The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

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!

Does the Age of Your Amateur Sleuth Make a Difference to You?

DetectivePatti B. sent me an email with the following entry idea:

… I was wondering if you’ve ever written a blog on the preferred age of protagonists in cozies. I loved Ann George’s southern sisters series, just wish she’d lived longer so she could have kept on writing them. I love M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin. I obviously love senior sleuths. Yesterday I had lunch with a friend who said she hated senior sleuths. She found them boring and didn’t know anyone who liked them… and I began to wonder—am I the only one who likes senior sleuths? (Obviously not since M.C. Beaton is making big bucks writing her books!) But I was wondering if the cozy readers who follow your blog have an opinion on this.  Do you yourself, since you’re an avid cozy reader?

I started thinking about it the day I received Patti B’s email. Hmmm… Do I have a prefered age for my amateur sleuths?

I went through all of my favorite authors and thought about their sleuths’ ages. Wow! What a span of years!

I read one particular series that has sleuths from three age groups. And, after looking at all of my favorite authors’ sleuths, I think I can safely say I don’t have a particular age bracket that I strictly adhere to.

Manhattan in Miniature by Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino & Jean Flower)One of my favorite authors is Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino & Jean Flowers).  She writes the Miniature Mystery Series which features Gerry Porter as its main sleuth. Gerry is a retired English teacher in California who has, as her side-kick sleuthing partner, her granddaughter, Maddie. Maddie is an eleven year old whiz on the computer, which helps Gerry immensely. Another (sort of) sleuthing partner of Gerry’s is her nephew, a thirty something police detective. So, with just that one series, I have the very youngest sleuth I follow, a young adult aged sleuth, and a (somewhat) older sleuth.

I have to admit, while I enjoy sleuths of all ages, I find myself drawn to senior sleuths. I have enjoyed senior sleuths for as long as I can remember. I wonder if it’s because Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple has been one of my very, very favorite amateur sleuths for years >>> going back to when I was quite young, I loved Miss Marple. No other sleuth could draw me into her world the way this clever, gray-haired lady could!

How about you? Do you have a favorite age for your amatuer sleuths? If so, why do you think you prefer that age bracket?

P.S. In case you do prefer senior sleuths, Susan* just suggested that I add these links to the Senior Sleuths lists.

SENIOR SLEUTHS:

Authors beginning with A – F

Authors beginning with G –  P

Authors beginning with Q – W

In case you prefer young sleuths:

Mystery Books with Sleuths in Their 20s

And, here is a list of sleuths who are a little older than 20 and not quite yet seniors:

Stay-at-Home Moms &/or Housewives AND Stay at Home Dads &/or Househusbands in Mysteries

Three New Halloween Cozies Coming in September 2015 – Mollie Cox Bryan: Scrapbook of the Dead, Kathi Daley: The Legend of Tabby Hollow, Shelley Freydont: Trick or Deceit

The first half of the year is always a little “light” on Cozies with holiday themes, but those days will soon be ending! I’ve already discussed the soon-to-be-released August holiday Cozies in an earlier post, so it’s about time to talk about next month’s releases, the September holiday releases. Well, upcoming in September we have so many Holiday Cozy releases that I’ll be splitting them up into two posts – with this first post dedicated to the three new Halloweeen-themed Cozy Mysteries we can look forward to in the month of September! (Broken record alert: I love holiday Cozies!)

First up will be Scrapbook of the Dead, by Mollie Cox Bryan. This will be the fifth in her Cumberland Creek Mystery Series, starring Annie Chamovitz, a former journalist and current stay-at-home mom who finds herself drawn into murder as often as into her favorite pastime, scrapbooking. This isn’t the first Holiday-themed book in the series – two have already featured holidays, including Christmas and the much less used St. Patrick’s Day. This time Annie will need to solve the murders of a pair of sisters, each found clutching scrapbook pages.

 Kathi Daley will also have a Halloween themed mystery coming out – The Legend of Tabby Hollow, which will be the fifth in the Whales and Tails Mystery Series. This book will see the return of Caitlin Hart, owner of a bar, bookstore, and cat lounge, as well as a cat sanctuary employee and multiple animal owner living on a fictional island in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. When a body is found in a nearby hollow, she will once again need to help assist in the investigation! Kathi Daley also writes the Zoe Donovan series, starring an animal rehabilitator, and the TJ Jensen Paradise Lake series, starring a high school teacher and coach.

Finally, on the Halloween-themed mystery list, we have Shelley Freydont‘s Trick or Deceit. You can tell that Freydont must really love Halloween, because this will be the second time it’s featured in her holiday-themed Celebration Bay Mystery Series. (Actually, the first Halloween themed mystery in this series is more of a Harvest themed mystery.) This series stars Liv Montgomery, an event planner in New York, who will once again need to figure out the mysterious death at one of her events, this time a Haunted House! Freydont also writes the Victorian themed Newport Gilded Age Mystery Series, the Sudoku Mystery Series, and the Lindy Haggerty Series starring an ex-dancer in New Jersey.

Can’t wait! If like me, you’re just too impatient to wait for September, you can check out plenty more Halloween themed Cozy Mysteries at the following page on the site: Halloween Theme Mysteries

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