The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Wow, it’s hard to believe that the year will be coming to an end so soon! It feels like just yesterday we were taking down our Christmas tree, but here we’ll be putting it up again before too long!

As usual, December will be a pretty good month for Christmas-themed Cozy Mysteries, though more are being released during November! We can look forward to another two Christmas related mysteries and a non-mystery by one of our mystery authors in December, so let’s get right to it!

First, Isabella Alan will be releasing the third book in her Amish Quilt Shop Mystery Series, Murder, Served Simply. Though the Amish Quilt Shop series has already built up quite a following, most Cozy readers are as likely to recognize her work as Amanda Flower, the name she has used for her previous works. This entry in the Quilt Shop series will see Christmas in Rolling Brook, Ohio, and Angie Braddock’s family will be visiting – unfortunately including her ex, for some reason!

Lucy Burdette will be releasing Death With All the Trimmings, the fifth book in her Key West Food Critic Mystery Series. Food critic Haylee Snow is asked to help investigate possible arson by a local chef, when a corpse turns up in the wreckage! As with many Cozy writers, Lucy Burdette has written under a different name in the past – you may be familiar with Roberta Isleib‘s Advice Column Mystery Series and Golf Lovers’ Mystery Series. Well, Lucy Burdette is also known as Roberta Ileib!

Finally, Carla Neggers will be releasing a story set in her Swift River Valley Romance Series, titled Christmas at Carriage Hill. This isn’t a Christmas Cozy exactly, as it isn’t even a mystery, but rather belongs in the romance genre. However, Neggers writes enough Cozy material that she has lots of fans here so I thought I should mention it.

If you just can’t wait to get started reading Christmas-themed mysteries, you might be more interested in seeing one of my previous articles, Christmas Books Released in November 2014. If even waiting for the rest of this month is too long, you might consider instead starting at my Christmas Mystery Book List.

Goodness gracious, it’s only the beginning of November and one of my holiday traditions has already bit the dust! This year will be the first year since 2003 without a Special Pennyfoot Hotel mystery. A Christmas-themed series that has been released annually, Kate Kingsbury‘s series has become a regular November release every year for over a decade, though there was a two year gap after the first release when she didn’t put out a Christmas book.

The Special Pennyfoot Hotel holiday series began as a spin-off from the main Pennyfoot Hotel mystery series, Kate Kingsbury’s original series. Published in 2003, No Clue at the Inn was a continuation of the characters and setting, which had been shelved since 1999 with the final Pennyfoot Hotel release. (I wanted to post these covers since I think they are so beautiful. Shrouds of Holly is the 3rd in this Christmas Cozy Mystery series, and Decked with Folly is the 5th.)

Kate Kingsbury is still putting out books, of course, though she isn’t using the name Kate Kingsbury any more. Instead, her new series, the Raven’s Nest Bookstore Mystery Series, is published under the name Allison Kingsley. I don’t know why she decided to change the name she publishes under, as my understanding is that the Pennyfoot holiday series continued to be well-received and popular with her fans. (Also, I should mention that she wrote the Bellehaven House Mystery Series as Rebecca Kent.)

So, as I said at the beginning, this will be the first November in years without a Cozy Christmas  Pennyfoot Hotel mystery. It seems like a strange thing to get a bit sad about, but I feel like the month will be a bit different without what had sort of become a tradition for me.

Do any of you happen to share my tradition of curling up before the fire (well, leave out the fire part here in San Antonio!) with a good annual holiday mystery? Is there another holiday tradition that you’re fond of that you’ve had to let go of in recent years? As always, I appreciate all comments.