The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Cozy Mysteries Recommendations – August 2013

Today is the first day of school for our school district. Unbelievable! It is just so hard to believe that fall will officially begin in less than a month (September 22). I am getting a little antsy to put my fall theme knick-knacks out on my desk so that I know it will officially be the time of year when the leaves are supposed to be turning different hues of golds and coppers. Good grief, living here in San Antonio I really miss my seasons!

Getting back to the purpose of this entry: It is time to post our August 2013 Cozy Mysteries Recommendations. I am going to begin with my current book’s author, Margaret Grace. (I’m reading her Halloween mystery, Monster in Miniature. I just could not wait until next month!)

Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino & Ada Madison) writes the Miniature Mystery Series.  I started reading Grace’s books after I finished reading Minichino’s Periodic Table Mystery Series. (I should probably explain that her “real name” is Camille Minichino.)

I find Grace (I’ll refer to her as Grace, since it is “her” series I am currently reading) to be a no-nonsense author. By this I mean that she doesn’t dilly-dally with stupid sleuths doing stupid things in stupid plots. Hmmm, I guess that doesn’t explain it either. I mean that her sleuths are very smart women. These women are not shrinking violets in any manner. They are strong women, with definite purposes in life.

Grace has the ability to write the way I think. That probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but what I mean is both the plot and the dialog in her books ring true. (For those of you who don’t like swearing, you’ll be glad to know that Grace doesn’t have to rely on it to get her point across.)

I am also going to include two other authors who I wrote an entry about very recently: Hazel Holt and Spencer Quinn. (This link will take you to my entry which explains why I enjoy them.)

Please tell us about the one Cozy Mystery (or possibly more than one) that you read during August. These should be books that you think the rest of us simply have got to know about. Please include why you enjoyed each book so that we can read your reason and then determine if it sounds like a good book for us to try reading.

[As usual, I ask that you don’t tell us about the books you read that you didn’t like.]

[Also, if you click on the author’s name (blue) link, it will take you to their page on the Cozy Mystery site. Their page has all of the author’s books listed chronologically.]

What Cozy Mystery book (or author) have you read during August 2013, and why did you enjoy it (or him/her)?

Here are the current recommended authors who some of you have read this past month:

Donna Andrews: Meg Langslow Mystery Series

Connie Archer: Soup Lover’s Mystery Series

C.A. Belmond: Penny Nichols Mystery Series 

Annette Blair: Vintage Magic Mystery Series

Melissa Bourbon (aka Misa Ramirez): Magical Dressmaking Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Royal Spyness Mystery Series

Susan Boyer: Lowcountry Bombshell (reportedly not a Cozy)

Elizabeth Lynn Casey (aka Laura Bradford): Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series

Peg Cochran (aka Meg London): Gourmet De-Lite Mystery Series

Kate Collins: Flower Shop Mystery Series

J.J. Cook (aka Joyce and Jim Lavene & Ellie Grant): Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mystery Series

Shelley Costa: Miracolo Mystery Series

Ellen Crosby: Multiple Exposure (Sophie Medina Mystery Series)

Diane Mott Davidson: Goldy Bear Mystery Series

Julianna Deering: Rules of Murder (Drew Farthering Mystery Series)

Gale Deitch: A Fine Fix (Trudie Fine Mystery Series)

Ilsa Evans: Nefarious Doings (Nell Forrest Mystery Series)

Jimmie Ruth Evans (aka Miranda James, Honor Hartman, & Dean James): Trailer Park Mystery Series

Earlene Fowler: Ruby McGavin Series (reportedly not a mystery)

Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino & Ada Madison): Miniature Mystery Series

Kerry Greenwood: Phryne Fisher Mystery Series

Elly Griffiths: Ruth Galloway Mystery Series (The Crossing Places – book 1 & Dying Fall – book #5 )

Rosemary Harris: Dirty Business Mystery Series

Hazel Holt: Mrs. Malory Mystery Series

Jerusha Jones: Imogene Museum Mysteries (Rock Bottom – book #1)

Amanda Lee (aka Gayle Trent): Embroidery Mystery Series 

Sherry Lewis(aka Jacklyn Brady): Fred Vickery Mystery Series

Lisa Lutz: Izzy Spellman Mystery Series

Karen MacInerney: Gray Whale Inn Mystery Series

Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig): Peter Shandy Mystery Series

Susan Elia MacNeal: Maggie Hope Mystery Series

Molly MacRae: Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery Series

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Hat Shop Mystery Series

Judy Nickles: The Bogus Biker (Penelope Pembroke Mysteries Series)

Gigi Pandian: Artifact (Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series)

Spencer Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams): Chet and Bernie Mystery Series

Eve K. Sandstrom (aka JoAnna Carl): Down Home Mystery Series

Maggie Sefton: Molly Malone Mystery Series

Shirley Tallman: Death on Telegraph Hill (Sarah Woolson Mystery Series)

Gayle Trent (aka Amanda Lee): Daphne Martin Cake Mystery Series

Victoria Thompson: Gaslight Mystery Series

Patricia Wentworth: Miss Silver Mystery Series

Lauren Willig: Pink Carnation Mystery Series

♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦

Updating the Holiday Mysteries Pages on the Cozy Mystery Site…

I have been busy “behind the scenes” getting the holiday pages updated and in a more orderly format. I know, I know! It’s way too early to be thinking about the holidays, or is it?!?

Around here, as soon as children return to school, the stores down-size their school supply merchandise and start pushing their Halloween items. And with school starting in just a few days (Monday) that means we’ll have more than two months to “enjoy” the Halloween items.

I say “enjoy” rather skeptically. As a home with diabetes, the all-too-often and all-too-present large bags of chocolate bars greeting me at the entrance of almost all the stores is rather tempting. I say tempting because I know all too well that we simply can’t have it in the house. (Chocolate is simply a red light item for ALL of us, those with and without diabetes!)

Getting back to my “behind the scenes” goings on >>> I am just about finished updating and consolidating the different Holiday pages.  I have added more books and holiday themes, although I’m not quite finished yet. (I am thinking about adding a Birthday mysteries list, although I’m not 100% sure.)

The one draw-back of updating the lists is that I am now starting on a holiday book that I have been wanting to read for a while, but that I tried to put off until the correct season. I have been wanting to read Margaret Grace’s Monster in Miniature for several months, but made myself save it until the Halloween season. Well, after all of these holiday titles, I simply could not hold myself back, and am (probably for the first time ever!) reading one of “my” holiday mysteries out of season. (Now you see how bad I am about foregoing my temptations!)

Authors Similar to M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney) …

I have received several letters asking me if I would do an “Authors Similar to M.C. Beaton” theme. I have tried to come up with the beginning of a list of authors who write similarly to M.C. Beaton. Here are some of the authors who I think might fit the bill. It would be great if you all would suggest some authors, whom you think other Cozy Mystery readers could read when they run out of M.C. Beaton’s mysteries.

Authors Who Are Similar to M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney):

Cathy Ace: WISE Enquiries Agency Mystery Series

Rhys Bowen: Constable Evan Evans Mystery Series

Simon Brett: Fethering Mystery Series & Mrs. Pargeter Mystery Series

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries Msytery Series

Dorothy Cannell: Ellie Haskell Mystery Series

Laura Childs: Cackleberry Club Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle: Coffee House Mystery Series

Jeanne M. Dams: Dorothy Martin Mystery Series

Carola Dunn: Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series

Janet Evanovich: Stephanie Plum Mystery Series 

Carolyn Hart: Henrie O Mystery Series

Carolyn Hart: Death on Demand

Joan Hess: Maggody Mystery Series

Hazel Holt: Mrs. Malory Mystery Series

Betty Rowlands: Melissa Craig Mystery Series

Elizabeth Spann Craig: Myrtle Clover Mystery Series

Patricia Sprinkle: Thoroughly Southern Mystery Series

Please post your recommendations of authors who are similar to M. C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney), and I will add them to the list.

♦To access more Cozy Mysteries by theme click on this link.♦

C.A. Belmond, Nancy Coco, Shelley Costa, Kathie Deviny, Abigail Keam, Liz Mugavero, and Nancy J. Parra – New Mystery Authors on the Cozy Mystery Site

I have just added “seven” new authors to the Cozy Mystery site, but only six actual authors. (One of them is an author with two aliases.) These are authors who you all have recommended as belonging on the site. (I haven’t read any of their mysteries yet.)

C. A. Belmond: Penny Nichols Mystery Series
Penny is an American heiress who travels to England when her aunt names her in her will. She meets her distant cousin, Jeremy, who is a British barrister.

Nancy Coco (aka Nancy J. Parra): Candy-Coated Mystery Series
Allie McMurphy works in her family’s historic hotel on beautiful Mackinac Island. The hotel happens to have a very popular fudge shop in it.

Shelley Costa: Miracolo Mystery Series
Eve Angelotta is a chef in her family-owned Italian restaurant in Philadelphia. (Costa has her PhD in English and teaches creative writing at the college lever.)

Kathie Deviny: Grace Church Mystery Series
Father Robert Vickers is an Episcopalian priest in Seattle, who gets a lot of help sleuthing from his parishioners.  (Deviny has her bachelor’s and master’s in Social Work, and is married to an Episcopalian priest.)

Abigail Keam: Josiah Reynolds, Beekeeper Mystery Series
Josiah is a retired history professor who is now a beekeeper who sells honey at the farmers’ market.

Liz Mugavero: Pawsitively Organic Gourmet Pet Food Mystery Series
Stan Connor is an ex-corporate P.R. executive who now lives in Connecticut. She is inspired by her Maine Coon cat to make delicious gourmet pet food. (Mugavero has her master’s in writing.)

Nancy J. Parra (aka Nancy Coco): Baker’s Treat Mystery Series
Toni Ryder is a baker who specializes in gluten-free baking in Kansas. (Parra has her MA in writing.)

 

MENU