The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

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.)

 

Double the Flavor, Double the Fun >>> Two Very Different Mystery Authors I’m Currently Enjoying (A Lot!)

I am in Cozy Mystery Seventh Heaven right now! What could be better (as a mystery reader) than being swept up into not one, but two different mystery reading shangrilas? Yes, I am in the enviable position to be reading one and listening to another of two of my favorite authors at the same time, and it is such a treat!

I know I have said (many times) that I space my favorite authors between new-to-me authors so that I can try new authors while still being able to enjoy authors off of my “favorite authors” list. Well, my (almost) Russian Roulette method has finally lined up to where I am able to enjoy two of my faves at the same time, and it is really great.

I am currently reading one of Hazel Holt‘s Mrs. Mallory mysteries which, although written during the last (less than) twenty years, is quite reminiscent of the classic mysteries à la Agatha Christie. You’ve got a quaint village by the sea, some great characters (including “Mrs. Malory”, her best friend Rosemary, and her son Michael), and some very realistic dialog. You also have “eccentric” characters who are believable, not outlandish. There isn’t a perfunctory romance going on and Mrs. Mallory (Sheila) doesn’t put herself in crazy, dangerous situations. And, did I mention, the mystery is really good?

The audio book that I’m listening to comes from Spencer Quinn‘s Chet and Bernie mysteries. These mysteries are extremely different from Hazel Holt’s series. Bernie is an ex-policeman and Chet is his ex-K-9 dog. (Actually Chet never graduates from K-9 school, for reasons out of his control… well, not exactly out of his control.)

I tried to explain the Chet and Bernie mysteries to my son (who reads a lot of science fiction) but he kept summing it up as a “So, you have a talking dog.” type of mystery series. For some reason, I am not able to explain that this is no normal “talking dog” mystery series. This is because Chet doesn’t actually talk, he thinks in human words. There, you see! I’m simply am not able to explain this really enjoyable mystery series.

I think that because my son read all of Brian Jacques Redwall Series when he was quite young (obviously only those that had been published by then) he thinks of talking animals as actually “talking animals”. Chet doesn’t actually “talk” per se. The Chet and Bernie mysteries are told from Chet’s perspective. Chet is a perfect personification for animal lovers everywhere.

I guess that having both of these authors on my “favorite authors” list shows how diverse mysteries are. While the Chet and Bernie mysteries are not Cozy Mysteries, they are doggone good. (Warning, however, there is some swearing in this series.) And it is very safe to say that the Mrs. Mallory mysteries are exactly what Cozy Mysteries should be.

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