The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

August 14, 2015

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

August 12, 2015

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?”

August 9, 2015

Multigenerational My 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?

August 8, 2015

Patti 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.

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.