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Cozy Mystery News – May 2016

May 9, 2016

Here’s some good news for Cozy Mystery readers… especially for those of us who follow these very popular authors!

First up is the news about Miranda James (aka Jimmie Ruth Evans, Honor Hartman, & Dean James). Miranda James’ Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series had just been given the green light for a new book in the series. The 7th (No Cats Allowed) was released in February of this year, so it’s good to know there will be another one coming out!

Next up is the New York Time’s bestselling Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence). Jenn McKinlay just received a lot of good news >>> as did we! Her Library Lover’s Mystery Series is going to be releasing Better Late Than Never, which will be the 7th book in the series. OK, so this isn’t brand new news, since we’ve known about it for a little while. However, Caramel Crush will be published, making it the 9th book in her Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series. (Again, I’ll let you know when!)

Dorothy St. James is the author of the White House Gardener Mystery Series, and will soon be writing the Chocolate Shop Mystery Series. This series will revolve around the owner of “The Chocolate Box” shop. Yum! This is the type of shop most of us would enjoy shopping in >>> it’s a gourmet chocolate shop! (I’m not sure whether we should have any chocolate in the house when we read these Cozies, or not!)

And to wrap this Cozy Mystery news tidbits up, Maggie Toussaint‘s Dreamwalker Mystery Series is alive and well! Doggone It is slated to be released in October of this year, and it looks like telepathic pet sitter Baxley Powell will be solving at least two more Dreamwalker mysteries after this!

Well, that’s it for the Cozy Mystery news. The good news is that it’s all good news!

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Kate Carlisle: Bibliophile Mystery Series

May 7, 2016

Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery As some of you might know, I’ve been going through some of the most highly recommended Cozy Mystery series that have been frequently mentioned by visitors to the site. Today I’ll be discussing the first book in Kate Carlisle‘s Bibliophile Mystery Series, Homicide in Hardcover.

Generally speaking, like most Cozy readers, I really enjoy reading themed mysteries about topics that I enjoy in real life >>> themes I can relate to. (Some of the everyday things I enjoy are holidays, dogs and cats, needlework, ETC.) I also enjoy reading Cozies that involve professions I think of as “fun” >>> librarians would be a good example of this because the theme involves books, which I happen to love. The Bibliophile Series stars Brooklyn Wainwright, a professional book restorer >>> definitely a theme that interests me and that I don’t know anything about!

In this first book in the series, the sleuth, Brooklyn, investigates the murder of her mentor. While Homicide in Hardcover doesn’t go into huge amounts of technical detail on the restoration of a valuable copy of Goethe’s Faust, it does interject a very different tone that helps get a feeling for the character overall. In this case, because her work is very detail oriented and meticulous in nature, it helps define her character as being perhaps a bit more “logical” than some other Cozy Mystery protagonists, like an artist or a baker, who might be considered possessing of a more “creative” mindset.

I don’t want to give away too much of this series, so I’ll keep this brief: Brooklyn’s family and friends are some of the terrific aspects of the Bibliophile series. The dialogue between the characters is fun, so the “regulars” are sorely missed when Brooklyn leaves town to attend to her bookbinding professional commitments. Kate Carlisle is a good story-teller who provides enough red herrings and twists to keep the reader invested in the crimes Brooklyn solves.

Another particular highlight of the Homicide in Hardcover is its setting, San Francisco. San Francisco has a very definite atmosphere, particularly expressed through Brooklyn’s parents, who are a pair of aging hippies who still live out on a commune outside the city proper. Enough detail goes into the setting that it is no surprise that the author, Kate Carlisle, is herself a native Californian. It’s clear that she has a strong grasp of both the area and the sort of eccentric, cosmopolitan personalities that can be found there.

If you’re interested in seeing some of the other entries I’ve written on the other Cozy Mystery series I’ve written up before, they can be found at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

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Five New Cozy Mystery Series Coming June 2016

May 5, 2016

Wow! June sure looks like it’s going to be an interesting month for new Cozy Mystery series! We’ll be getting five new series all told, so let’s jump right in and take a look at what we can look forward to for summer reading!

First, Laura Bradford will be beginning the Emergency Dessert Squad Mystery Series with Éclair and Present Danger. In this book we’ll be introduced to Winnie Johnson, a bakery owner. Inspired by locating a dead client on a delivery (and naturally deciding to hunt down his killer), she also decides to deliver desserts by ambulance in an attempt to revive her failing business. (Hmmm… There’s nothing like getting your desserts from an ambulance! Well, I guess if it’s an emergency dessert drop-off, that would be OK…) Laura Bradford writes several other series – the Amish Mystery Series, starring the owner of an Amish specialty shop, the Jenkins & Burns Mystery Series, starring a reporter and detective duo in New Jersey, and (as Elizabeth Lynn Casey) the Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series, starring librarian Tori Sinclair, a member of a sewing circle in South Carolina.

Next up will be Written Off, the first novel in E.J. Copperman‘s new Mysterious Detective Mystery Series. This series will star Rachel Goldman, a mystery writer who begins getting calls from a potential serial killer who claims to have the same name as the sleuth in Rachel’s own mystery series. E.J. Copperman also writes the very popular Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Series, starring Alison Kerby, a divorced single mom, as well as a pair of ghosts, the Asperger’s Mystery Series, starring a Samuel Hoenig, a borderline genius with Asperger’s syndrome, (and as Jeffrey Cohen) the Aaron Tucker Mystery Series, starring a journalist and screenwriter in New Jersey, and the Double Feature Mystery Series, starring Elliot Freed, owner of a comedy movie theater.

 Fixin’ To Die will also be coming out in June, the first entry in Tonya Kappes‘s new Kenni Lowry Mystery Series. This series stars Kenni Lowry, newly elected sheriff of Cottonwood, Kentucky, who is proud of her town’s low crime rate until she learns that the ghost of her predecessor and grandfather has been scaring off potential criminals. However, Kenni will be needed when the town doctor is found murdered on the same day as a jewelry store robbery, and the two seem connected. Tonya Kappes writes a number of other series, including the Magical Cures Mystery Series, Ghostly Southern Mystery Series, Spies and Spells Mystery Series, and Olivia Davis Paranormal Mystery Series, all also paranormal mystery series, as well as the Divorced Diva Mystery Series and the Laurel London Mystery Series, as well as the Blossom Bay Story Series – only some of which are mysteries.

 Gayle Leeson will be releasing The Calamity Café, the first in her Down South Café Mystery Series. In this book, Amy Flowers buys out her old boss to run the cafe her own way, knowing that her cooking will keep the regulars happy. But when her former boss finally agrees, Amy finds her dead >>> and naturally she becomes one of the prime suspects in the case! This might be the first series released under the name Gayle Leeson, but the same author writes (as Gayle Trent) the Daphne Martin Cake Mystery Series, starring a Virginia cake decorator, the Myrtle Crumb Mystery Series, starring a Virginia senior citizen, and (as Amanda Lee) the Embroidery Mystery Series, starring Marcy Singer, the owner of an embroidery shop in Oregon.

The final new series of the month will be the Zodiac Mystery Series by Connie di Marco, beginning with The Madness of Mercury. San Francisco astrologer Julia Bonatti has been forced out of her apartment by a competitor, and needs to take shelter with a client. But between a pair of the client’s disagreeable aunts and the arrival of a mysterious long-lost relative of the client, Julia can’t help but feel that her shelter might not be as safe as it seemed at first! Connie di Marco also writes the Soup Lover’s Mystery Series, starring Lucky Jamieson, the inheritor of a soup shop in Snowflake, Vermont, under the name Connie Archer.

If you’re looking forward to these new series, many more can be found on the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page, as well as the Soon to Be Released Mysteries page on my Cozy Mystery site.

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2015 Agatha Awards (Presented in 2016) & 2016 Edgar Awards

May 3, 2016

Before I go one word further, I want to extend my congratulations to ALL the nominees and winners of both of the Agatha Awards and the Edgar Awards!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

Wow! Last week was a great week for mystery readers everywhere. Both the Malice Domestic and the Mystery Writers of America held their annual conventions! I’m most interested in the Malice Domestic convention, simply because these are the mystery awards that are closest to what we know as Cozy Mysteries. As I have mentioned many times before, there is a reason the Agatha Awards have that name. They are the mystery books that are the closest to what Agatha Christie wrote for us. No graphic violence, sex, language >>> pretty much >>> Cozies! However, both awards are very important to us as mystery lovers.

AGATHA AWARDS MALICE DOMESTIC AWARDS
2016: Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Katherine Hall Page *** How neat is this!

AGATHA AWARDS BEST NOVEL
2015: Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron (Winner)
Bridges Burned by Annette Dashofy
The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson
The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny
What You See by Hank Phillipi Ryan

AGATHA AWARDS BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL
2015: Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King (Winner)
Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen
The Masque of a Murderer by Susanna Calkins
Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal
Murder on Amsterdam Avenue by Victoria Thompson

AGATHA AWARDS BEST FIRST NOVELS
2015: On the Road with Del and Louise by Art Taylor (Winner)
Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman by Tessa Arlen
Macdeath by Cindy Brown
Plantation Shudders by Ellen Byron
Just Killing Time by Julianne Holmes

AGATHA AWARDS BEST SHORT STORY
2015: A Year Without Santa Claus by Barb Goffman (Winner)
A Questionable Death by Edith Maxwell
A Killing at the Beausoleil by Terrie Farley Moran
Suffer the Poor by Harriette Sackler
A Joy Forever by B.K. Stevens

AGATHA AWARDS BEST CHILDREN/YOUNG ADULT
2015: Andi Unstoppable by Amanda Flower (Winner)
Pieces and Players by Blue Balliett
Need by Joelle Charbonneau
Woof by Spencer Quinn
Fighting Chance: A Martial Arts Mystery by B.K. Stevens

AGATHA AWARDS BEST NON-FICTION
The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story by Martin Edwards (Winner)
The Great Detective: The Amazing Rise and Immortal Life of Sherlock Holmes by Zack Dundas
A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup
Unsolved Murders and Disappearances in Northeast Ohio by Jane Ann Turzillo
The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For by Kate White, editor

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD GRAND MASTER
2016: Walter Mosley

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARDS BEST NOVEL
2016: Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy (Winner)

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST FIRST NOVEL
2016: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Winner)

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
2016: The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney (Winner)

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST SHORT STORY
2016: Obits by Stephen King (Winner) found in The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST FACT CRIME
2016: Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully by Allen Kurzweil (Winner)

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL WORK
2016: The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards (Winner)

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST JUVENILE
2016: Footer Davis Probably is Crazy by Susan Vaught (Winner)

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST YOUNG ADULT
2016: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis (Winner)

MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
2016: Little Pretty Things by Lori Rader-Day (Winner)
A Woman Unknown by Frances Brody
The Masque of a Murderer by Susanna Calkins
Night Night, Sleep Tight by Hallie Ephron
The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson

EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD BEST EPISODE OF A TV SERIES
2016: Gently with the Women by Peter Flannery, George Gently (Winner)

Again, CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

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