The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Cozy Mysteries by Location – Is It Important to You?

WinterI have talked before about one of the reasons I enjoy reading seasonal Cozy Mysteries. Before we moved down to San Antonio, I don’t think it was quite as important to me. However, since we don’t really see the four seasons down here, I especially like Cozies that remind me of the seasons I miss. These are Cozies that are set in cold-weather locations as well as Cozy Mysteries that take place during crisp autumn days when the gold/orange/red leaves are shedding from the trees.

That said, I have to admit that I have a preference for Cozy Mysteries that take place in the northeast part of the USA, the northern states, or Great Britain. These areas provide me with the cold, blistery weather of winter and the cool, sometimes windy weather of autumn. Also, it just seems easier for me to imagine a Cozy village setting in Great Britain or New England.

My husband and I were talking about the importance of location in my Cozies when he asked me if I would read Cozies set here in San Antonio. I replied that the San Antonio locations wouldn’t draw me to those books since I am already familiar with the area. However, I know a lot of Cozy Mystery readers read Cozies that are set in their towns or geographical areas and seem to enjoy reading about familiar places.

How about you? Do you have a location that attracts you to your Cozy Mystery books? Is the location something you look for when you choose a new Cozy series? Are there locations you avoid when choosing a Cozy?

Three New Cozy Mystery Series Coming August 2015 – Peg Cochran (aka Meg London): Cranberry Cove, Shelley Freydont: Newport Gilded Age, Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Pumpkin Patch

I love telling you about new Cozy Mystery series when some of our favorite Cozy Mystery authors launch them. And it looks like we’ll have three new Cozy Mystery series to look forward to in August by established authors on the site. They look like some real good ones, too!

First is Peg Cochran‘s (aka Meg London) Cranberry Cove Mystery Series, which will have its debut book, Berried Secrets, releasing in August. This upcoming novel will star Monica Albertson, who has come to the small town of Cranberry Cove, located on Lake Michigan, to help her half-brother Jeff run his cranberry farm. When Jeff comes under suspicion for the untimely death of his former farm manager, Monica will need to help make sure that his good name is cleared. Peg Cochran also writes the Gourmet De-Lite Mystery Series starring gourmet caterer Gigi Fitzgerald, the Lucille Mystery Series starring a middle-aged Jersey girl and Home Shopping Channel devotee, as well as the Sweet Nothings Vintage Lingerie Mystery Series under the pen name Meg London.

Next will be Shelley Freydont‘s A Gilded Grave, which will be the first book in her Newport Gilded Age Mystery Series. This series will be a period piece set toward the end of the 19th century, starring Deanna Randolph, a wealthy young woman of the American elite spending her first season in Newport, Rhode Island. When a young maid turns up dead and a young man she turned down for marriage becomes the primary suspect, Deanna knows he isn’t a killer. Shelley Freydont is also the author of several other Cozy Mystery series, including the holiday-focused Celebration Bay Mystery Series, the Sudoku Mystery Series starring a Sudoku champion and mathematician, and the Lindy Haggerty Mystery Series starring an ex-dancer in New Jersey.

Finally, Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant) will be releasing Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About, the first book in their new Pumpkin Patch Mystery Series. When attorney Sarah Tucker goes home to sell the old family farm in Misty River, Virginia, it brings back memories of when she was a young girl and her grandparents mysteriously disappeared just before she arrived for a vacation at the farm. When a man dies after claiming to know something about what happened to them, she won’t be able to go back home until she has finally reached the bottom of their mysterious disappearance. The Lavenes are also the authors of many other Cozy Mystery Series, including the Missing Pieces Mystery Series, the Renaissance Fair Mystery Series, the Taxi For the Dead Mystery Series, the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series, the Retired Witches Mystery Series, and the Sheriff Sharyn Howard Mystery Series… plus several others!

Of course, all of these series (and more, including this month’s upcoming new Cozy Mystery Series releases) can be found on the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page on the site.

Happy Fourth of July!

Fourth of JulyHappy Fourth of July to those of you in the USA. I hope you all stay safe.

My husband and I had planned on being in Northwood, Iowa today >>> but have put off our trip up there until later this year. I was all excited about visiting the place I consider to be “my hometown”, although it really isn’t. My father was in the Air Force, so we lived in several states, Spain, and Chile. Between every new assignment we would go visit my grandmother in Northwood, my father’s hometown. My grandmother and I developed an extremely close bond when my younger brother was born and I went to live with my grandparents for a while. As the story goes, when my grandparents dropped me off in Arlington, Virginia (after my stay with them) I was waiting in the car, ready (and wanting!) to “go home” with them.

My grandmother shared her enjoyment of reading with me. I credit her with my love for books. Of the four children in my family, I was the only one who developed this passion for reading, and I am truly grateful for her inspiration.

My husband and I were going to head to the upper Michigan area via Northwood to get some respite from our humid heat down here. Also, I have been wanting to visit Northwood for a while. (My last visit was fifteen years ago.) However, when I was taking a look at another town’s website in northern Iowa, I saw that they would be spraying for mosquitoes, which put the breaks on our trip. (I’m particularly attractive >>> to mosquitoes, that is! I can be outdoors with my husband for five minutes and he’s not affected, but when we go inside, I find I have three or four bites already >>> and that’s in San Antonio where mosquitoes are usually not much of a problem.) So we’re just postponing our trip until the mosquitoes are under control up there.

Well, I certainly had not planned on writing about our change of plans for the Fourth >>> I had only planned on writing to wish you all a Happy & Safe Fourth of July!

August 2015 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in August 2015:

Ellery Adams (aka Jennifer Stanley, J.B. Stanley): Murder in the Paperback Parlor (This will be the 2nd in the Book Retreat Mystery Series.) (This is a Valentine’s Day theme mystery.)

Donna Andrews: Lord of the Wings (This will be the 19th in the Meg Langslow Mystery Series.)

Donald Bain: Margaret Truman’s Internship in Murder (This will be the 3rd in the Capital Crimes Mystery Series.)

M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney): Agatha’s First Case (This is a story in the Agatha Raisin Mystery Series.)

Rhys Bowen: Malice at the Palace (This will be the 9th in the Royal Spyness Mystery Series.)

Simon Brett: Mrs Pargeter’s Principle (This will be the 7th in the Mrs. Pargeter Mystery Series.)

Ellen Byron: Plantation Shudders (This will be the 1st in the NEW Cajun Country Mystery Series.)

Lynn Cahoon: Killer Run (This will be the 5th in the Tourist Trap Mystery Series.)

C. S. Challinor: Murder Comes Calling (This will be the 8th in the Rex Graves Mystery Series.)

P.F. Chisholm: A Chorus of Innocents (This will be the 7th in the Sir Robert Carey Mystery Series.)

Peg Cochran (aka Meg London): Berried Secrets (This will be the 1st in the NEW Cranberry Cove Mystery Series.)

Bill Crider: Between the Living and the Dead (This will be the 22nd in the Dan Rhodes Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: Hopscotch Homicide (This will be the 16th in the Zoe Donovan Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: Halloween in Paradise (This will be the 6th in the Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mystery Series.) (This is a Halloween themed mystery.)

Vicki Delany (aka Eva Gates): Haitian Graves (This will be the 2nd in the Ray Robertson Mystery Series.)

Leighann Dobbs: Paws and Effect (This will be the 4th in the Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series.)

Mary Anna Evans: Isolation (This will be the 9th in the Faye Longchamp Mystery Series.)

Linda Fairstein: Devil’s Bridge (This will be the 17th in the Alexandra Cooper Mystery Series.)

Shelley Freydont: A Gilded Grave (This will be the 1st in the NEW Newport Gilded Age Mystery Series.)

Rosie Genova: A Dish Best Served Cold (This will be the 3rd in the Italian Kitchen Mystery Series.)

Daryl Wood Gerber (aka Avery Aames) Fudging the Books (This will be the 4th in the Cookbook Nook Mystery Series.)

Sue Grafton: X (This will be the 24th in the Kinsey Millhone Mystery Series.)

Carolyn Hart: From the Queen (This will be a Death on Demand Mystery Series story.)

Tonya Kappes: A Ghostly Demise (This will be the 3rd in the Ghostly Southern Mystery Series.)

Jonathan Kellerman: The Murderer’s Daughter (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

Diane Kelly: Laying Down the Paw (This will be the 3rd in the Paw Enforcement Mystery Series.)

Mary Kennedy: Dream a Little Scream (This will be the 2nd in the Dream Club Mystery Series.)

Laurie R. King: Mary Russell’s War (This will be a Prequel to the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Series.)

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About (This will be the 1st in the NEW Pumpkin Patch Mystery Series.)

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): Revenge of the Chili Queens (This will be the 3rd in the Chili Cook-Off Mystery Series.)

Mary Marks: Gone But Knot Forgotten (This will be the 3rd in the Martha Rose Quilting Mystery Series.)

Margaret Maron: Long Upon the Land (This will be the 21st in the Deborah Knott Mystery Series.)

Carol Ann Martin: Loom and Doom (This will be the 4th in the Weaving Mystery Series.)

Mary McHugh: Cancans, Croissants, and Caskets (This will be the 3rd in the Happy Hoofers Mystery Series.)

Leslie Meier: Candy Corn Murder (This will be the 22nd in the Lucy Stone Mystery Series.) (This is a Halloween theme mystery.)

Carla Neggers: Keeper’s Reach (This will be the 5th in the Sharpe & Donovan Mystery Series.)

Gail Oust: Murder is Dicey (This will be the 4th in the Kate McCall Bunco Babes Mystery Series.)

James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge: Alert (This will be the 8th in the Michael Bennett Mystery Series.)

Louise Penny: The Nature of the Beast (This will be the 11th in the Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series.)

Peter Robinson: Summer Rain (This will be an Inspector Banks Mystery Series novella.)

Maria E. Schneider: Executive Dirt (This will be the 4th in the Sedona O’Hala Mystery Series.)

Paige Shelton: If Onions Could Spring Leeks (This will be the 5th in the Country Cooking School Mystery Series.)

Connie Shelton: Sweets Forgotten (This will be the 10th in the Samantha Sweet Mystery Series.)

Clea Simon: Code Grey (This will be the 9th in the Dulcie Schwartz Mystery Series.)

Alexander McCall Smith: The Revolving Door of Life (This will be the 10th in the 44 Scotland Street Series – it is not a mystery.)

Leann Sweeney: The Cat, the Sneak and the Secret (This will be the 7th in the Cats in Trouble Mystery Series.)

Robert K. Tanenbaum: Trap (This will be the in the 27th in the Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi Mystery Series.)

Charles Todd: A Pattern of Lies (This will be the 7th in the Bess Crawford Mystery Series.)

Diane Vallere: Crushed Velvet (This will be the 2nd in the Material Witness Mystery Series.)

Lea Wait: Threads of Evidence (This will be the 2nd in the Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series.)

Ayelet Waldman: And Murder Makes Three (This is an omnibus of the first 3 Mommy Track Mystery Series: Nursery Crimes, The Big Nap, and Playdate with Death.)

Lauren Willig: The Lure of the Moonflower (This will be the 12th in the Pink Carnation Mystery Series.)

Since these releases are a month early, here are this month’s releases: July  2015 Mystery Book New Releases.

If you would like to see lots and lots of Cozy Mystery books that are scheduled to be released, 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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