Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV
I know we’ve talked a number of times about how important the books’ covers are. See this post for just one example. But I thought it would be interesting to talk about titles vs. covers.
Which attracts you the most: the book’s title or the book’s cover? Do you find yourself picking up a book just because the title is clever or is it the artwork that grabs you?
Please post a comment and let us all know which one you think is more important, and if you can, why.
Thanks!
As before, if you’re looking for other great looking wedding-themed Cozy Mystery releases, you’ll find plenty if you check at the wedding theme page on my site! Wedding Themed Cozies
Normally I only highlight upcoming new series and and holiday-themed Cozy Mystery releases, but this month I’ve also decided to discuss two additional upcoming Cozy Mystery releases scheduled for September… because both are wedding themed! And I know that a lot of site visitors love their wedding themed Cozies!
If you’re interested in seeing other great looking wedding-themed Cozy Mystery releases, be sure to check out the wedding theme page on my site! Wedding Themed Cozies
So this month, the first book I’ll be highlighting is one that I actually haven’t read before, but now I can see why this series is so doggone popular! As you probably already could tell by the title of the blog post, I’m talking about the first entry in E.J. Copperman‘s very successful Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Series, Night of the Living Deed.
As you can likely tell from the title of the series, this is a “paranormal” Cozy Mystery Series, specifically a ghost paranormal. Some of you may know that I have somewhat mixed feelings about paranormal themed Cozies. At their worst, they can feel like “cheats” – if the sleuth just psychically “knows” who the killer is, why is solving the crime impressive? And how exactly do you expect to convict a criminal on the expert testimony of “my magic cat told me he did it”? (Yikes! I actually enjoy reading several paranormal Cozies that feature magical cats!)
Fortunately, these sort of shortcuts aren’t present in this particular Cozy. The ghosts in this entry are bound to follow rules – in this case, the most important is that they aren’t able to leave the location in which they died. So in the years since their unfortunate demise (by poison, so they never saw the killer directly), they’ve been frustrated and unable to follow the clues that might lead to the reason they were killed.
Well, you might ask: In that case, what use is it to even have a ghost? Fortunately one of the deceased individuals who is haunting is a private detective, so while he isn’t able to directly influence the world outside the house or personally gather evidence, he’s able to help guide the star of the Cozy, Alison Kerby (divorced single mom and guest house owner).
As a result, there’s a good mixture of why the crime needs to be solved (these ghosts just won’t leave Alison alone otherwise!) and expertise that many beginning Cozy sleuths might lack (fortunately one of them actually knows a bit about investigating crime). Of course, stakes are raised significantly when Alison begins getting threatening messages, and the local police don’t necessarily seem too invested in quickly solving the crime – but isn’t that always the case in the surprisingly dangerous world of small town Cozy settings?
All told, I found E.J. Copperman’s Night of the Living Deed a very enjoyable read. I hope that people keep recommending it for years to come >>> by then I may be all caught up with this very good series!
If you’re interested in seeing more highlights of some of the other most popular and/or recommended Cozy Mystery authors/series, visit the Most Popular & Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.
P.S. E.J. Copperman also writes the Asperger’s Mystery Series and the Mysterious Detective Mystery Series. As Jeffrey Cohen he writes both the Double Feature Mystery Series and the Aaron Tucker Mystery Series.
