The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Two New Valentine’s Day Mysteries Coming February 2015

January 6, 2015

Unfortunately it seems that February is going to be a month without any new Cozy Mystery series beginning, but we do get to look forward to two new Valentine’s Day themed Cozies set in established series!

The first will be As Gouda as Dead, the sixth book in Avery Aames‘s Cheese Shop Mystery Series. In this entry, cheese shop owner and amateur sleuth Charlotte Bessette will be marrying cheese farmer, Jordan Chase on Valentine’s Day… or, she would be, if a local bar owner weren’t just found on Jordan’s farm. Can Charlotte solve this mystery, or will she be forced to reschedule her dream wedding? Avery Aames also writes as Daryl Wood Gerber, the pseudonym she uses for her Cookbook Nook Mystery Series and some of her Stand Alone works.

The other new Valentine’s Day mystery is February Fever, the tenth book in Jess Lourey‘s Murder by Month Mystery Series, starring librarian/reporter/private investigator Mira James. Mira will be traveling the Valentine Train, a singles-mixer sort of rail excursion, on the way to visit her boyfriend, Johnny, in Portland, Oregon. When a fellow passenger is murdered, it will be up to Mira to solve the crime and keep the train on track!

Well, that’s it for February Cozy holiday releases.

By the way, you might be interested in taking a look at other Valentine’s Day Cozies (and non Cozy mysteries). I have a whole list of Valentine’s Day mysteries on the site. Here is the link: Valentine’s Day Mystery Book List page.

P.S. Once you’ve had a chance to take a look at all of the Valentine’s Day themed mysteries, if you see that I am missing one. please let me know. Thank you!

Favorite Cozy Mystery Books for 2014

January 3, 2015

reading Three days into 2015, it seems like now is a great time to ask you ALL if you have one specific Cozy Mystery book or series that you read this past year which you think that every other Cozy Mystery reader absolutely needs to read/ know about. I started doing the Favorite Cozy Mystery Books for the entire year in 2012, after getting a letter from Lynn T asking that we do the best Cozy of the year list. We came up with some great recommendations, so, let’s try doing that again!

[As usual, I ask that you don’t tell us about the mystery books or series you read that you didn’t like.]

What terrific Cozy Mystery book or series did you read during 2014 that you think the rest of us would definitely enjoy reading, and why did you enjoy it?

Here are the current recommended books who some of you recommended as the best Cozy Mystery you read all year:

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

Annie Adams: Flower Shop Mystery Series

Ellery Adams (aka Jennifer Stanley, J. B. Stanley, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington): Murder in the Mystery Suite (Book Retreat Mystery Series)

Lucy Arlington (aka Ellery Adams & Sylvia May, Susan Furlong): Novel Idea Mystery Series

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

Maggie Barbieri: Murder 101 Mystery Series

Jessica Beck (aka Elizabeth Bright, Melissa Glazer, Chris Cavender, Casey Mayes, Tim Myers, & D.B. Morgan): Donut Shop Mystery Series

Josie Belle (aka Jenn McKinlay & Lucy Lawrence): Good Buy Girls Mystery Series

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries Mystery Series

Duffy Brown: Cycle Path Mystery Series

Edie Claire: Leigh Koslow “Never” Mystery Series

Nancy J. Cohen: Bad Hair Day Mystery Series

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Orchard Mystery Series AND Museum Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Jana DeLeon: Miss Fortune Mystery Series AND Miss Fortune Mystery Series

Jo Dereske: Miss Zukas Mystery Series

Kate Ellis: Wesley Peterson Mystery Series

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Appleseed Creek Mystery Series

Shelley Freydont: Celebration Bay Mystery Series

Kathryn Miller Haines: Rosie Winter Mystery Series

Gemma Halliday: High Heels Mystery Series, Hollywood Headlines Mystery Series, & Anna Smith & Nick Dade Mystery Series

Maddie Hunter: Passport to Peril Mystery Series

Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series

Josi S. Kilpack: Culinary Mystery Series

Kate Kingsbury (aka Allison Kingsley & Rebecca Kent): Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series

Lucy Lawrence (aka Jenn McKinlay & Josie Belle): Decoupage Mystery Series

Joyce and Jim Lavene: Renaissance Faire Mystery Series

Laura Levine: Death of a Neighborhood Witch (Jaine Austen Mystery Series)

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

Anna Loan-Wisley: Hattie Davish Mystery Series

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series, Hat Shop Mystery Series, AND Library Lover’s Mystery Series

Laura Morrigan: A Tiger’s Tale (Call of the Wilde Mystery Series)

Kee Patterbee: Hannah Starvling Twilight Mystery Series

Leigh Perry (aka Toni L.P. Kelner): Family Skeleton Mystery Series

Ann Purser: Lois Meade Mystery Series

Spencer Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams): Chet and Bernie Mystery Series

Hannah Reed (aka Deb Baker): Off Kilter (Scottish Highlands Mystery Series)

Annelise Ryan (aka Allyson K. Abbott): Mattie Winston Mystery Series

Hank Phillippi Ryan: Truth Be Told (Jane Ryland Mystery Series)

Gayle Trent (aka Amanda Lee): Daphne Martin Cake Mystery Series AND Myrtle Crumb Mystery Series

Diane Vallere: Suede to Rest (Material Witness Mystery Series)

Heather Webber: Nina Quinn Mystery Series

Ovidia Yu: Aunty Lee’s Singaporean 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.]

♦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 recommendation entries.

February 2015 Mystery Book New Releases

January 1, 2015

(If you would like to see this month’s releases, click here: January 2015 Mystery Book New Releases)

The following Mystery Books will be released in February 2015:

Avery Aames (aka Daryl Wood Gerber): As Gouda as Dead (This will be the 6th in the Cheese Shop Mystery Series.) (This is a Valentine’s Day theme mystery.)

Jeffrey Archer: Mightier Than the Sword (This will be the 5th in the Clifton Chronicles Mystery Series.)

Lucy Arlington (aka Susan Furlong): Played by the Book (This will be the 4th in the Novel Idea Mystery Series.)

Maggie Barbieri: Lies That Bind (This will be the 2nd in the Maeve Conlan Mystery Series.)

L.L. Bartlett (aka Lorraine Bartlett & Lorna Barrett): Crybaby (This will be a Jeff Resnick Mystery Series story.)

M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney): Death of a Liar (This will be the 31st in the Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series.)

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries and the One Who Got Away (This will be the 33rd in the Mrs. Jeffries Mystery Series.)

Duffy Brown: Dead Man Walker (This novella will be the 4th in the Consignment Shop Mystery Series.)

Kate Collins: A Root Awakening (This will be the 16th in the Flower Shop Mystery Series.)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): An Early Wake (This will be the 3rd in the County Cork Mystery Series.)

J.J. Cook (aka Joyce and Jim Lavene & Ellie Grant): Fry Another Day (This will be the 2nd in the Bowl Food Truck Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: The Mad Catter (This will be the 2nd in the Whales and Tails Mystery Series.)

Kathi Daley: Puppies in Paradise (This will be the 5th in the Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mystery Series.)

Hallie Ephron: Photoplay (This will be a Stand Alone mystery novella.)

Kathleen Ernst: The Smuggler’s Secrets (This will be an American Girls: Caroline mystery for children.)

Monica Ferris: Darned if You Do (This will be the 18th in the Needlecraft Mystery Series.)

Joanne Fluke: Double Fudge Brownie (This will be the 18th in the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series.)

Susan Froetschel: Allure of Deceit (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.) (Not Cozy)

Gemma Halliday: Deadly in High Heels (This will be the 9th book in the High Heels Mystery Series.)

David Handler: Phantom Angel (This will be the 2nd in the Benji Golden Mystery Series.)

B.B. Haywood: Town in a Sweet Pickle (This will be the 6th in the Candy Holliday Mystery Series.)

Mary Ellen Hughes: License to Dill (This will be the 2nd in the Pickled and Preserved Mystery Series.)

Jonathan Kellerman: Motive (This will be the 30th in the Alex Delaware Mystery Series.)

Laurie R. King: Dreaming Spies (This will be the 13th in the Mary Russell Mystery Series.)

Laura Lippman: Hush Hush (This will be the 12th in the Tess Monaghan Mystery Series.)

Jess Lourey: February Fever (This will be the 10th in the Murder by Month Mystery Series.) (This will be a Valentine’s Day theme mystery.)

Edward Marston (aka Conrad Allen & Keith Miles): Shadow of the Hangman (This will be the 1st in the NEW Bow Street Rivals Mystery Series.)

Mary McHugh: Flamenco, Flan, and Fatalities (This will be the 2nd in the Happy Hoofers Mystery Series.)

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): At the Drop of a Hat (This will be the 3rd in the Hat Shop Mystery Series.)

Staci McLaughlin: A Healthy Homicide (This will be the 4th in the Blossom Valley Mystery Series.)

Dani Pettrey: Sabotaged (This will be the 5th in the Alaskan Courage Mystery Series.)

Shirley Rousseau Murphy & Pat J.J. Murphy: The Cat, the Devil, and the Last Escape (This will be the 2nd book in the Lee Fontana Cat & Devil Mystery Series.)

J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts): Obsession In Death (This will be the 41st in the Eve Dallas in Death Mystery Series.)

Annelise Ryan (aka Allyson K. Abbott & Beth Amos): Stiff Penalty (This will be the 6th book in the Mattie Winston Mystery Series.)

C. J. Sansom: Lamentation (This will be the 6th book in the Matthew Shardlake Mystery Series.)

Joanna Campbell Slan: Shotgun, Wedding, Bells (This will be the 11th in the Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery Series.)

Alexander McCall Smith: Bertie’s Guide to Life and Mothers (This will be the 9th book in the 44 Scotland Street Series.) (This is not a mystery.)

Wendy Corsi Staub: The Black Widow (This will be a Stand Alone thriller mystery.)

*****If you want to see all of the covers for both this month’s releases as well as the releases for future months’ releases, you can find them on the side-bar of my Soon to be Released Mysteries page.

To go back to the Cozy Mystery New Book Release page, click here.

(These are the mysteries by authors who are currently on the Cozy Mystery site.)