The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Television Mystery Series… What to Start With?… (Part 3)

Back in May I wrote part 2 of this series where I am giving some advice concerning where to begin when looking for Cozy Mystery tv and movies. As I said then, I started out with a pretty long list with just looking for the best television and movies to begin with, so I have ended up with this being a three part series.

As before, the  TV and Movies page on my site is the place where I have listed all the tv and movies that are related to Cozy Mysteries (and some not related) that I have enjoyed. However, as you can see on that page, the list is a bit long and not really organized except by alphabet, so I am trying to whittle it down to those I particularly enjoyed and that are really great examples of the Cozy genre.

This time, the first show I want to talk about is Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple with Joan Hickson. Wow, what a great portrayal of an absolutely classic Cozy character! I wrote about Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple way back in 2008 when this site was still pretty new.

I know a lot of us began reading mysteries with Agatha Christie. She was one of my earliest reads (only coming after a few other youthful favorites such as the Bobbsey Twins). Miss Marple is my favorite Agatha Christie character – I think her clever solving of crimes by using the way she can compare people to various characters she has known in St Mary Mead is sensational. Her unassuming personality combined with her super sharp wit, makes her a great adversary for criminals!

I know there have been other great actresses who have portrayed Miss Marple >>> and I have seen them all >>> but Joan Hickson just does it best for me. The series with her is a bit old and is lacking today’s production standards (no HD here) but I love the shows anyway. This is one of the few Cozy series that I have re-watched more than twice.

The next series that I am recommending if you haven’t seen them is the Inspector Alleyn Mysteries. This is another series that I wrote about way-back-when. This series stars the delightful Patrick Malahide. Although it may be a bit hard to acquire some of the episodes of this series, it is very much worth seeking them out. Ngaio Marsh, one of the classic authors in the golden age of mysteries who is known as one of the Golden Age’s Queens of Crime, created a classic character with police Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The tv series is a bit old as well, but I think it holds up pretty well. This is a good example of British detective series with a very sharp upper-crust main sleuth.

The last series that I am going to mention this time as a good series to see if you haven’t already is The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency . Based on Alexander McCall Smith’s book series with the same title, I found this tv series to be a delightful adaptation of the wonderful stories set in Botswana featuring the sage Mma Ramotswe (Precious) and her slightly kooky sidekick Mma Makutsi (Grace). I wrote an entry about this series back in 2011. Just as with the books, these stories have a very light mystery plot, but are instead focused on the characters of the sleuths and their interactions with many other interesting  people. Again, these shows are worth looking for.

If you’ve got any other suggestions for great Cozy Mystery TV or movie series to start with, please be sure to leave them in the comments below!

Cozy Mystery Series With Multiple Themes

When I was writing my entry about Katherine Hall Page’s Faith Fairchild Mystery Series (click here for that entry), I started thinking about Cozy Mystery themes and the way authors sometimes weave more than one theme into many series. As most of you know, I have a number of Cozy Mystery theme lists on my site (click here for the table of contents for those themes).  When I add a new series or book to the site’s lists, I try to update the themes pages >>> I have to admit that a few times times I haven’t been so good about doing that >>> but I try. Anyway, this is not a new series, so I did not have to think about updating the theme pages >>> but what I did start thinking was that even back in the early days of the modern Cozy Mystery books (circa 1990), authors, such as Katherine Hall Page, were already creating series with multiple themes.

Several of the themes that I was thinking about about when re-looking at A Body in the Belfry were the Culinary – Cooking theme (there are so many cooking theme mysteries that this is actually a link to our “where to start with culinary mysteries” discussion), the Religious theme and the Rich Sleuths theme >>> not to mention our Cozy Mysteries by state lists with this series mostly fitting in the Massachusetts list.

For the Religious theme, Faith is a daughter of a minister and the new wife of a minister. Goings on in and around the church are a big part of the Body in the Belfry, and not much happens in the story where the church and the congregation are not discussed.

Also, for the Rich Sleuths theme, although Faith has a “modest but adequate” (as she calls it) trust fund, she is not normally spending  extraordinary amounts of money in these books. Her husband Tom, much like Darren in Bewitched not wanting Samantha to use her special powers, doesn’t want Faith to spend her trust money. (What’s with these husbands?!?) The only concessions he has given Faith are for her wardrobe and her kitchen >>> which are both lavish. Nevertheless, Faith is lucky to have the money when she needs it (or just really wants it).

And finally, the Culinary Theme is pretty restrained, at least in the first book in the series. Yes, I know that the series does veer much more towards culinary issues later when Faith gets her “Have Faith” catering service going again, and Katherine Hall Page is one of the authors on the Mystery Authors with Cookbooks list with her Have Faith in Your Kitchen cookbook of Faith Fairchild’s favorite recipes.

So, I found it interesting to think about how many themes Katherine Hall Page managed to squeeze into the first book in this very popular series even way back at the dawn of what I think of as the modern Cozy. I imagine it would probably be a very long list if we were to discuss every Cozy series that has multiple themes, so I won’t be trying to make a complete list.

But, I thought I might throw it open for discussion as to what your favorite Cozy series are that have multiple themes. Please leave a comment with your favorite Cozy series with multiple themes – please tell us the author, series and what themes you think the series fits in. Thank you!

Katherine Hall Page: Faith Fairchild Mystery Series

Katherine Hall Page is one of the earliest of what I consider to be the new classic, contemporary Cozy Mystery authors. The first book in her Faith Fairchild mystery series, The Body in the Belfry, was first published way back in 1990 (for me at least, it is hard to believe how long ago that was now.) The Faith Fairchild series is the next in my list of the most popular and recommended series that I am highlighting.

In this first book, we meet Faith Fairchild, a mid 20s-something new mother of a four month old boy (Benjamin). Faith grew up in Manhattan. Her father is a minister and her mother is a lawyer. She moved when she married Tom Fairchild (also a minister) to Aleford, Massachusetts, a small town which is about as far from the hustle and bustle of her native New York as is possible – while only being a few hundred miles away. In New York, Faith had operated a catering business, “Have Faith”, but since her move to Aleford and her new baby, she has not yet re-started her business (although she plans to do so soon.)

The book opens with Faith, carrying Benjamin in a snuggie, climbing the highest hill in the town to the belfry seeking a peaceful place to eat her bagged lunch. There Faith discovers the murdered body of Cindy Sheppard slumped over on a bench. Faith does the logical thing and rings the town’s bell (an act which in itself upsets some of the town’s old-timers). The town’s police force responds, and the whodunit begins.

It turns out that Cindy was one of the least-liked, or some might say most-hated, young women in the town. Cindy had a very mean streak and most of the women and many of the men in Aleford had one reason or another to want Cindy out of the way. Just what I like: plenty of suspects!

Since Faith has yet to re-start her catering business and finds life a little slow in Aleford, Faith (naturally!) gets involved in trying to solve the mystery. Let’s face it >>> she found the body so she is already in the middle of the investigation (at least she thinks so.)

The Body in the Belfry is a very satisfying Cozy Mystery read. Being an “early” modern Cozy, it has several themes (for example, minister’s wife and culinary), but it does not dwell on them to the point of having the themes dominate the sleuthing. Aleford provides a nice small community with a number of eccentric (but not “zany”) characters. The people are richly drawn, providing a very interesting Cozy background for the mystery.  And, Faith travels back to New York and to her aunt’s house in New Jersey for a few days which provides a nice, temporary change of scene.

Faith has a “small but adequate” trust fund from her grandfather. Although her new husband, Tom, normally does not want her to spend the money, Faith has re-done her kitchen to bring it up to her high standards and to get it ready for her to start her “Have Faith” catering company again.

The Body in the Belfry is a great start to the Faith Fairchild series. The series, which began in 1990, is still going strong with the 2016 release of The Body in the Wardrobe, the 23rd book in the series. I know I’m not alone in saying: Here’s hoping Katherine Hall Page keeps this series going for another 23 books!

If you’re interested in seeing more highlights of some of the most recommended or popular Cozy Mystery authors/series, visit the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Four New-to-the-Site Cozy Authors: Gretchen Archer: Davis Way Crime Caper, Catherine Bruns: Cookies & Chance, Mary Feliz: Maggie McDonald, Nancy Herriman: Mystery of Old San Franscisco

I’m adding new authors to the site —-> four authors this time. As always, these are authors I’ve heard of from visitors to the site, either through comments or by email. I haven’t had a chance to read any of their books yet, but I think they look interesting!

Gretchen Archer lives in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee with her son, husband, and Yorkie. (Her daughters have flown the coop.) She is the bestselling author of the Davis Way Crime Caper Mystery Series, starring a security expert in the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

 

 

Catherine Bruns is an Upstate New York native, with a bachelor’s degree in English and Performing Arts. She’s worked as a newspaper reporter and press release author. She is the author of the USA Today bestselling Cookies & Chance Mystery Series, starring a baker in Colwestern, New York, and the Cindy York Mystery Series, starring a real estate agent. She’s a busy author who lives with her husband, three sons, and both cats and dogs.

Mary Feliz lives in Silicon Valley in California, but has lived in many other places – including five states and two different countries. She is a graduate of Smith College with a degree in Sociology, and has worked in corporate communications. She’s the author of the Maggie McDonald Mystery Series, starring a mother, wife, and professional organizer. Mary actually joined the National Association of Professional Organizers so that she could immerse herself in her character’s profession!

 Nancy Herriman was once an engineer, but ended that career to raise her children and take up writing. She now lives in Ohio (after twenty years of living in Arizona) with her husband and sons. She writes the Mystery of Old San Francisco Mystery Series, which stars Celia Davies. Although Celia was born in Great Britain, she lives in San Francisco during the 1860s. She is a nurse who has founded a free medical clinic for the poor to be able to receive medical attention.

I hope you enjoy all these great looking Cozy Mystery authors!

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