The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Two New Holiday Themed Cozies Coming August 2015 – Ellery Adams: Murder In the Paperback Parlor, Leslie Meier: Candy Corn Murder

I love this time of year. Well, actually not so much the sweltering days of July, but I love the Cozy Mystery releases that start at this time of the year. It seems like August is when a lot of our holiday themed Cozies start being released, and it looks like we’ll have two new Holiday themed Cozy Mysteries to look forward to this coming August – one Valentine’s Day themed and one Halloween themed!

First is Ellery Adams‘s Murder in the Paperback Parlor, which takes place near Valentine’s Day. This second entry in the Book Retreat Mystery Series will see the return of amateur sleuth Jane Stewart, manager of the Storyton Hall Book Resort in the hills of western Virginia. When one of the prominent authors visiting the resort is killed, she’ll need to once again help get to the bottom of the case if she wants to keep her beloved resort afloat! Ellery Adams writes multiple other popular Cozy Mystery series, including the Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery Series, the Books by the Bay Mystery Series, and the Supper Club Mystery Series, among others!

Second is the Halloween-themed Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier. Halloween will once again be coming to Tinker’s Cove! This Cozy is the 22nd in the holiday themed Lucy Stone Mystery Series, and will be the third Halloween themed mystery in the series. Homemaker Lucy Stone’s plans for a festive Halloween are ruined when her husband Bill’s friend Evan turns up dead – and Bill is the primary suspect, since he’s the last person who saw Evan alive, Expect even more holiday mystery and fun in this continuation of the Lucy Stone series!

In case you’re interested in more mysteries in both of these themes, you can click on these links to go to the corresponding pages on my Cozy Mystery site:

Halloween Theme Mysteries

Valentine’s Day Mysteries

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!

MENU