The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Soon to be Released Mysteries Page is All Caught Up!

It’s been rather hectic around here this past week, but since our daughter headed out to see her last year’s work place boss and friends this morning, I’ve been playing catch-up on my computer. I’ve been getting my Soon to be Released Mysteries page all caught up. I just finished updating that page, as well as all of the authors’ pages who have new mysteries coming out in the near future. Whew! I found a whole lot of new Cozy Mystery releases! (And, when I say “a whole lot” that’s exactly what I mean!)

As you can see, Sally Goldenbaum will be releasing A Finely Knit Murder, her 9th Seaside Knitters mystery, which looks like it will be a fun read. >>> I would have had my tech guy (aka my husband) teach me how to put the title for the book under the picture, but he’s napping. (Of course, since his techno-help is free to me, I can’t complain about a few naps here and there.)

I have been posting some of the new releases that I have found over on my Facebook page. I think I’m getting the hang of it over there. Well, at least I’m sort of getting the hang of it! This reminds me, I have been meaning to thank ALL of you for “liking” my Cozy Mystery page over on Facebook. I’m still learning the ropes, so to speak, but people have been so kind to me over there. Thank you, ALL!

Getting back to what I’ve been up to while searching around the internet for new Cozy Mystery releases, I have found two new Cozy Mystery series that will be starting in 2015 >>> Susan Furlong‘s (aka Lucy Arlington) Georgia Peach Mystery Series and Peg Cochran‘s (aka Meg London) Cranberry Cove Mystery Series. Both of them look really good to me.

Anyway, while updating the Soon to be Released Mysteries page, I posted a few of the new Cozies over on my Facebook page. And then, since I seem to never feel complete without worrying about something or other, I started feeling guilty about spending all my time on my Facebook page, while sort of ignoring my Cozy-Mystery blog page. Good grief! (My husband would ask me: “When don’t you feel guilty about something or other?”)

Again, thank you, ALL, who have liked my Facebook page, and also, thank you, ALL, who participate in the blog area. I truly feel like we have a Cozy Mystery community going on over here!

Mystery Book Recommendations – December 2014

We’re all going to have to remember to write (or type) 2015 in just a few days! Where has this past year gone?

I know this is a very busy time of year for a lot of us, but I wonder if you could find the time to tell us about an extremely good Cozy Mystery book you read during December. Also, please tell us why you consider this Cozy to be so good that it stands out from the rest of the Cozies you read during the month. Please only tell us about the Cozies that were much better than the rest of the other Cozy Mystery books you read during December. Of course, if you read only one or two Cozy Mysteries this month, and liked both of them a lot, then please tell us about them.

I’m going to start by saying I’m currently in the middle of an Inspector Wexford mystery by Ruth Rendell. I know he’s an inspector, so he doesn’t qualify for the amateur sleuth category, but I think of these mysteries as more Cozy à la Agatha Christie style than police procedural. Rather than write the reason for my recommendation, I will refer you to two entries I wrote about why I like Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford mysteries so much:

Ruth Rendell: From Doon with Death, Reginald Wexford, Revisited

Ruth Rendell…. Timeless….

There’s a reason the  Crime Writers’ Association (British) added two of Ruth Rendell’s books to their Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time and the Mystery Writers of America added one of her mysteries to their  Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list!

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

What terrific Cozy Mystery book(s) did you read during December 2014 that you think the rest of us would definitely enjoy reading, and why did you enjoy it (them)?

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

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

Isabella Alan (aka Amanda Flower): Amish Quilt Shop Mystery Series

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

Donald Bain: Capital Crimes Mystery Series

Juliet Blackwell (aka Hailey Lind): Haunted Home Renovation Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Royal Spyness Mystery Series

Simon Brett: Fethering Mystery Series

Duffy Brown: Cycle Path Mystery Series

Rita Mae Brown: Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series

Molly Cox Bryan: Cumberland Creek Mystery Series

Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib): Key West Food Critic Mystery Series

Lynn Cahoon: Tourist Trap Mystery Series

V.C. Clinton-Baddeley: No Case for the Police

Shelley Costa: Miracolo Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffeehouse Mystery Series

Kathi Daley: Zoe Donovan Mystery Series

Evelyn David: Ghosts of Lottawatah Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Cyril Hare: An English Murder (Stand Alone)

Sherry Harris: Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery Series (Tagged for Death – book #1)

Carolyn Hart: Bailey Ruth Ghost Mystery Series

Betty Hechtman: Crochet Mystery Series

Lee Hollis: Hayley Powell Food & Cocktail Mystery Series

Maria Hudgins: Lacy Glass Archaeology Mystery Series

Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series

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

Miranda James (aka Honor Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Cats in the Stacks Mystery Series

Diane Kelly: Tara Holloway Death and Taxes Mystery Series

Sofie Kelly (aka Sofie Ryan): Magical Cats Mystery Series

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

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Pet Psychic Mystery Series

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Renaissance Faire Mystery Series

T.C. LoTempio: Nick and Nora Mystery Series (Meow If It’s Murder – book #1)

Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig): Peter Shandy Mystery Series

Susan Elia MacNeal: Maggie Hope Mystery Series

Rose Pressey: A Haunted Vintage Mystery (If You’ve Got It, Haunt It – book #1)

Ann Purser: Lois Meade Mystery Series

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

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

Ruth Rendell: Inspector Wexford Mystery Series

Ruth Rendell: The Girl Next Door 

Connie Shelton: Samantha Sweet 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 monthly recommendation entries.

Christmas Memories…

christmas3adg.knqery .Oh, the weather outside is frightful…

Well, maybe not! We have finally hit 50° here in San Antonio, so at least we need to wear jackets! Not quite frightful, but at least getting closer to what it should be at this time of year.

As Christmas nears, I have been thinking back to when I was young and my family would go to my grandmother’s house in Northwood, Iowa. Christmas at my grandmother’s house was everything a Christmas should be. The snow falling gently to the ground (I didn’t have to shovel!), the cookie tins full of her delicious treats that magically appeared every year, getting to sleep in the same room as my older sister, visiting the town’s library with my grandmother; those are the types of memories I cherish.

This is a nostalgic time of year for all of us. It’s a time when a lot of us reflect on the people who have been sprinkled throughout our lives, some of them no longer with us, but all of them still in our hearts. I try hard not to miss those people who were so dear to me, and instead, I try to focus on the memories I still have of them, and enjoy the memories I’m making today.

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