The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

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

I’ve been asked a few times lately what sort of books I could recommend for children or young adults interested in reading Cozy Mysteries. Though I wrote an article on mystery books for pre-teens a few years ago, I thought it might be interesting to take another look at some of the more popular mystery authors (both Cozy Mystery and some not so Cozy) who write mystery series for adults and also write mysteries for children and young adults. This time I’ll be going into a bit more detail than in my previous post instead of making a longer list.

As a note for the recommended ages I list in these articles, I unfortunately have not had the time to read any of them so this is going off the synopsis and what other people have recommended to me. Don’t just take my word for it if you are worried about exposing your child to potentially rough concepts!

First up, Harlan Coben is an author who doesn’t deal with Cozies so much, however I enjoyed reading his Myron Bolitar series as it was being released. He also has a young adult mystery series worth investigating, the Mickey Bolitar Mystery Series. Mickey’s already been through a lot by the beginning of his first book, Shelter, which was nominated for both the Agatha Awards for Best Children/Young Adults mysteries as well as the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult mysteries. In Shelter, Mickey’s father has died and his mother is in rehab, leaving him with his Uncle Myron. When his girlfriend Ashley unexpectedly disappears, he decides he’s had enough, and sets out to find her on his own if necessary. Though less cozy than many of the series, I’ve had this one recommended several times. This series might be a bit more advanced as it deals with some sensitive issues such as drug addiction, and is likely more appropriate for high-schoolers.

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan) was recently nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult mystery for Andi Unexpected, the first book in her Andi Boggs Mystery Series. After the death of their parents, Andi and her sister Bethany are forced to move to the family’s old homestead in Ohio to live with their aunt. When Andi discovers an old trunk in the attic containing relics of another Andora Boggs from years ago, who apparently disappeared under mysterious circumstances, she decides to investigate and try to learn what happened to her relative – despite the fact that the townspeople seem to be covering it up for some reason. From what I’ve heard, this series should be well-suited to older elementary or middle schoolers.

Though John Grisham isn’t known for Cozy Mysteries, rather for the courtroom dramas and thrillers he writes, in more recent years Grisham has been branching out into chilren’s mysteries with his Theodore Boone Mystery Series beginning with Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. Grisham’s series stars 13 year old Theo Boone, a young man who wants nothing more than to grow up and become a trial lawyer. When Theo accidentally learns too much, he becomes the only hope to help put a killer behind bars for good. As with Grisham’s other works, the Theodore Boone series takes full advantage of Grisham’s strong understanding of the American legal system. This series appears to be aimed at middle schoolers. Oh, and it has been nominated for the Agatha Awards Best Children/Young Adults mysteries category.

Finally, Carl Hiaasen is a popular mystery author for adults with his Skink Mystery Series. His children books are all stand-alones rather than being organized into a single series. Hiaasen’s children’s mysteries have been nominated for the prestigious Agatha Awards Best Children/Young Adult mysteries, the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile mysteries, and he is a Newbery Honor winner. Most of Hiaasen’s children’s mysteries seems to be appropriate for 5th grad (10 year olds) and up.

I’ll probably be making a few more entries on this subject in the near future – there are still plenty more great mysteries suitable for children and young adults! For now, are there any child-friendly mystery series you might recommend? Be sure to leave a comment below!

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

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

Mystery Books for Pre Teens…

Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie Mystery Series

Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery (The Chet and Bernie Mystery Series Book 1) As most of you Cozy Mystery readers who have been with me for a while know, I usually enjoy reading Cozies that you would consider “classics” of the Cozy Mystery genre, however, sometimes I make exceptions >>> as I’m guessing a lot of you do! I little while ago I found myself reading another of Spencer Quinn‘s Chet and Bernie mysteries. While you technically wouldn’t consider them to be Cozy Mysteries, I absolutely love them! Spencer Quinn is one of my very favorite mystery authors. I would recommend the Chet and Bernie mysteries to anyone who is looking for a good time, however, I must warn you that it is not technically a Cozy Mystery series.

The Chet and Bernie Mystery Series starts with Dog On It. Chet is an almost-former police dog who is now owned by private investigator, Bernie Little. I wouldn’t call Chet this book’s “sleuth” – despite being the narrator, Chet is limited far more than most animals you will see portrayed in Cozy fiction, which can be surprisingly refreshing. Many books featuring an animal as a main character tend to make them more “human” than in this book – instead, Chet is periodically distracted by things like cats, noises, and his own tail, and even has trouble telling people apart if he can’t smell them clearly. It is because of these limitations and shortcomings that I came to love Chet – he’s a dog, not a person that happens to look like an animal.

In a lot of ways, Dog On It feels more like a pulp detective novel than a Cozy Mystery. The detective Bernie is a rather hard-bitten, hard-drinking private investigator with military experience. He investigates things like drugs and disappearances, not the politely bloodless murders often featured in Cozies. Another character even compares Bernie to a Raymond Chandler character at one point, so Bernie is obviously intended to fit the “private investigator” more popular in pulp fiction. All that said, I still consider the Chet and Bernie series somewhat Cozy because of the narration provided by lively Chet. Because so much of the story is told through his clever (but limited) point of view, Quinn’s stories always feel light, even if the subject material sometimes isn’t.

By the way, Spencer Quinn is also known as Peter Abrahams, a mystery author for both adults and children. He writes both the Echo Falls Mystery Series and The Outlaws of Sherwood Street mysteries for grades 5-8. Abrahams (Quinn) has been nominated and won the Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult mysteries as well as the been nominated and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult mysteries.

For those of you who haven’t already found how wonderful the Chet and Bernie Mystery Series is, Quinn has written three stories that can give you a feel for the series:

A Cat Was Involved (prequel story)

The Iggy Chronicles

Tail of Vengeance

P.S. If you’re interested in other entries about some highly recommended Cozy Mystery series, you can see them on the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Thank You to Our Armed Forces on Veteran’s Day (& Every Day!)

veteran'sdayI hope many of you are off from work today and are able to take some time to think about the brave men and women who are serving and who have served in the armed forces. This is a day to thank them, because they are the reason we live in the country we do.

When I was quite young, my father served in the Air Force and later, my husband was also in the Air Force. I was fortunate to have lived over-seas while both my father, and then my husband were stationed in other countries. Our experiences have provided me with many wonderful memories, but I can also remember times when there were political problems in those countries.

On Veteran’s Day I reflect on how lucky we are to be living here, and how lucky we are to have men and women who are willing to serve in the armed forces. To me, it’s not just a day off from work, it’s a day of celebration of our freedom and a day for thanks to those whose sacrifices made and continue to make it possible.

Thank you to all of the men and women who make our country such a wonderful place to live!

San Antonio to Colorado, and Back Again

As I mentioned in one of my recent comments, my husband and I just returned from visiting my mother in Colorado Springs. I have to say, that the trips up there have changed so much that whenever I go there, it’s as if I’m visiting for the first time.

While our son and daughter were growing up, we made yearly trips out to Colorado to visit our children’s grandfather, grandmother, uncle, and Aspen. [We actually visited through two Aspens! Aspen was – or in this case I should say “were” – my father’s beloved Cocker Spaniel(s).] We are now visiting just my mother, my brother, her Spaniel, and all three of the rotating 24/7 health care providers who are assigned to my mother.

Yes, our visits are quite different from those times when we would sit out on my parent’s patio, gazing up at Pike’s Peak, eating some of the best Chicago Dogs (ever!) from a little hotdog stand in Manitou Springs. Gone are the days of cog railway rides up Pike’s Peak and all of us going to Cripple Creek to ride the narrow gauge railroad and watch the melodrama. You know what they say about time passing >>> and it certainly has!

Now that my mother goes to bed so doggone early, and since our bedroom there doesn’t have a TV (the health care providers sleep in the guest bedroom with a TV), my husband and I have found that our Kindles have come in mighty handy! I had been reading seasonal/holiday mysteries, most by authors I had never read before, but decided that I would stop reading those in lieu of reading one of my favorite authors: Monica Ferris.

I knew that at the end of the days, I would be in need of a book that would hold my attention and I also knew that I would find comfort in visiting the “friends” I have made who inhabit the Crewel World needlecraft shop. I knew I would want to sort of be transported to a fictional town, where Betsy would be sleuthing and my favorite character of the series, Godwin, would be teaching new-to-needlecraft people the ins and outs of the how to knit/crochet or needlepoint.

Now that we are back in San Antonio, I just bought my next Monica Ferris Kindle Cozy Mystery book (my mom doesn’t have WiFi) for another time when I am in need of immersing myself with Betsy and Godwin – fictional friends with whom I enjoy passing time.

Is there an author who you always want to take on a vacation with you? If so, could you tell us why you absolutely need this author’s characters, setting, and/or mysteries to accompany you?

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