Tace Baker, Dawn Eastman, Edith Maxwell, Cate Price, Christine Wenger, & Annie’s Quilted Mystery Series : New Authors on the Cozy Mystery Site

March 10, 2014

I have just put some new authors/pages up on the Cozy Mystery site. Let’s see, there is a new mystery series which comes to us from the people at Annie’s Crafts Company, and there are also five new Cozy Mystery authors. Well, technically there are only four authors, but one of them has a pseudonym, so the person is only one, but her “authors names” count as two.

writes the Family Fortune Mystery Series. Clyde Fortune is an ex-policewoman who returns to the family business. Clyde’s mother is a tarot card reader and her Aunt Vi is a pet psychic. They own the Crystal Haven in Michigan.

(aka Tace Baker) is an ex-farmer of an organic farm and has her Ph.D. in Linguistics. She writes the Local Foods Mystery Series which is set in Massachusetts. Cam Flaherty is her sleuth, and she is an organic farmer as well.
Tace Baker (aka Edith Maxwell) writes the Speaking of Mystery Mystery Series. The main character is Lauren Rousseau, a Quaker linguistics professor in a small New England college town.

writes the Deadly Notions Mystery Series, which takes place in a quaint town in Pennsylvania. Daisy Buchanan is the sleuth and she manages the Great Notion Sewing & Antiques Shop. As a retired teacher, Daisy can tell who is lying and who isn’t!

has her master’s degrees in both Sociology and Probation and Parole Studies, and is the author of the Comfort Food Mystery Series. Trixie Matkowski is a recent divorcée who manages a diner in a small town in upstate New York.

Annie’s Crafts Company is the publisher responsible for the Annie’s Quilted Mystery Series. This series is going to be like the Annie’s Attic Mystery Series and the Creative Woman Mystery Series in that it will be a series written by several different Cozy Mystery authors. Annie’s Quilted Mystery Series takes place in Mystic Harbor, Massachusetts. This series features the women members of the Nimble Thimbles Quilting Group.

♦To return to the Cozy Mystery site, click on this link.♦

New Favorite Cozy Mystery Author with a Whole Lot of Mysteries: Back-to-Back OR Spaced?

March 8, 2014

Yow! How exciting is this? You’ve just found a new-to-you Cozy Mystery author who you absolutely adore reading. How can things get better than this? Oh my gosh, this author has a whole back-log of books for you to read before you catch up with his/her current releases! How terrific is this?

Hmmm… Not so fast, leave it to me to find a negative side of this pretty phenomenal scenario. Should you “space” the mysteries with other books >>> the way it would have happened naturally if you had found the author right when he/she started publishing the books OR should you hurry up and play “catch-up” with the author by reading all of his/her mysteries back-to-back? (I told you I could see this book shelf half empty!)

The reason I’m asking this particular question is that I recently broke my spacing system with a new favorite author (Conrad Allen – aka Edward Marston & Keith Miles). He is still on my favorite authors list, but from now on I am going to space his books with my other TBR mysteries. Usually I never read two mysteries by the same author back-to-back. But in this case, since my husband started reading the second mystery in the series, I decided – why not?

Whereas Conrad Allen‘s fans from the beginning of his series had to wait a full year until they could again sail with George Dillman, my husband and I jumped right on to the Mauretania’s deck immediately after disembarking from the Lusitania. But here’s something I discovered: it was just a little too quick after our Lusitania cruise to be able to fully enjoy travelling with Dillman so soon. You’ve heard of the expression “too much of a good thing”, right? Well, I think that’s sort of what happened to both my husband and me.

While both of us enjoyed the second Dillman mystery, we felt that we should have taken a little time before embarking on another mystery cruise. Allen’s writing was still excellent, his descriptions, characters, and plot were all still very good. However, the village was a ship, which meant that Allen couldn’t keep the same “villagers”. So, because most ships in a line are going to be very similar, yet the characters couldn’t be the same people, it posed the problem of having the same village (ship) with a whole new cast of characters. (As I said earlier, Allen is still on my favorite authors list but I’m going to read a few other books before I go on to his third mystery in the series.)

When you discover a new-to-you Cozy Mystery author with a lot of mysteries already written, do you space them out or do you read them back-to-back? And if you do read them back-to-back, has this ever back-fired on you? [As usual, I ask that you don’t name an author/series if you are negative.]

♦To return to the Cozy Mystery site, click on this link.♦

One Cozy Mystery Author, Multiple Mystery Series, One Preference…

March 5, 2014

I received a letter from “Lynn T.” last month with two great ideas for entry posts. Thank you, Lynn T, for both of the ideas. While I like both of them, I have been thinking about this one the most. Lynn T.:

“… I really enjoyed the blog where an author wrote more than one series. You asked which of the series by the author would you recommend to a person who wasn’t familiar with the series. I remember off the top of my head a few you asked about-Susan Wittig Albert, Mary Daheim and I think Paige Shelton and Sheila Connolly. There were more. I know I started the Emma Lord series by Mary Daheim from that post. …”

I have seen a definite increase of Cozy Mystery authors who write multiple series. Some of the authors use pseudonyms, while others don’t. I’m going to use my favorite Cozy Mystery author of all time to start the ball rolling:

So, you haven’t yet ventured into the world of Agatha Christie? Wow! Do you have a reading treat in store for you! She wrote several Cozy Mystery series, but two of them are more popular/famous than the others: Hercule Poirot Mystery Series and Miss Marple Mystery Series. Hmmm, since you can only try one book at a time, I want to be sure to recommend the series I think you might enjoy the most. Hmmm, this is particularly difficult, but if I could only choose one, it would hands-down, unequivocally be the Miss Marple Mystery Series. (I guess it really wasn’t that difficult for me to choose!)

While I have read and am currently re-reading both the Hercule Poirot series as well as the Miss Marple series, I tend to look forward to my Miss Marple mysteries a little more. When you think about both of the main sleuths, you can see that they are very different from each other. There is almost a 180º difference between them. Poirot is arrogant, needs to be the center of attention, fussy, immaculately groomed, and sometimes condescending. Poirot solves mysteries by using his little gray cells to think through the puzzle. Miss Marple, on the other hand, is likely to fade into the background, friendly, quiet, and almost reserved. Miss Marple solves mysteries through her knowledge of human nature.

Miss Marple is a true amateur sleuth, while Poirot is a private detective and an ex-member of the Belgian police force. When it gets right down to it, which of these two sleuths would I want to spend time with and get to know? Hands-down again: Miss Marple! While I think Poirot would be fun to spend a little time with, I’m not quite sure if I would be able to overlook his pomposity, the way Hastings does. Miss Marple, on the other hand, enjoys the simple pleasures – knitting, gardening, with a little gossiping -which I think I’d very much enjoy with her.

What about you? Do you have a favorite Cozy Mystery author who writes more than one mystery series? If so, without being too negative about the other series(s), which of his/her series would you recommend over his/her other(s), and please tell us why.

Danna:
Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Mystery Series

Teressa:
Susan Wittig Albert: China Bayles Mystery Series
Victoria Laurie: Psychic Eye Mystery Series
Maggie Sefton: Knitting Mystery Series

Carol:
Margaret Maron: Sigrid Harald Mystery Series

Angela:
Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series
Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Orchard Mystery Series
Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Mystery Series

Susan*:
Agatha Christie: Tommy & Tuppence Mystery Series
Susan Wittig Albert: China Bayles Mystery Series
Victoria Laurie: Ghost Hunter Mystery Series
Elizabeth Peters: Amelia Peabody Mystery Series
Kerry Greenwood: Corinna Chapman Mystery Series

Chris:
Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Mystery Series

Suzanne:
Carolyn Hart: Death on Demand Mystery Series

Jackie:
Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Mystery Series
Mary Daheim: Bed & Breakfast Mystery Series

Pat:
M.C. Beaton: Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series

Laura:
Susan Wittig Albert: (written as Robin Paige with husband Bill Albert): Kate Ardleigh Sheridan & Sir Charles Sheridan Victorian Mystery Series
Laurie R. King: Mary Russell Mystery Series
Elizabeth Peters: Amelia Peabody Mystery Series

Lynn T.:
Susan Wittig Albert: Darling Dahlias Mystery Series
Paige Shelton: Country Cooking School Mystery Series
Ellery Adams: Books by the Bay Mystery Series
Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series
Victoria Abbott: Book Collector’s Mystery Series
Sheila Connolly: County Cork Mystery Series
Charlotte MacLeod: Sarah Kelling Mystery Series

Marja:
Clea Simon: Theda Krakow Mystery Series
Margaret Maron: Deborah Knott Mystery Series
Carolyn Hart: Henrie O Mystery Series
Lydia Adamson: Alice Nestleton Mystery Series

Donna Mc:
Agatha Christie: Harley Quin Stories

MJ:
Amanda Flower: Appleseed Creek Mystery Series
Joan Hess: Claire Malloy Mystery Series
Crickett McRae: Home Crafting Mystery Series

Judith:
Charlotte MacLeod: Inspector Mado Rhys Mystery Series

♦To return to the Cozy Mystery site, click on this link.♦

St. Patrick’s Day Mysteries (OR As Some Know It: St. Paddy’s Day Mysteries)

March 4, 2014

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I thought I would update my list of mystery books that place during the season. While you take a look at the list, I wonder if you could see if I’m missing any St. Paddy’s Day mysteries. If I am, would you please post a comment so that I can add it (hopefully not “them”!) to the list.