The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Best First Cozy Book in a New Cozy Mystery Series…

First PlaceI got a letter from MJ with a great idea for a blog entry! It’s a spin on something we do, but with a better focus. She says it better than I can, so here are some portions of her letter:

… How about the ‘best FIRST in a series cozy by either a new author or an established author with a new series in the previous year?’…

Included in that selection might be – ‘does it have potential to be a long running series and why?’  This would also have to be a ‘series’ book, not a stand alone.

I thought of this a couple of weeks ago as I read an excellent new ‘first in series’ book.  Then I read another which I thought was even better.  Yesterday I just started a third new book that looks like it has ‘potential’ – I can’t decide that until I finish it, though.  I always put these books in my monthly recommendations.  But I thought it would be interesting and informative to blog readers if we singled out just one new series.   That will be tough for me to do, however, because I’ve read several good first books this past year!!!…

I love this idea, since we’ll be able to see which of the new Cozy Mystery series that have recently been started look like real winners and will be around for a while.

So please tell us about the best first book in a Cozy Mystery series that you read that was published in 2014 or 2015. As usual, please tell us why you think this series has a great future, and please limit this to only the one best first Cozy in the new Cozy Mystery series.

Thank you!

Here are the Cozies you all have recommended so far:

Best 1st Cozy in a new (2014 or 2015) Cozy Mystery Series:

Ellery Adams: Murder in the Mystery Suite (Book Retreat Mystery Series)

Duffy Brown: Geared for the Grave (Cycle Path Mystery Series)

Leslie Budewitz: Assault and Pepper (Seattle Spice Shop Mystery Series)

Lynn Cahoon: Guidebook to Murder (Tourist Trap Mystery Series)

Maia Chance: Snow White Red-Handed (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery Series)

J.J. Cook (aka Joyce and Jim Lavene & Ellie Grant): Death on Eat Street (Biscuit Bowl Food Truck Mystery Series)

E.J. Copperman (aka Jeffrey Cohen): The Question of the Missing Head (Asperger’s Mystery Series)

Laura DiSilverio (aka Ella Barrick & Lila Dare): The Readaholics and the Falcon Fiasco (Readaholics Book Club Mystery Series)

Eva Gates (aka Vicky Delany) By Book or By Crook (Lighthouse Library Mystery Series)

Sherry Harris: Tagged for Death (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery Series)

Christine Husom: Snow Way Out (Snow Globe Shop Mystery Series)

Diane Kelly: Paw Enforcement (Paw Enforcement Mystery Series)

Mary Kennedy: Nightmares Can Be Murder (Dream Club Mystery Series)

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Spell Booked (Retired Witches Mystery Series)

T.C. LoTempio: Meow If It’s Murder (Nick and Nora Mystery Series)

Terrie Farley Moran: Well Read, Then Dead (Read ‘Em and Weep Mystery Series)

Julie Mulhern: The Deep End (Country Club Mystery Series)

Penny Pike (aka Penny Warner): Death of a Crabby Cook (Food Festival Mystery Series)

Rose Pressey: If You’ve Got It, Haunt It (Haunted Vintage Mystery Series)

Angela M. Saunders: The Lanvin Murders (Vintage Clothing Mystery Series)

Fran Stewart: A Wee Murder in My Shop (Scotshop Mystery Series)

***Please be sure to read the comments below to see why these first books in new Cozy Mystery series have been chosen to be the best.***

Happy Spring! AND Rita Lakin’s Gladdy Gold Mystery Series

springHappy Spring!

[I’ll talk about my current Cozy Mystery by one of my favorite Cozy Mystery authors , Rita Lakin, at the end of this entry, so it’s not like it’s totally devoid of Cozy Mystery information!]

So, once again: Happy Spring!

I know this isn’t the way a lot of you want to begin spring, but hopefully it will get a lot better for you ALL soon. Seeing that those of you in the northeast are in the midst of snow (again!) takes me back to when I went to college in Iowa. Brrr!

My computer monitor conked out yesterday, which, as you would guess, was a hassle. I always get my husband’s or son’s hand-me-down computer components, so I now have my husband’s mammoth-size monitor. (He ordered a new one for himself.) I actually have had to move my new monitor over toward the wall so I can still keep an eye on my birds outside. We now have a Cardinal pair who are making our Goldfinch feeder their choice of feeding places. I’m really enjoying them >>> probably a whole lot more than the tiny Goldfinches are enjoying their company!

Getting Old Is Murder by Rita LakinI just started a book by one of my very favorite Cozy Mystery authors: Rita Lakin. There hasn’t been a Gladdy Gold mystery since 2011, so I am really spacing out the books. I don’t want the series to end! This is a Senior Sleuth series, but in reality, it’s a senior sleuthS series! Gladdy lives in a Florida retirement community, and she is helped by a few other ladies who live there. Don’t be put off thinking these ladies take things easy! These ladies are active! These book titles should give you an idea of the series: Getting Old Is Murder, Getting Old Is Criminal, Getting Old Is to Die For, and Getting Old Can Kill You. How can you go wrong with titles like these?!?

Well, I’m going to post this entry now, so my husband can use my computer. (His monitor won’t arrive until tomorrow.)

Happy Spring to ALL of you!

Carolyn Hart Retires Death on Demand’s Annie and Max Darling

Last night, Marla posted a comment about Carolyn Hart, asking if it is true she is wrapping up her Death on Demand Mystery Series. As soon as I read Marla’s comment, I immediately checked, and sure enough, Marla, you’re correct! (A big thank you for letting us know!)

Don’t Go Home will be Annie and Max Darling’s last time to take us along with them as they solve another case. Carolyn Hart has decided she would rather just write one book each year, so this 25th Death on Demand mystery will be the final one.

Carolyn Hart has been giving us countless hours of enjoyable Cozy Mystery reading over the years. A lot of us remember picking up our first Death on Demand and Henri Os way back when Carolyn Hart was known as Carolyn G. Hart. She has been a bestselling Cozy Mystery author for years!

She has decided to focus on her newer Bailey Ruth (Ghost) Mystery Series instead, which is great news for Bailey’s fans! Ghost to the Rescue (the 6th in this series) is due out this year.

Incidentally, Carolyn Hart has won three prestigious Agatha Awards for Best Novel and has been nominated six additional times. She has also won two highly acclaimed Anthony Awards for Best Paperback Original. As I said earlier, many of us have enjoyed many, many hours of fun Cozy Mystery reading, and I’m sure we’re in for many more filled with Bailey Ruth’s sleuthing!

Laura Childs, Joyce & Jim Lavene, J.J. Cook, Kathleen Ernst : Soon to be Released Cozies!

Over the weekend I found out about two new Cozy Mystery books that are going to be released, which quite frankly, I don’t know how I missed those two until now!

Laura Childs: Most of you probably already know she will be releasing the 16th Cozy in her Tea Shop Mystery Series, titled Ming Tea Murder. But did you know she will also be releasing a new Scrapbooking Cozy titled Parchment and Old Lace? Yep, she will be releasing the 13th Scrapbooking mystery, and I’m pretty excited about that!

Some of you know that my daughter is currently working in New Orleans, so my husband and I occasionally drive out to see her. We have had a great time hunting down the places Laura Childs describes so accurately in her Scrapbooking Cozies. Parchment of Old Lace has the Commander’s Palace in it, which we already had decided we were going to be visiting during our next time out in New Orleans.

Joyce and Jim Lavene/J.J. Cook/Ellie Grant: OK, now I know most of you already know they will be releasing Looking for Mr. Good Witch, which will be the 2nd in their Retired Witches Mystery Series. That’s great news in itself, but did you know they are also releasing a new Peggy Lee Garden Cozy?

Yes, it’s true! It’s the 10th anniversary of their Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series, and we all get to celebrate by enjoying the 8th in the series titled Killing Weeds.

On to my next find: As J.J. Cook, the Lavenes will be releasing Fat Tuesday Fricassee. This will be the 3rd in their Biscuit Bowl Food Truck Mystery Series. (I’m sorry, but I don’t have the book cover, but will post it on the Cozy-Mystery site as soon as I find it.)

Also, Kathleen Ernst is releasing a new Cozy in her Chloe Ellefson Mystery Series. Some of you know that Kathleen also writes American Girl mysteries, for which she has been nominated several times for the Agatha Award for Best Children’s/Yound Adult mysteries, as well as an Edgar Award for Best Juvenile mystery nomination. The sleuth (Chloe Ellefston) is a curator of a Wisconsin living history museum during the 1980s. Anyway, Death on the Prairie is the 6th Cozy Mystery in this series.

Usually, when I find new Cozies, I just go ahead and post them on the site. But I got so doggone excited about these, that I had to hurry up and tell you!

If you’d like to see more Soon to be Released Mysteries, be sure to take a look at that page on my site. Here’s the link:
Soon to be Released Mysteries

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