The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Four (Five?) New-to-the-Site Cozy Mystery Authors: Ellen Byron: Cajun Country, Susannah Hardy: Greek to Me, Sadie Hartwell: Tangled Web, A.L. Herbert: Mahalia Watkins Soul Food, & Carlene O’Neil: Cypress Cove

I just added four new Cozy Mystery authors, or should I say five? As you will see when you read this entry, one of the Cozy Mystery authors writes under two names. (Would that be four people, five authors?!?) These are all authors who Cozy Mystery readers have recommended as belonging on the Cozy Mystery site. Thank you!

 Ellen Byron   Though a relative newcomer to writing Cozy Mysteries, Ellen Byron is a long-time television writer finally trying her hand at longer fiction. With writing credits on shows like Wings, Just Shoot Me!, and Still Standing, she brings veteran talent to her Cozy Mystery series, the Cajun Country Mystery Series.

 Susannah Hardy (aka Sadie Hartwell)   A graduate of St. Lawrence University in New York, Susannah Hardy has spent significant time in the New York/New England area, including growing up in upstate New York and currently living in Connecticut. She writes the Greek to Me Mystery Series, starring restaurant manager Georgie Nikolopatos, and (under the pseudonym Sadie Hartwell) the Tangled Web Mystery Series, starring yarn store manager Josie Blair.

 A.L. Herbert   Growing up in scenic Maryland, it’s no surprise that A.L. Herbert chose to set a mystery series in beautiful Prince George’s County, Maryland – the Mahalia Watkins Soul Food Mystery Series. Halia owns the Mahalia Sweet Tea Restaurant, which keeps her busy >>> especially since she has a taste for sleuthing!

 Carlene O’Neil   A native of the Northern California Wine Country, Carlene O’Neil writes about the land she loves and knows best >>> so it’s natural that her series, the Cypress Cove Mystery Series, is set in Cypress Cove in the heart of California wine country. The series stars Penny Lively, former photojournalist now running her family winery after inheriting it from her aunt. Before becoming a Cozy Mystery author, O’Neil was a television writer.

Three New Mystery Series Coming September 2015 – K. K. Beck: Workplace, Deanna Raybourn: Veronica Speedwell, Wendy Corsi Staub: Mundy’s Landing

Last month I told you about the new Cozy Mystery Series that would be coming out this month, August (Three New Cozy Series Starting in August 2015), so this month I’ll be discussing some of the new series getting started by established site authors coming out next month, September.

First up is K.K. Beck‘s new series, the Workplace Mystery Series, starting with her the first novel in the series, Tipping the Valet. This new series will star unlucky young Tyler Benson, currently a valet, who becomes involved in a series of auto thefts and a murder at his workplace restaurant. When a body turns up in a parked car and someone takes shots at a famous local tech magnate, Tyler will start to seem more and more like the logical suspect >>> which will force him to take up a second job as an amateur detective to avoid landing in jail! Beck writes several other series on the site, including the Iris Cooper & Jack Clancy Mystery Series, set in the 1920’s, and the Jane Da Silva Mysteries, starring a lounge singer and detective in Seattle, as well as a number of stand alone mysteries.

Next will be Deanna Raybourn‘s A Curious Beginning, which will be the first in the Veronica Speedwell Mystery Series. An orphan in Victorian England, Veronica intends to travel abroad and pursue her scientific studies after the death of her spinster aunt, but will instead be plunged into intrigue and a bit of romance when a mysterious German baron helps her thwart her own kidnapping. Unfortunately the baron soon turns up murdered – forcing Veronica and the baron’s friend, a foul-tempered librarian named Stoker, to both discover the killer and help piece together the mystery of what the baron knew about why Veronica was targeted for kidnapping. Raybourn also writes another Victorian-themed mystery series listed on the site, the Lady Julia Grey Mystery Series, starring a young widow living in Victorian London.

Finally will be Wendy Corsi Staub‘s Blood Red, the 1st in her Mundy’s Landing Mystery Series. (Staub’s books are more thriller than Cozy, but she is on the site and I know many of the site viewers are fans, so I thought it should be mentioned…) Mundy’s Landing is a scenic town in New York’s Hudson Valley, known for its beautiful vistas… and a past including a hundred-year-old serial killer case. Elements of this dangerous past appear to be repeating around Rowan Mundy, a grade school teacher and mother of three. Staub also writes the Lily Dale Mystery Series, the Nightwatch Trilogy, and the Thriller Trilogy – none really are Cozy, but thrillers that have been recommended by friends of the site.

Good Grief! I should have written this entry about the four new mystery series that will start in September! (Where is my head?)

 Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant) will be starting their Purple Door Detective Agency Mystery Series. Sunshine Merryweather is the sleuth in this series, and she happens to be a witch! She is also the owner of the Purple Door Detective Agency in Norfolk, Virginia. Sunshine will be spending a lot of time with Aine, a spirit, while she does her sleuthing. The first book in this series is Be My Banshee.

If you want to take a look at some of the other upcoming Cozy Mystery series, be sure to check out this page on the site: New Cozy Mystery Book Series.

If you’re looking for more upcoming Cozy Mystery releases in general but aren’t picky about whether they are new series, check out this page instead: Soon to be Released Mysteries. There sure are a lot of great looking Cozies coming up soon!

Three New Christmas Cozies Coming in September 2015 – Barbara Allan: Antiques St. Nicked, Laurien Berenson: The Bark Before Christmas, and Nancy Coco (aka Nancy J. Parra): All I Want for Christmas is Fudge

Since there were so many holiday themed Cozy Mystery releases upcoming in September, I decided to split them up into two posts. Last time I talked about Halloween Cozy Mystery releases for September, while this month I’ll be discussing the three Christmas-themed Cozy releases we can look forward to!

First on our Christmas-themed Cozy Mystery list will be Barbara Allan‘s Antiques St. Nicked, a novella in the Trash ‘n’ Treasures Mystery Series. This next entry in the continuing mystery adventures of Brandy Borne and her lovable Shi Tzu (Sushi) will occur during the annual Holiday Stroll activities in Serenity, a scenic small town. When a Santa’s workshop employee turns up dead and his donation bag empty, it will be up to Brandy and her mother Vivian to solve the case of both the murder and the missing presents!

The next book on our Christmas-in-September list will be The Bark Before Christmas, the 18th book in Laurien Berenson‘s Melanie Travis Mystery Series. This entry in the series will see the return of Melanie, who will once again need to balance the her part-time job, full time mothering for two children, and the care for half a dozen darling poodles while solving a festive murder! When a Santa at her school’s big fundraiser turns up dead and a prize poodle missing, she’ll need to use all of her now-formidable sleuthing experience to get to the bottom of the case!

Last but certainly not least will be Nancy Coco‘s All I Want for Christmas is Fudge, the  fourth in her Candy-Coated Mystery Series… though the description sounds like it might actually be a novella, not a full-fledged entry in the series. When fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy’s old friend Jenn arrives back in town to celebrate the holidays, neither woman expects Jenn to end up the target of a police investigation. But when Santa turns up dead in a ditch, it will be up to the girls to hunt down the killer and clear Jenn’s name! Nancy Coco also writes the Baker’s Treat Mystery Series and Perfect Proposals Mystery Series under the pseudonym Nancy J. Parra.

Wow, these look like some really festive Cozies! It sounds like being Santa might be a more dangerous job than you might think!

If you’re just too eager to get started on your Christmas Cozy Mystery reading, check out the many books we’ve already got to choose from when you’re feeling like nothing but a festive holiday mystery will do on this page of my site: Christmas Themed Cozies (There are so many of them that I had to cut the Christmas themed mysteries into six pages!)

Part 2 of “Does the Age of Your Amateur Sleuth Make a Difference to You?”

MultigenerationalMy goodness, your comments are terrific! Thank you! Also, thank you, Pam B, for coming up with such an interesting entry idea!

I was going to try to answer all of them, but then thought I would write a short entry instead. I have gone through your comments for yesterday’s entry (Does the Age of Your Amateur Sleuth Make a Difference to You?) several times, and came up with the following:

It looks like most of us agree that the age of our sleuths doesn’t really matter. We’re looking for well-written, intriguing mysteries with both interesting sleuths and locations. We like our sleuths to be normal, not always fretting about their clothes, make-up, shoes, nor boyfriends. Some of us think the younger the sleuth, the more drama we may have to wade through while trying to pay attention to the author’s clues about the mystery.

Those of us who prefer our sleuths to be 50 years old (and older) don’t want our sleuths to be gray-haired, doddering grannies, rather we would like them to be young-at- heart, vibrant, with strong, likeable personalities. Several of us started with Miss Marple, which in turn has made us partial to older sleuths. (I guess it’s sort of like riding a bike…)

However, several of us prefer our sleuths to be in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. The age doesn’t seem to be as important as the author’s ability to write well and give us believable sleuths.

MJ then brought up a really good point about multi generational Cozy Mysteries. Among the authors who use this type of sleuth age spans are Sally Goldenbaum (Seaside Knitters), Kylie Logan (Literary Ladies), Maddy Hunter (Passport to Peril), Nancy J. Parra (Gluten Free series), and Elizabeth Lynn Casey (Sewing Circle series). These types of Cozy Mystery sleuths are sort of like a smorgasbord of ages, where everyone can relate to at least one of the sleuthing partners.

Again, thank you, ALL, for your comments. They are terrific!

MENU