The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

2014 Nero Award & Black Orchid Novella Award

Well, I’ve finally posted this year’s winner on my Nero Awards page – big congratulations to David Morell for his novel, Murder as a Fine Art!

Of course, all the other nominees deserve congratulations as well – it’s a big honor to be nominated for an award as prestigious as the Nero! The Nero Awards are given out by the “Wolfe Pack”, a fan club devoted to author Rex Stout‘s “Nero Wolfe” series. This worldwide club’s members originally formed in 1977 specifically to discuss Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe (and don’t forget Archie Goodwin!) series. The Nero has since grown into one of the most prestigious awards available in mystery fiction.

As I said before, all the nominees should be honored – here’s a full list, in case you’re interested in looking up their works!

2014 Black Orchid Awards Nominees:

Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell (winner!)

Ask Not by Max Allan Collins

Three Can Keep a Secret by Archer Mayor

A Study in Revenge by Kieran Sheilds

A Question of Honor by Charles Todd

In addition to giving out the Nero Award, the Wolfe Pack also recently awarded their Black Orchid Novella Award (which you can find on this page), presented jointly with the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine to an outstanding shorter mystery work. This year, the winner is K.G. McAbee, for “Dyed to Death”. The chairperson for this award was Jane K. Cleland – of particular note to us Cozy Mystery fans as a very popular author in her own right, having recently released the ninth book in her popular Josie Prescott AntiquesMystery Series (Blood Rubies)!

If you’d like to take a look at more mystery awards, here is the link to my Mystery Book Awards page.

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death Television Movie

Good news! Ian sent me a note all the way from across the pond telling me something I absolutely have GOT to share with you all. M.C. Beaton‘s first Agatha Raisin mystery has been made into a television movie. Since they are showing the movie in Great Britain on Boxing Day (December 26), we should be getting “Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death” pretty soon.

Ian:

Just in case you’re not aware, the first Agatha Raisin book ‘…and the Quiche of Death’ has been filmed and is going to be on Sky1 (in the UK at least) on Boxing Day. The trailer makes it look quite good and it stars Ashley Jensen (Extras) as Agatha.

Thank you, Ian! We won’t be seeing it for a while, but it’s great to know they have made it!

Here’s the trailer I found on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4jlAieV5vE

I’m already looking forward to seeing this television movie. If you’re anything like me, you are probably wondering why Ashley Jensen (a beautiful, trim blond) is playing Agatha Raisin. Keep in mind, they had beautiful Sharon Small playing Sgt. Barbara Havers in the Inspector Lynley television shows, and that show was very good.

Again, thank you, Ian!

Elizabeth Lee, Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli, Leighann Dobbs, Kathleen Ernst, & Mary McHugh : Four (or Five?) New Cozy Mystery Authors on the Cozy Mystery Site

You all have sent me some great recommendations for Cozy Mystery authors who I should post on the site, and I don’t know why it takes me so long to finally get their pages up! Well, I have finally finished getting pages made of four authors – one of whom uses two names, thus the 4 or 5 dilemma.

 Elizabeth Lee (aka Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli)  Elizabeth Lee writes the Nut House Mystery Series, which takes place in Texas. The sleuth in this series is Lindy Blanchard, a biologist. Lindy works on her family’s pecan farm as a bioengineer, trying to develop the best pecan crops her family can grow. Lindy also works in the farm’s shop, where they sell all sorts of pecan products. Oh, and Lindy also works at solving mysteries!

 Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli (aka Elizabeth Lee)  Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli writes the Emily Kincaid Mystery Series, which takes place in Michigan. Emily is a reporter who sort of works with Dolly Wakowski, a deputy, solving crimes.

 Leighann Dobbs  Leighann Dobbs writes several different Cozy Mystery series. Her Lexy Baker series features a baker who gets a lot of help from her grandmother (and her friends!) when solving crimes. Dobbs also writes the Blackmoore Sisters Romantic Cozy Mystery Series, which features two sisters who sell herbal remedies and crystals. Oh, and they can communicate with their dead grandmother. Willa Chance is a crime journalist who sees ghosts in the Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series. Dobbs also writes the Mooseamuck Island Mystery Series which takes place in Maine, and features two police consultants, one of whom is a retired police detective and the other, a retired psychologist. Dobbs also writes the Fancytales series (which are based on fairy tales) and the  Kate Diamond Adventure Series.

 Kathleen Ernst Kathleen Ernst writes the Chloe Ellefson Mystery Series, as well as several American Girl History Mystery books and American Girl mysteries for children. Ernst worked at a living museum in Wisconsin for twelve years, which sounds like the basis for her Chloe Ellefson series. Chloe is a sleuth who is the curator at a living history museum in Wisconsin, during the 1980s. Ernst has been nominated for several Agatha Awards for Best Children’s/Young Adult mysteries and she was also nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile mystery.

 Mary McHugh  Mary McHugh pens the Happy Hoofers Mystery Series. The Happy Hoofers are a group of friends in their fifties who love to tap dance. They love tapping so much that they now tour the world showing off their tap dancing skills. They travel to places like Russia and Spain, not just tap dancing their ways across the globe, but also solving mysteries. McHugh has written articles for the “Sophisticated Traveler” section of the New York Times.

Best Selling Authors with Children’s or Young Adult Mystery Series, Part 3

Today we’ll be continuing our ongoing look at mystery series that are appropriate for children or young adults by authors who are usually thought of as mystery authors for adults.

I will begin with Joelle Charbonneau. She writes the Glee Club Mystery Series and the Rebecca Robbins Mystery Series for adult mystery readers. She also writes the Testing thriller series for young adults. The first mystery in this series is called The Testing, and it introduces us to Cia Vale, a gifted graduate who has been chosen to attend a program for potential leaders of the new civilization (post-war). (It was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult mystery.) This sounds like a sci-fi mystery sereis that is aimed at young adults.

Jane Langton writes the Homer Kelly Mystery Series (for adults) which features a Harvard professor. Something I just very recently became aware of is that she is the same Jane Langton who writes the Hall Family Chronicles Mystery Series for children. These mysteries are geared for children in the fifth grade and up. The Diamond in the Window is the first in the series, and was nominated for the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile mystery. The Fledgling is the fourth in the Hall Family Chronicles Series.

Victoria Laurie, author of the very popular paranormal Psychic Eye Mystery Series and the Ghost Hunter Mystery Series also writes a paranormal mystery series for children. The Oracles of the Delphi Mystery Series introduces us to Ian Wigbyin in the first book called Oracles of Delphi Keep. Ian and his sister (Theo) live in Delphi Keep orphanage, on the English southern coast. Ian and Theo find a special treasure box, and from there, they are on exciting adventures, solving mysteries with their group of friends.

Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan (Bones) Mystery Series for adults writes the Virals Series for young adults. She wrote the first two by herself, but was then joined by her son, Brendan Reichs, for the rest. This series has, as its sleuth, Tory Brennan, the niece of Temperance Brennan (Bones). Virals (the first mystery in this young adults series) was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult mystery.

 Penny Warner‘s Code Busters Club Mystery Series stands out even among fellow Agatha nominees, as it has won once and been nominated twice more – and it would be a bit surprising if she didn’t get at least a nomination this year for the fourth book! The first book in the series, The Secret of the Skeleton Key, introduces readers to Cody, Quinn, Luke, and M.E., the members of the Code Busters, as they try to decode a message left by a neighbor – a code that could just be an SOS! The Code Busters Club series includes a number of codes within the books themselves for children to solve, and provides answers in the back if you get stuck. The Code Busters series is most appropriate for children ages 9-12.

Finally, Nancy Means Wright is the author of both the Mary Wollstonecraft Mystery Series and the Ruth Willmarth Mystery Series, both series are for adult mystery lovers. She is also the author of the Northern Spy Mystery Series. Inspired by the Nancy Drew mysteries, Wright’s two children-appropriate mystery novels revolve around Zoe Elwood and the Northern Spy Club of Northern Vermont. The first book, The Pea Soup Poisonings, which won the 2006 Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult mystery, revolves around young Zoe’s attempts to get into the Northern Spy Club by solving the possible-murder of a friend’s grandmother after eating a bowl of pea soup. The 2nd mystery book is called The Great Circus Train Robbery, and it was nominated for the very prestigious Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult mystery.

This is the last of this mini-series of entries. Have I missed your favorite young adult or children’s mystery series? Let me know in the comments!

Best Selling Authors with Children’s or Young Adult Mystery Series, Part 1

Best Selling Authors with Children’s or Young Adult Mystery Series, Part 2

Mystery Books for Pre Teens…

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