vicki Delany‘s We Wish You a Murderous Christmas, the 2nd in the Year Round Christmas Mystery Series. The small town of Rudolph, New York, revolves around Christmas, maintaining it’s spirit the full year – which is why it is such unpleasant news when one the son of the owner of the Yuletide Inn plans to turn the building into another boring franchise hotel. When he turns up dead, it will be up to Merry Wilkinson to determine who has done this most un-jolly of crimes! Vicky Delany also writes the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Series, the Ray Robertson Mystery Series, the Constable Molly Smith Mystery Series, the Klondike Mystery Series, and (as Eva Gates) the Lighthouse Library Mystery Series.

The last of our Christmas-themed Cozies will be Anne Perry‘s A Christmas Message, the 14th in the Christmas Mystery Series. In the newest entry in this long-running Christmas themed mystery series which features cast members from her other regular series, Victor and Vespasia Narraway of the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Mystery Series will be celebrating the Christmas of 1900 in an unusual but interesting way – touring Jerusalem. When a fellow guest at their Jaffa hotel is killed for a scrap of parchment, Victor and Vespasia will risk their lives – and the rest of their holiday season – trying to learn the truth behind the crime and the parchment. Anne Perry also writes the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Mystery Series, the William Monk Series, and the Matthew Reavley Series.

Finally, it isn’t a holiday themed Cozy but it is by a site author – Jennifer Chiaverini will be releasing Christmas Bells, a Stand Alone non-mystery. I’m not going to discuss this one in detail because it isn’t a mystery >>> but fans of Chiaverini’s work might still be interested in picking it up!

If you want to see more Christmas or Easter themed Cozies, be sure to check out the pages devoted to them on my site:

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