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Cozy Mystery Series – Paranormal, Possibly Culinary, Not Georgia!

broomstickUpdate: Please see my “P.S.” at the bottom of this post.

I received an email from Adele quite a while back that asked for help in identifying a Cozy Mystery Series.

Adele:

… trying to find a book that I read a few years back… The book is now long gone, but I would like to read more of this author. And silly me, of course I forgot to write down the author’s name.

I think it was a cooking cozy mystery. I’m pretty sure it took place somewhere in Boston – New England in general, definitely not Georgia. There is magic involved as one of the characters kept trying to make the shop broomstick fly and eventually did and it chased the culprit down the street. The broomstick always comes back to the owner. The owner of the shop is the protagonist. I don’t remember if it was a pie shop, muffin shop or bakery shop.

Thanks for any clue or hint you can give me.

I wonder if any of you know who Adele might be thinking of. Her description sounds vaguely familiar to me, but the Cozy Mystery series that keeps coming to my mind is Bailey Cates’ Magical Bakery Mystery Series, and since it takes place in Georgia, it’s definitely not the one Adele is looking for.

If you think you may know who Adele is looking for, please post a comment. Thanks!

P.S. I can’t believe this! Ceelee Sunshine just pointed out that I actually did a question entry about this very same topic quite a while back! It turns out that the series is the Lizzy & Diesel Mystery Series by Janet Evanovich. (When I said “quite a while back” >>> I guess I really meant it! The earlier post is from 2013!)

Eight New Holiday Cozy Mysteries Coming in December 2015

As is usual for this time of the year, we can look forward to a good number of holiday-themed Cozies! Unsurprisingly (for December), most of these will be Christmas-themed holiday Cozies. But, this December we will also see an Oktoberfest Cozy and a Fourth of July Cozy. Hmmm… If you’re anything like me, you’ll be trying to make yourself wait to read those two non-Christmas Cozies until their appropriate seasons. However, lately it’s been getting harder and harder for me to hold off from reading them as they are released during the wrong holiday season!

First up is Amanda Carmack‘s Murder at Whitehall, the 4th in the Elizabethan Mystery Series. In this entry, Tudor-era Kate Haywood, personal musician to the queen, will not only need to use her professional skills to help entertain a number of visiting notable nobility in her official capacity, but also act unofficially to discover the identity of a blackmailer and also solve the murder of a visiting Spanish lord.

The next holiday Cozy up is Ornaments of Death, the 10th in Jane K. Cleland‘s Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery Series. This Christmas, Jane will be enjoying her holiday time in the coastal town of Rocky Point, New Hampshire, by hosting her annual holiday party. When a recently discovered relative (Ian) joins the party, she will need to solve the disappearance of not only Ian but also several priceless 17th century watercolor miniature portraits he had intended to give his daughter >>> and Josie’s good friend, Lavinia, is the most obvious culprit!

Next up will be The Iced Princess, the 2nd in Christine Husom‘s Snow Globe Shop Mystery Series. This book will continue the mystery solving adventures of Camryn Brooks, gift shop manager and snow globe workshop teacher. When a former high-school classmate asks for a job at least through the Christmas season, Camryn agrees to help her out despite the socialite not being exactly what she was hoping for in seasonal help. When Molly turns up dead in the shop, poisoned by a cup of coffee, Camryn feels responsible enough to help discover the culprit. Husom also writes the Winnebago County Mystery Series, a thriller series starring a deputy sheriff in Minnesota.

Another Christmas-themed Cozy coming out will be Sue Ann Jaffarian‘s The Ghost of Mistletoe Mary, a novella in the Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Series. In this story, ghost Granny Apples and her descendant, medium Emma, will be asked by psychic private eye Jeremiah Jones to help look for a missing lady of the night – who a homeless man claims saw as a ghost recently. Is the woman dead, or merely missing? And can the trio find her before the end of the holiday season?

Joyce and Jim Lavene will be putting out Murder Fir Christmas, the 1st in the NEW Christmas Tree Valley Mystery Series. Since it is the first book in a new series, I’ve already discussed it in the New Cozy Series post (Two New Cozy Mystery Series Coming December 2015) for December. When Federal Wildlife Agent Bonnie Tuttle goes home to Christmas Tree Valley, Tennessee, to take over from agent Harvey Shelton, she’ll need to solve his mysterious death by shooting – especially surprising considering his body was also found in a fire. The Lavenes write many other series, including the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series, the Missing Pieces Mystery Series, and the Renaissance Faire Mystery Series, as well as other series under the pseudonyms Ellie Grant and J. J. Cook.

One of two non-Christmas themed mysteries coming out this December is Maddy Hunter‘s From Bad to Wurst, the 10th in the Passport to Peril Mystery Series,  which is an Oktoberfest themed mystery. This Oktoberfest, tour leader Emily will need to help get the group’s travels back on track when a fellow guest at a famous German beer house turns up dead. But the tour must go on, and the situation continues to worsen when the group moves on to visit the scenic castle of Mad King Ludwig.

Finally we have the other non-Christmas mystery, Lea Wait‘s Thread and Gone, a Fourth of July themed Cozy which will be the 3rd in the Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series. This summer, Angie is asked to look over an antique piece of needlepoint and learn what she can to determine its value and history. As it appears to be quite valuable, she asks her family lawyer to put it in his safe. When the lawyer turns up dead and the safe empty, she feels responsible, and is determined to both hunt down the killer and ensure that the valuable piece of needlework is returned to its rightful owner.

These and other holiday-themed Cozy Mysteries can be found on their appropriate holiday theme pages:

Christmas Mystery Books

Halloween and Fall Themed Mystery Books

Fourth of July Mystery Books

Two New Cozy Mystery Series Coming December 2015

It looks like we’ll have two NEW Cozy Mystery Series to look forward to in December.

The first is by Alyssa Maxwell, the Lady and Lady’s Maid Mystery Series, beginning with Murder Most Malicious. This series stars Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her maid, Eva Huntford. Set in post World War I England, the pair will need to discover the the killer of the Marquis of Allerton, who dies while a guest in the Renshaw home. Alyssa Maxwell also writes the Gilded Newport Mystery Series, starring a reporter at the end of the 19th century in Newport, Rhode Island.

 

The other is the Christmas Tree Valley Mystery Series by Joyce and Jim Lavene, beginning with Murder Fir Christmas. This novel will introduce us to Federal Wildlife Agent Bonnie Tuttle, who will be returning to her hometown of Christmas Tree Valley, Tennessee, to replace another wildlife agent. Unfortunately the agent dies in a mysterious fire. But when it’s discovered that the agent wasn’t killed by the fire but shot, Bonnie will need to discover the culprit to avoid a similar fate! The Lavenes are also the authors of the Missing Pieces Mystery Series, the Renaissance Faire Mystery Series, the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series, and many more, both under their own names and under the pen names of J. J. Cook and Ellie Grant.

If you’d like to see if one of your favorite Cozy Mystery authors is going to be starting a new Cozy Mystery series, these two series and more can be seen on the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page.

December 2015 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in December 2015:

Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): On Thin Icing (This will be the 3rd in the Bakeshop Mystery Series.)

Jo Bannister: Desperate Measures (This will be the 3rd in the Gabriel Ash & Hazel Best Mystery Series.)

Jessica Beck (aka Elizabeth Bright, Melissa Glazer, Chris Cavender, Casey Mayes, Tim Myers, & D.B. Morgan): Vanilla Vices (This will be the 22nd in the Donut Shop Mystery Series.)

Jenna Bennett (aka Jennie Bentley & Bente Gallagher): Adverse Possession (This will be the 11th in the Savannah Martin Mystery Series.)

Juliet Blackwell (aka Hailey Lind): Give Up the Ghost (This will be the 5th in the Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series.)

Leslie Budewitz (Leslie Ann Budewitz): Guilty as Cinnamon (This will be the 2nd in the Spice Shop Mystery Series.)

James Lee Burke: House of the Rising Sun (This will be the 4th in the Hack Holland Mystery Series.)

Nancy Bush: You Don’t Know Me (This will be a Stand-Alone novel.) (This was originally titled “Tangled” when it was published in the 1990s, as author Nancy Kelly.)

Anne Canadeo (aka Katherine Spencer): A Murder in Mohair (This will be the 8th in the Black Sheep Knitting Mystery Series.)

Amanda Carmack: Murder at Whitehall (This will be the 4th in the Elizabethan Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

Laurie Cass (aka Laurie Alden): Pouncing on Murder (This will be the 4th in the Bookmobile Cat Mystery Series.)

Jane K. Cleland: Ornaments of Death (This will be the 10th in the Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

Peg Cochran (aka Meg London): A Room with a Pew (This will be the 4th in the Lucille Mystery Series.)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Watch for the Dead (This will be the 4th in the Relatively Dead Mystery Series.)

J.J. Cook (aka Joyce and Jim Lavene & Ellie Grant): Fat Tuesday Fricassee (This will be the 3rd in the Biscuit Bowl Food Truck Mystery Series.)

E.J. Copperman (aka Jeffrey Cohen): Ghost in the Wind (This will be the 7th in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Series.)

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Dead to the Last Drop (This will be the 15th in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series.) (Actually, December 1.)

Kathi Daley: Santa Sleuth (This will be the 17th in the Zoe Donovan Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

Laura DiSilverio (aka Ella Barrick & Lila Dare): The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle (This will be the 2nd in the Readaholics Book Club Mystery Series.)

Leighann Dobbs: Spell Found (This will be the 7th in the Blackmoore Sisters Romantic Cozy Mystery Series.)

Alice Duncan: Unsettled Spirits (This will be the 9th in the Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery Series.)

Kathy Lynn Emerson (aka Kaitlyn Dunnett): Murder in the Merchant’s Hall (This will be the 2nd in the Mistress Jaffrey Mystery Series.)

Christopher Fowler: Bryant & May and the Burning Man (This will be the 12th in the Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery Series.)

Ashley Gardner: A Soupcon of Poison (This will be the 1st in the Kat Holloway Victorian Mystery Series. It is novella length, and has appeared in the Murder Most Historical anthology.)

Maddy Hunter: From Bad to Wurst (This will be the 10th in the Passport to Peril Mystery Series.) (This is an Oktoberfest themed mystery.)

Christine Husom: The Iced Princess (This will be the 2nd in the Snow Globe Shop Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

Sue Ann Jaffarian: The Ghost of Mistletoe Mary (This will be a Ghost of Granny Apples novella.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

Madison Johns: Meows, Magic & Missing (This will be the 3rd in the Lake Forest Witches Mystery Series.)

Tonya Kappes: A Charming Ghost (This will be the 8th in the Magical Cures Mystery Series.)

Brian Kavanagh: Murder on the Island (This will be the 6th in the Belinda Lawrence Murder Mystery.)

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Murder Fir Christmas (This will be the 1st in the NEW Christmas Tree Valley Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

M. Louisa Locke: Violet Vanquishes a Villain (This will be a Victorian San Francisco mystery novella.)

Alyssa Maxwell: Murder Most Malicious (This will be the 1st in the NEW Lady and Lady’s Maid Mystery Series.)

Julie Moffett: No Room for Error (This will be the 7th in the Lexi Carmichael Mystery Series.)

Liz Mugavero (aka Cate Conte): Murder Most Finicky (This will be the in the 4th Pawsitively Organic Mystery Series.)

Gail Oust: Cinnamon Toasted (This will be the 3rd in the Piper Prescott Mystery Series.)

Larissa Reinhart: The Body in the Landscape (This will be the 5th in the Cherry Tucker Mystery Series.)

Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine): Dark Corners (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

David Rosenfelt: Blackout (This may be a Stand Alone mystery.)

Laurence Shames: Key West Luck (This will be the 10th in the Key West Mystery Series.)

Gayle Trent (aka Amanda Lee & Gayle Leeson): The Party Line (This will be a prequel short story to the Myrtle Crumb Mystery Series.)

Lea Wait: Thread and Gone (This will be the 3rd in the Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series.) (This is a Fourth of July themed mystery.)

In case you would like to see this month’s releases: November 2015 Mystery Book New Releases.

I have lots and lots of  Cozies that are scheduled to be released so please click on this link to go to the Soon to be Released Mysteries page on the site.

(These are the mysteries by authors who are currently on the Cozy Mystery site.)

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