The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

August 21 to August 27

Here is the list of new releases for August 21 to August 27!

Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Catch Me If You Candy (17th in the Bakeshop Mysteries)

Christin Brecher: Mugshots of Manhattan (2nd in the Snapshot of NYC Mystery Series)

Cate Conte (aka Liz Mugavero): Nine Lives and Alibis (7th in the Cat Cat Cafe Mysteries)

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker): Murder at a Cape Bookstore (5th in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries)

Alyssa Maxwell: Murder at the Elms (11th in the gilded Newport Mysteries)

Barbara Ross: Scared Off (Maine Clambake Mysteries short story)

Elizabeth Logan: Alaskan Diner Mystery Books

Mousse and Murder (An Alaskan Diner Mystery Book 1) The best thing about reading for me is escaping from my everyday life and exploring other places, meeting other people, and sometimes finding out about other times. The book I just finished is set in a very different place from where I live (San Antonio, Texas). The action takes place in a small town, Elkview, a few hours drive away from Anchorage, Alaska and is set in and around a café, the “Bear Claw”. Mousse and Murder is the first book in the Alaskan Diner Mystery Book series by Elizabeth Logan. And, this is my next book that I am writing about as part of my Most Popular and Recommended Cozy Mystery Series posts.

The story is written in the first person from the point of view of thirty-three year old Charlotte (Charlie) Cooke who runs the diner her mother started, the “Bear Claw Diner”. Charlie is a trained chef, but the head chef of the diner is Oliver, a French chef with some extraordinary abilities and a somewhat hot temper. The book begins with Charlie’s parents traveling (as they often do) and so Charlie is left without her mother’s support to run the diner and to take care of her mother’s cat, Eggs Benedict (Benny for short).

Anyway, as is common in Cozy Mysteries, before long there is a murder that affects the diner directly. Charlie, with her mother’s encouragement, and the tacit permission from the overstretched local police (who is apparently just one person who everyone calls “Trooper”), gets working on the case. Assisting Charlie is a local newspaperman (who just happens to be a likely romantic interest), Chris. Chris and Charlie are even “deputized” by Trooper.

I’ve got to admit that this is one of the (pretty unusual these days) mysteries in which I figured out the culprit about half way through the book. The characters, the cat and especially the setting of the book kept me going, though, even though I was pretty sure I knew who did the deed. Exactly how Charlie and Chris will get the clues together to prove who did it and to figure out why the murder happened keeps the remainder of the book being pretty compelling reading.

The book is written by an author who has a long and growing list of pseudonyms, Camille Minichino, aka Margaret Grace, Jean Flowers, Ada Madison, and, now also Elizabeth Logan. Long time readers of my blog may remember that she is one of my favorite modern authors. I’ve written about her a bunch of times including when I talked about her many pseudonyms. Another post was when I was named her as one of my favorite “must-read-right-away” authors. I am glad to say I still follow her, and I enjoyed Mousse and Murder very much.

If you’d like to see other entries about some of the most recommended Cozy Mystery authors, be sure to check out the Most Popular and Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

PS: For recipe fans, there are two recipes included at the end of the book.

Cozy Mystery News – August 2023

I’ve got one new piece of Cozy News for you about a site author!

Mary Angela‘s three novel mystery series, the Happy Camper Mystery Series, which stars a former journalist named Zo Jones who owns a gift shop in South Dakota, will be getting an audio adaptation. Angela is also the author of the Professor Prather Mystery Series, which stars an English professor in South Dakota.

(I don’t normally mention audio adaptations, but it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to give good Cozy Mystery news… )

The Chelsea Detective (2022 BBC TV Series)

Chelsea Detective, The: Series 1 The Chelsea Detective is a BBC produced television series that has come out relatively recently. The currently released series consists of four episodes, each about 90 minutes long on Acorn, and (at least for the moment) also available on Amazon Prime.

Chelsea is an area of west London, and naturally enough the setting of this particular series. This series is a bit more police procedural than Cozy, but definitely a very well done production. The series’ sleuths are Detective Inspector Max Arnold (played by Adrian Scarborough) and Detective Sergeant Priya Shamsie (Sonita Henry). Other recurring cast include deaf pathologist, Ashley Wilton (Sophie Stone), junior detectives Connor Pollock (Peter Bankole) and Jess Lombard (Lucy Phelps), and family members such as Priya’s husband Nitin (Davood Ghadami) and Max’s ex Astrid (Anamaria Marinca).

As is often the case in police procedurals, both detectives have baggage of their own. Mac is going through a messy relationship breakup as the series begins, and is living on his houseboat while his ex is still in their “flat” (apartment to us “yanks”). He’s also processing the relatively recent death of his father. Meanwhile, Priya is returning to work three months early from her maternity leave for the birth of her daughter – and she seems to be having some trouble adjusting to a maternal role.

Of course, these personal dramas aren’t the main focus of the show, but they do provide a counterpoint or occasional parallel to the case of the episode. Max and Priya are first and foremost murder detectives, though they are sometimes called in to determine if a suspicious death is or is not murder, and likewise are called in for suspicious disappearances where foul play could seem very likely. The mysteries themselves are all quite well done. The 90 minute run time for each episode is long enough for the case to have twists and turns along the way, but not so long that they start to feel tedious or overly complicated.

That said, it’s the byplay between the leads that really excels over many other shows of this type. The banter between Max and Priya gives the show the same sort of atmosphere from many of my favorite British detective shows, such as Morse or Frost. If you’re a fan of well-written British detective shows with strong interactions between the lead actors and solid mysteries, I’d strongly recommend The Chelsea Detective.

The Chelsea Detective is currently available on Acorn, and on Amazon Prime (as of the time of this writing).

MENU