The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Favorite Cozy Mystery Books for 2013

We started the “Favorite Cozy Mystery Books for the Year” last year when Lynn T proposed that we list our very, very favorite-est (my words, not hers!) mysteries of the year. We already do our monthly favorite mysteries, so these Favorite of the Year should be the very best of the best we have read.

I have read many good Cozy Mystery books this year. I have also read some not-so-good Cozy Mysteries. (Haven’t we all?!?) I have mentioned several of the authors who are on my Favorite Authors list. But who wrote my very favorite mystery read of the year?

When I was talking to my husband about this entry, I asked him how I could ever pick just one mystery book and say it was my very favorite of the year. I have enjoyed so many, how would I be able to pick just one? I then told him about several of my favorite authors who I have read this year. Since this list is not comprised of just brand new authors who started being published this year, it includes ALL Cozy Mystery authors. Hmmm… That’s a whole lot of authors! He then asked me who I thought is my very favorite Cozy Mystery author, to which I responded, Agatha Christie.

Christie is one of the very few authors who I have read, re-read, and plan to re-read again. She was a formidable story-teller. Her characters always ring true to me. There’s a reason her books are still so popular; although written many years ago, they seem almost ageless. She is able to describe/depict the very nature of people and their quirks. Her writing style is flawless and flows so easily. Her mysteries are perfect.

So, I will nominate Agatha Christie’s (1957) What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (aka 4:50 from Paddington) since it is the last Miss Marple mystery I have read by this phenomenal author.

So please tell us about your Favorite Cozy Mystery Read for 2013, and why you are picking this book or author. Thank you!

As usual with these types of entries, I will add the books/authors who you all comment about to the list:

Favorite Cozy Mystery Reads for 2013:

Ellery Adams (aka Jennifer Stanley, J.B. Stanley, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington: Poisoned Prose

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimnity and the Lost Prince

Josie Belle (aka Jenn McKinlay & Lucy Lawrence): Buried in Bargains

Agatha Christie: 4:50 from Paddington (aka What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw)

Agatha Christie: By the Pricking of My Thumbs 

Sheila Connolly: Buried in a Bog

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): A Plain Scandal

Mary Lou Kirwin: Killer Librarian

Joyce and Jim Lavene (aka J.J. Cook & Ellie Grant): Harrowing Hats

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Cloche and Dagger

Louise Penny: How the Light Comes In

Dana Stabenow: Bad Blood

Heather Webber (aka Heather Blake): The Root of All Trouble

If you’re interested in seeing a whole lot more recommendations made by Cozy Mystery readers, click here: Monthly Cozy Mystery Recommendations.

February 2014 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in February 2014:

Avery Aames (aka Daryl Wood Gerber): Days of Wine and Roquefort (This will be the 5th in the Cheese Shop Mystery Series.)

Laura Alden: Poison at the PTA (This will be the 5th in the Beth Kennedy PTA Mystery Series.)

Lucy Arlington (aka Jennifer Stanely & Sylvia May): Books, Cooks, and Crooks (This will be the 3rd in the Novel Idea Mystery Series.)

Mignon F. Ballard: Miss Dimple Picks a Peck of Trouble (This will be the 4th in the Miss Dimple Kilpatrick Mystery Series.)

M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney: Death of a Policeman (This will be the 30th in the Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series.)

Jessica Beck (aka Elizabeth Bright, Casey Mayes, Melissa Glazer, Chris Cavender, & Tim Myers): A Burned Out Baker (This will be the 7th in the Classic Diner Mystery Series.)

Rhys Bowen: A Royal Threesome (This will be a Royal Spyness Omnibus. It contains the first three Royal Spyness mysteries: Her Royal Spyness, A Royal Pain, & Royal Flush.)

Simon Brett: The Strangling on the Stage (This will be the 15th in the Fethering Mystery Series.)

Mollie Cox Bryan: Death of an Irish Diva (This will be the 3rd in the Cumberland Creek Mystery Series.)

Lucy Burdette (aka Robert Isleib): Murder with Ganache (This will be the 4th in the Key West food Critic Mystery Series.)

P.F. Chisholm: An Air of Treason (This will be the 6th in the Sir Robert Carey Mystery Series.)

Ann Cleeves: Dead Water (This will be the 5th in the Shetland Island Mystery Series.)

Kate Collins: Throw in the Trowel (This will be the in the 15th Flower Shop Mystery Series.)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Scandal in Skibbereen (This will be the 2nd in the County Cork Mystery Series.)

Lindsey Davis: A Cruel Fate (This will be a Stand Alone Novella mystery.)

Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg: The Chase (This will be the 2nd in the Fox & O’Hare Mystery Series.)

Monica Ferris: The Drowning Spool (This will be the 17th in the Needlecraft Mystery Series.)

Joanne Fluke: Blackberry Pie Murder (This will be the 17th in the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series.)

Lee Goldberg & Janet Evanovich: The Chase (This will be the 2nd in the Fox & O’Hare Mystery Series.)

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: Hard Going (This will be the 16th in the Bill Slider Mystery Series.)

B. B. Haywood: Town in a Strawberry Swirl (This will be the 5th in the Candy Holliday Mystery Series.)

J.A. Jance: Moving Target (This will be the 9th in the Alison Reynolds Mystery Series.)

Jonathan Kellerman: Killer (This will be the 29th in the Alex Delaware Mystery Series.)

Laura Lippman: After I’m Gone (This will be a Stand Alone mystery.)

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): A Tale of Two Biddies (This will be the 2nd in the League of Literary Ladies Mystery Series.)

Meg London (aka Peg Cochran): A Fatal Slip (This will be the in the Sweet Nothings Lingerie Mystery Series.) (This is a Valentine’s Day theme mystery.)

Edward Marston (aka Keith Miles & Conrad Allen: Five Dead Canaries (This will be the 3rd in the Home Front Detective Mystery Series.)

Staci McLaughlin: Green Living Can Be Deadly (This will be the 3rd in theBlossom Valley Mystery Series.)

Shirley Rousseau Murphy & Pat J.J. Murphy: The Cat, the Devil, and Lee Fontana (This will be the 1st in the NEW Lee Fontana Mystery Series.)

James Patterson & Mark Sullivan: Private L.A. (This will be the 6th in the Private Mystery Series.)

Deanna Raybourn: City of Jasmine (This will be a Stand Alone.)

Hannah Reed (aka Deb Baker): Beewitched (This will be the 5th in the Queen Bee Mystery Series.)

J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts): Concealed in Death (This will be the 38th in the Eve Dallas Mystery Series.)

To go back to the Cozy Mystery New Book Release page, click here.

Happy New Year!

I hope that ALL of you have a safe and healthy New Year.
We are planning to celebrate very quietly tonight, although I am sure a lot of our neighbors will be shooting off fire works all night long. Now that our “puppy” Sprite is no longer with us, the noise will at least not make any of us shiver with fear all night. She was absolutely terrified of fire crackers (and thunder).
My husband and I are so different than my parents. I remember my mother and father going to late-night parties at the end of the year… sort of like they were cramming in one last hurrah on the 31st of each December. I’m not sure if it’s that we live in a different time or if my husband and I simply are party-poopers, but somehow we just can’t seem to get excited about the prospect of huge New Year’s Eve parties. We much prefer small get-togethers.
Anyway, I truly hope ALL of you (and yours) have a wonderful 2014 (and on!)

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for January 2014

I just finished going through TCM’s Now Playing for January 2014. (TCM stands for the Turner Classic Movie channel.) At first it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to find a lot of mystery movies, but then I saw that Thursday, January 30 has lots and lots of mysteries being shown.

I’m listing the movies in Central time zone. If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be aired on television during January 2014, please post a comment.

***** ***** ***** *****

Julia just posted a comment telling us:

From Saturday, January 4 at 5:00 AM through Monday, January 6 ending at 5:00 AM, the Hallmark Movie Channel will be airing a Diagnosis Murder marathon.

***** ***** ***** *****

I just discovered this:

From Sunday, January 19 at 4:00 AM through Monday, January 20 at 4:00 AM the Hallmark Movie Channel will be airing a Mystery Woman marathon.

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – January 5

7:00 AM
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945)
A man remains young and handsome while his portrait shows the ravages of age and sin.
Dir: Albert Lewin Cast: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed
BW-110 mins, TV-G, CC
(Watch for a young Angela Lansbury in the role of Sibyl Vane.)

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 6

12:00 PM
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946)
Illicit lovers plot to kill the woman’s older husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
BW-113 mins, TV-PG, CC

5:00 PM
LADY IN THE LAKE (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective’s viewpoint.
Dir: Robert Montgomery Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan
BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC

8:30 PM
THE THIRD MAN (1949)
A man’s investigation of a friend’s death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Dir: Carol Reed Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
BW-104 mins, TV-14, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday- January 7

3:00 PM
GILDA (1946)
A gambler discovers an old flame in South America, but she’s married to his new boss.
Dir: Charles Vidor Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready
BW-110 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – January 11

9:30 AM
THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER (1932)
A feisty school teacher sets out to solve a murder in an aquarium.
Dir: George Archainbaud Cast: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Robert Armstrong
BW-65 mins, TV-G, CC
(Based on a Stuart Palmer Hildegarde Withers mystery.)

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – January 12

11:00 AM
VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982)
An unemployed female singer poses as a female impersonator and becomes a star.
Dir: Blake Edwards Cast: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston
C-134 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
(Not a mystery, but a really good movie.)

7:00 PM
ANASTASIA (1956)
A group of exiled Russians claim to have found the living daughter of the Tsar, presumed executed in 1918.
Dir: Anatole Litvak Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes
C-105 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

9:00 PM
GASLIGHT (1944)
A newlywed fears she’s going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC,

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – January 14

10:30 PM
MARLOWE (1969)
Detective Philip Marlowe probes the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles in search of a woman’s missing sister.
Dir: Paul Bogart Cast: James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O’Connor
C-96 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – January 16

1:30 AM
12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Dir: Sidney Lumet Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley
BW-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – January 17

2:30 PM
ABOVE SUSPICION (1943)
A honeymooning couple are asked to spy on the Nazis in pre-war Europe.
Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt
BW-91 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – January 18

9:30 AM
MURDER ON THE BLACKBOARD (1934)
A schoolteacher matches wits with a police detective when they both try to solve a pretty music teacher’s murder.
Dir: George Archainbaud Cast: James Gleason, Edna May Oliver, Bruce Cabot.
BW-72 mins, TV-G
(Another movie this month which is based on a Stuart Palmer Hildegarde Withers mystery.)

7:00 PM
LIFEBOAT (1944)
Survivors of a torpedoed boat take in a German Naval officer from the sub that sank them.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak
BW-97 mins, TV-14, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – January 19

5:00 AM
THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947)
A woman slowly discovers that her artist husband is a deranged killer.
Dir: Peter Godfrey Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith
BW-99 mins, TV-G, CC
(I really enjoyed this movie. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Barbara Stanwyck is in it!)

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 20

5:00 PM
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)
A black police detective from the North forces a bigoted Southern sheriff to accept his help with a murder investigation.
Dir: Norman Jewison Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
C-110 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – January 21

6:00 AM
SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR (1936)
A crooked criminal lawyer discovers his brother has been killed by one of the gangsters he kept out of prison.
Dir: Louis King Cast: Richard Dix, Margaret Callahan, Erik Rhodes
BW-61 mins, TV-G

1:30 PM
BANNERLINE (1951)
An idealistic small-town reporter tries to fight corruption.
Dir: Don Weis Cast: Keefe Brasselle, Sally Forrest, Lionel Barrymore
BW-87 mins, TV-PG

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – January 22

9:45 AM
SCARLET STREET (1945)
A middle aged would be painter falls into the clutches of an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea
BW-102 mins, TV-PG

5:00 PM
THE WRONG MAN (1956)
A musician is mistaken for a vicious thief, with devastating results.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle
BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – January 23

12:15 PM
ARE YOU LISTENING? (1932)
A radio announcer accidentally kills his wife, then leads an on-air hunt for her killer.
Dir: Harry Beaumont Cast: William Haines, Madge Evans, Anita Page
BW-73 mins, TV-G

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – January 25

5:30 AM
THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1945)
On a trip to visit his parents, detective Nick Charles gets mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson
BW-101 mins, TV-G, CC

9:30 AM
MURDER ON A HONEYMOON (1935)
A schoolteacher jumps into detective mode when a fellow airplane passenger gets sick and dies.
Dir: Lloyd Corrigan Cast: Edna May Oliver , James Gleason , Lola Lane .
BW-74 mins, TV-G, CC
(I believe only three of Stuart Palmer‘s Hildegarde Withers mysteries starring Edna Mae Oliver were made into movies, which means that all three are playing this month on TCM.)

11:15 PM
ROLLERCOASTER (1977)
A terrorist spreads a climate of fear by attacking amusement parks across the U.S.
Dir: James Goldstone Cast: George Segal, Richard Widmark, Timothy Bottoms
C-118 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – January 27

2:30 AM
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)
A man’s joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:15 PM
THE VELVET TOUCH (1948)
After accidentally killing her lecherous producer, a famous actress tries to hide her guilt.
Dir: John Gage Cast: Rosalind Russell, Leo Genn, Claire Trevor
BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC

5:30 PM
CAUSE FOR ALARM (1951)
A woman fights to intercept a letter in which her husband tries to prove her guilty of murder.
Dir: Tay Garnett Cast: Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling
BW-74 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – January 29

7:00 PM
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
A Korean War hero doesn’t realize he’s been programmed to kill by the enemy.
Dir: John Frankenheimer Cast: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh
BW-127 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
(Another Angela Lansbury movie.)

9:15 PM
THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946)
Straitlaced waitresses battle saloon girls to win the West for domesticity.
Dir: George Sidney Cast: Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger
C-101 mins, TV-G, CC
[OK, so this is not a mystery by any means, but if you want to see a very young Angela Lansbury (and as I recall – listen to her sing) you won’t want to miss her in this movie playing a “lady of the night”.]

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – January 30

(Today appears to be author  S. S. Van Dine’s Detective Philo Vance’s celebratory day!)

7:15 AM
THE BISHOP MURDER CASE (1930)
Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a series of murders inspired by Mother Goose rhymes.
Dir: Nick Grindé Cast: Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young
BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC

8:45 AM
THE KENNEL MURDER CASE (1933)
Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a murder tied to a Long Island dog show.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette
BW-73 mins, TV-G, CC

10:00 AM
THE DRAGON MURDER CASE (1934)
Society sleuth Philo Vance looks into a murder near a mysterious “dragon pool.”
Dir: H. Bruce Humberstone Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot
BW-67 mins, TV-PG

11:15 AM
THE CASINO MURDER CASE (1935)
Society sleuth Philo Vance takes on a series of murders at an aging dowager’s mansion.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin Cast: Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook
BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC

12:45 PM
THE GARDEN MURDER CASE (1936)
Society sleuth Philo Vance suspects dirty doings behind a mysterious series of suicides.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin Cast: Edmund Lowe, Virginia Bruce, Benita Hume
BW-61 mins, TV-G, CC

2:00 PM
CALLING PHILO VANCE (1939)
Society sleuth Philo Vance tangles with foreign agents when he investigates the murder of an aircraft manufacturer.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: James Stephenson, Margot Stevenson, Henry O’Neill
BW-62 mins, TV-G, CC

3:15 PM
I LOVE A MYSTERY (1945)
A detective tries to protect a man who has predicted his murder will take place in three days.
Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Jim Bannon, Nina Foch, George Macready
BW-69 mins, TV-PG, CC

4:30 PM
THE DEVIL’S MASK (1946)
A detective tries to identify a shrunken head found in a crashed cargo plane.
Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Anita Louise, Jim Bannon, Michael Duane
BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC

5:45 PM
THE THE UNKNOWN (1946)
A woman with amnesia hires two detectives to keep her alive long enough to claim her inheritance.
Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Karen Morley, Jim Bannon, Jeff Donnell
BW-71 mins, TV-PG, CC

9:15 PM
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
BW-134 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

11:45 PM
DELLA (1964)
A wealthy, reclusive woman holds a dark secret in this rare Joan Crawford film.
Dir: Robert Gist, Cast: Joan Crawford, Paul Burke, Diane Baker
C-68 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – January 31

2:45 AM
THE KARATE KILLERS (1967)
The men from U.N.C.L.E. fight off karate-chopping henchmen to track down a secret formula.
Dir: Barry Shear Cast: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Jill Ireland.
C-93 mins, TV-PG

6:30 AM
BERSERK! (1967)
A lady ringmaster milks the publicity from a string of murders.
Dir: Jim O’Connolly Cast: Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, Diana Dors
C-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be airing this month, feel free to post a comment.

(All of the above descriptions were copied from the TCM site. I hope they don’t change their line-up!)

Oh, and here’s a list of some mystery movies that will be airing on the Hallmark Movie channel on the weekend of January 25 and 26, with a few on Monday, January 27.

If you would like to see more Television and Movies ideas, click on this link.

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