The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

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

Two Mystery Awards – Lefty and Lovey!

I want to be sure all of you know about these nominations for prestigious mystery awards for which some of the authors on the Cozy Mystery site have been nominated. Congratulations to ALL of the nominees!

The Lefties are awarded at Left Coast Crime, an annual event taking place right now! This year, Left Coast Crime is March 12-15, in Portland, Oregon, and attendees will be voting on which of the fantastic nominees they want to see go home with the Lefty. The Lefty itself is intended for the finest in humorous mystery fiction, and this year’s nominees include many very funny and skilled writers, including some Cozy Mystery authors who are currently listed on the site.

Lefty Award nominees:
The Good, the Bad, and the Emus by Donna Andrews
January Thaw by Jess Lourey
Dying for a Dude by Cindy Sample
Suede to Rest by Diane Vallere
Herbie’s Game by Timothy Hallinan (Winner)

Also awarded at Left Coast Crime is the Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery Award, considering all novels primarily taking place in or before the 1950s. The nominees for this award also include a number of site authors.

Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery Award nominees:
Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen
From the Charred Remains by Susanna Calkins
A Deadly Measure of Brimstone by Catriona McPherson(Winner)
City of Ghosts by Kelli Stanley
Cup of Blood by Jeri Westerson

Another award recently named their winners… the LOVEY awards were recently released for this year. The LOVEYS are selected at the Love is Murder Writers & Readers Conference, this year hosted February 6-8 in Chicago. (yes… I know I am a bit late on reporting this… I like to “consolidate” these sort of awards posts so I can post on other topics as necessary.)

The LOVEYS are organized into nine different categories, many of which have many entries, so I’m not going to post a full list here… for a full list check the Love is Murder website. However I will list some of our own favorite authors who were recognized, either by winning or the honor of a nomination…

LOVEY Best Traditional/Amateur Sleuth:
Tradition of Deceit by Kathleen Ernst
Dead Between the Lines by Denise Swanson (Winner)

LOVEY Best Historical:
The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander
From the Charred Remains by Susanna Calkins

LOVEY Best Paranormal/SiFi:
Plagued by Quilt by Molly MacRae (Winner)

LOVEY Best Series:
The Leigh Girard Series by Gail Lukasik
Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries by Molly MacRae
The Scumble River Mysteries by Denise Swanson

Congratulations to all the nominees! Wow, that sure is a lot of great books just for 2014! Here’s hoping that 2015 provides another great crop!

Do you have any personal favorites mentioned above? Please leave a comment below, as I always love to hear from you!

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