The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

May 2015 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in May 2015:

Cathy Ace: The Corpse with the Sapphire Eyes (This will be the 5th in the Cait Morgan Mystery Series.)

Donna Ball: Flash (This will be the 1st in the NEW Dogleg Island Mystery Series.)

Jessica Beck (aka Elizabeth Bright, Melissa Glazer, Chris Cavender, Casey Mayes, Tim Myers, & D.B. Morgan): Cast Iron Will (This will be the 1st in the NEW Cast Iron Cooking Mystery Series.)

Maeve Binchy: Full House (This will be a stand alone non-mystery short story.)

Heather Blake (aka Heather Webber): Some Like It Witchy (This will be the 5th in the Wishcraft Mystery Series.)

Janet Bolin: Seven Threadly Sins (This will be the 5th in the Threadville Mystery Series.)

Rita Mae Brown: Tail Gait (This will be the 24th in the Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series.)

Vannetta Chapman: Protected (This will be the 2nd in the Jacobs Family Mystery Series.)

Laura Childs: Ming Tea Murder (This will be the 16th in the Tea Shop Mystery Series.)

Ann Cleeves: Thin Air (This will be the 6th in the Shetland Island Mystery Series.)

Susan Conant: Sire and Damn (This will be the 20th in the Dog Lover’s Mystery Series.)

Gary Corby: Death Ex Machina (This will be the 5th in the Ancient Greecy Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: The Curse (This will be the 2nd in the Seacliff High Mystery Series for young adults.) (This is a Halloween themed mystery.)

Evelyn David: The Bride of Lottawatah (This will be the 5th in the Sullivan Investigations Mystery Series.)

Jeffery Deaver: Solitude Creek (This will be the 4th in the Kathryn Dance Mystery Series.)

Hannah Dennison: Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall (This will be the 2nd in the Honeychurch Hall Mystery Series.)

Claire Donally: Hiss and Tell (This will be the 4th in the Sunny & Shadow Mystery Series.)

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): The Final Reveille (This will be the 1st in the NEW Living History Museum Mystery Series.)

Mae Fox & Amy Lillard: Pattern of Betrayal (This will be the 2nd in the Vineyard Quilt Mystery Series.)

Elizabeth George: The Edge of the Shadows (This will be the 3rd in the young adult Edge of Nowhere Mystery Series.)

Sally Goldenbaum: A Finely Knit Murder (This will be the 9th in the Seaside Knitters Mystery Series.)

John Grisham: Theodore Boone: Fugitive (This will be the 5th in the young adult Theodore Boone Mystery Series.)

Carolyn Haines: Bone to Be Wild (This will be the 15th in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Series.) (This will be a Halloween theme mystery.)

Charlaine Harris: Day Shift (This will be the 2nd in the Midnight, Texas Mystery Series.)

Carolyn Hart: Don’t Go Home (This will be the 25th in the Death on Demand Mystery Series.)

Lee Hollis: Death of a Cupcake Queen (This will be the 6h in the Hailey Powell Food & Cocktail Mystery Series.)

J.A. Jance: Stand Down (This will be a J.P. Beaumont Mystery Series novella.)

Linda O. Johnston: Bite the Biscuit (This will be the 1st in the NEW Barkery & Biscuits Mystery Series.)

Tonya Kappes: Checkered Thief (This will be the 3rd in the Laurel London Mystery Series.)

Tracy Kiely: Murder with a Twist (This will be the 1st in the NEW Nic & Nigel Mystery Series.)

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Killing Weeds (This will be the 8th in the Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Series.)

Alyssa Maxwell: Murder at Beechwood (This will be the 3rd in the Gilded Newport Mystery Series.)

Edith Maxwell (aka Maddie Day & Tace Baker): Farmed and Dangerous (This will be the 3rd in the Local Foods Mystery Series.)

Catriona McPherson: Come to Harm (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

Joyce Carol Oates: Jack of Spades (This will be a Stand Alone novel.)

Katherine Hall Page: The Body in the Birches (This will be the 22nd in the Faith Fairchild Mystery Series.)

Nancy J. Parra (aka Nancy Coco): Flourless to Stop Him (This will be the 3rd in the Baker’s Treat Mystery Series.)

James Patterson & Maxine Paetro: 14th Deadly Sin (This will be the book in the Women’s Murder Club Mystery Series.)

James Patterson: Maximum Ride Forever (This will be the 9th in the young adult Maximum Ride Mystery Series.)

Alexander McCall Smith: At the Reunion Buffet (This will be an Isabel Dalhousie non-mystery story.)

Denise Swanson: A Finger in Every Lie (This will be a Stand Alone mystery story.)

Victoria Thompson: Murder on Amsterdam Avenue (This will be the 17th in the Gaslight Mystery Series.)

Rebecca Tope: The Troutbeck Testimony (This will be the 4th in the Lake District Mystery Series.)

Maggie Toussaint: Bubba Done It (This will be the 2nd in the Dreamwalker Mystery Series.)

Elaine Viets: Checked Out (This will be the 14th in the Dead-End Job Mystery Series.)

Since I post these releases a whole month early, here are the April  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.)

Vicki Delany: Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen, Victoria Hamilton: White Colander Crime, Elizabeth Lee: Nuts and Buried, Anne Perry: A Christmas Escape, Jessica Beck: Troubled Treats, & Simon Brett: Blotto, Twinks and the Heir to the Tsar – New Mystery Releases

Here is the second part of my entry. As I mentioned I found out about ten new Cozy Mystery book covers. Also, I found Jessica Beck’s book yesterday, which was released a few days ago. I missed it somehow, so I added it to this entry. I’m going to try to convince myself that it’s better late than never…

Vicki Delany (aka Eva Gates): Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen (This will be the 1st in the NEW Year-Round Christmas Mystery Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)Victoria Hamilton (aka Amanda Cooper & Donna Lea Simpson): White Colander Crime (This will be the 5th in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery Series.)

Elizabeth Lee (aka Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli): Nuts and Buried (This will be the 3rd in the Nut House Mystery Series.)Anne Perry: A Christmas Escape (This will be the 13th in the Christmas Series.) (This is a Christmas themed mystery.)

Simon Brett: Blotto, Twinks and the Heir to the Tsar (This will be the 6th in the Blotto and Twinks Mystery Series.)

Jessica Beck (aka Elizabeth Bright, Melissa Glazer,Chris Cavender, Casey Mayes, Tim Myers, & D.B. Morgan): Troubled Treats (This will be the 19th in the Donut Shop Mystery Series.)

If you click on this link, it will take you to the page on my site that has all of the Cozy Mystery books that are scheduled to be released, but authors on my Cozy-Mystery site. Soon to be Released Mysteries page.

Easter Cozy Mystery Series Already?

Is anyone here reading an Easter Cozy Mystery? I’m just about to begin reading Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death, a Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery by Denise Swanson. I have been wanting to read it for a while but as some of you know, I love to read my holiday Cozies during their appropriate holiday seasons, so I have saved it to read this Easter.

Rather than spend my time reading an Easter Cozy, I should be getting our house cleaned and buying a ham. Our daughter has decided to come home for Easter this year. I think she’s taking advantage of being so close to us >>> New Orleans to San Antonio. This is the last year she’ll be in our area. She’s moving to Washington D.C. this summer, where she’ll be starting her permanent job.

As I was saying, I should be out getting a ham or I should at least be cleaning, but instead, I find myself at my computer, writing about the Easter Cozy I’m excited to be starting. My priorities seem a little UNprioritized!

Are any of you reading an exceptionally good Easter Cozy Mystery? If you’re not reading one right now, do you remember a particularly good Easter Cozy Mystery that you’ve read in the past? If so, would you mind leaving a comment? Thank you!

P.S. Click here to see my Easter Mystery Book List. Also, while you’re there, if you notice any Easter mysteries that are missing, could you please either send me a note or leave a comment?

Mystery Book Recommendations – March 2015

Spring is here! This means the weather is improving drastically, so much so that a lot of us will spend more time outside enjoying the spring-like weather, thus (possibly) reducing our Cozy Mystery reading time. If the gorgeous weather truly does cut down on our reading time, then it stands to reason that we will want to be even more selective when choosing which Cozies we read!

It’s at this time that I ask you to please tell us about a particularly good Cozy Mystery you read in March 2015. Also, please tell us why you think this Cozy Mystery book stands out amongst all the other good Cozies you read during March. If you tell us about more than one really stand-out-above-the-rest Cozy, please put the one you enjoyed the very most at the top of your list, or at least let us know which one is your very most favorite.

I’m going to start by recommending Rita Lakin‘s Gladdy Gold Mystery Series. This is one of my favorite Cozy Mystery series, and because I know it has a limited amount of books (7 total), I know that if I rush through them, it will be a case of And Then There Were None! So I take very long breaks between the books.

Rita Lakin has a background in television, both as a producer, creator, and writer. I’m glad she decided to write these Cozies!  Her humorous series focuses on Gladdy Gold, who along with her sister and friends at a Florida retirement community, solves crimes. Gladdy is such a good sleuth that she starts her own private detective agency. Gladdy doesn’t do her sleuthing alone, the other ladies all play important roles in the solving of crimes. The relationships of the women play a big part in why I enjoy the series so much. Rita Lakin has also been able to fill the retirement community with secondary characters who co-mingle with the ladies and the crimes. (Hope that makes sense!) All of the characters are believable to me. I can only hope to be as spry as some of them when I hit the retirement community age!

Rita Lakin’s writing is crisp and easy to read. The sleuths are all smart, although a lot of that is because Gladdy keeps an eye on things, and pretty much directs all of their efforts. On the whole, the other ladies don’t seem to mind Gladdy taking over all of the time, and actually seem to depend on Gladdy to be the voice of reason.

Please do not tell us about the Cozy/Cozies you read that you did not like.

What really good Cozy Mystery book did you read during March 2015 that you know the rest of us would enjoy reading, and why did you enjoy it?

Here are the current recommended authors who some of you have read and recommended this past month:

Victoria Abbott (aka Mary Jane Maffini & Victoria Maffini): Book Collectors Mystery Series

Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Bakeshop Mystery Series

Ella Barrick (aka Laura DiSilverio & Lila Dare): Ballroom Dance Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Molly Murphy Mystery Series

Eric Brown: Murder at the Chase

Leslie Budewitz: Seattle Spice Shop Mystery Series

Kate Carlisle: Fixer-Upper Mystery Series

Laurie Cass (aka Laura Alden): Bookmobile Cat Mystery Series

Erika Chase: Ashton Corners Mystery Series

John Clement: Dixie Hemingway Mystery Series

E.J. Copperman (aka Jeffrey Cohen): Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Series

MaryJo Dawson: The Strange Situation at Emlee

Jo Dereske: Miss Zukas Mystery Series

Kate Dyer-Seeley (aka Ellie Alexander): Pacific Northwest Mystery Series

Joanne Fluke: Hannah Swensen Mystery Series

Parnell Hall: Puzzle Lady Mystery Series

Miranda James (aka Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Southern Ladies Mystery Series

Laurie R. King: Mary Russell Mystery Series

Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger, Editors: In the Company of Sherlock Holmes (Anthology)

Rita Lakin: Gladdy Gold Mystery Series

Colette London: Criminal Confections (Chocolate Whisperer Mystery Series, book #1)

Ada Madison (aka Camille Menicino & Margaret Grace): Sophie Knowles Mystery Series

Margaret Maron: Deborah Knott Mystery Series

Catriona McPherson: Dandy Gilver Mystery Series

Camille Minichino (aka Margaret Grace & Ada Madison): Periodic Table Mystery Series

Mary Grace Murphy: Noshes Up North Mystery Series

Diana Orgain: Love or Money Mystery Series

Cate Price: Deadly Notions Mystery Series

Denise Swanson:  Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery Series

Elaine Viets: Mystery Shopper Mystery Series

[If you click on the author’s name (blue) link, it will take you to his/her page on the Cozy Mystery site. The pages have all of the authors’ books listed chronologically.]

Since everyone is writing why they like the particular Cozy they’re recommending, I encourage you to read the comments below.

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

P.S. While I try to respond to all of the comments that are made on the Cozy Mystery blog, I generally don’t respond to the comments on these monthly recommendation entries.

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