The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Please tell us about a few of your very favorite Cozy Mystery reads of January 2013. This should be authors who you think the rest of us absolutely have “got to know” about, so that we can also enjoy their Cozy Mystery books. Please include WHY you enjoyed these authors.

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I’m going to start by recommending Margaret Grace. She writes the Miniature Mystery Series, of which I am a fan. I have to admit that I am not all caught up with the series. There are six mystery books in the series, and I am currently reading the fourth. I consider Grace’s Miniature Mystery Series a truly Cozy series. Grace has a vocabulary that is rich enough for her to be able to convey, let’s say anger, without having to rely on graphic language. Her characters are more like people to me, people who I would enjoy hanging out with.

Gerry (Geraldine) Porter is the main sleuth. She is a retired English teacher, who primarily does her sleuthing when her granddaughter (Maddie) is visiting. They have a terrific relationship, which seems very real to me.

I find the writing to flow very easily. Grace has a lot of secondary reoccurring characters, who she weaves into each book’s plot. Grace also gives us red herrings which make sense, and are not just plopped into the story line.

Margaret Grace is also known as Camille Minichino and Ada Madison. I have read (and enjoyed) all eight of Minichino’s Periodic Table Mystery Series. As a matter of fact, since I enjoyed this series so much, I thought I probably wouldn’t enjoy Grace’s Miniature Mystery Series. I find that I usually only like one series an author writes, but this time I was wrong. In fact, since I enjoy Grace’s and Minichino’s Cozy Mystery series so much, I’m planning on trying Madison’s Sophie Knowles Mystery Series.

I will add the recommended authors to this entry as they come in. (Please do not tell us about the authors you did not like.) Thank you!

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

Here are the current authors who some of you have read this past month, and wanted to tell the rest of us about:

Barbara Annino: Stacy Justice Mystery Series

Donald Bain (w/ “Jessica Fletcher”): Murder, She Wrote Mystery Series

Maggie Barbieri: Murder 101 Mystery Series

Lorna Barrett (aka Lorraine Bartlett & L. L. Bartlett): Booktown Mystery Series

Ella Barrick (aka Lila Dare & Laura DiSilverio): Ballroom Dance Mystery Series

Jessica Beck: Classic Diner Mystery Series

Janet Bolin: Threadville Mystery Series

Ali Brandon (aka Diane A.S. Stuckart): Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series

Duffy Brown: Consignment Shop Mystery Series

Karen Cantwell: Barbara Marr Mystery Series

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

Bailey Cates (aka Cricket McRae): Magical Bakery Mystery Series

Erika Chase: Ashton Corners Book Mystery Series

Laura Childs: Tea Shop Mystery Series

Patricia Cornwell: Kay Scarpetta Mystery Series (not cozy)

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffee House Mystery Series

Elizabeth Spann Craig (aka Riley Adams & Elizabeth Craig): Myrtle Clover Mystery Series

Philip R. Craig: Martha’s Vineyard Mystery Series

Kyra Davis: Sophie Katz Mystery Series

Monica Ferris: Needlecraft Mystery Series

Shelley Freydont: Celebration Bay Mystery Series

Erle Stanley Gardner: Perry Mason Mystery Series

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

M.K. Graff: The Blue Virgin

Sue Grafton: Kinsey Millhone Mystery Series

Elly Griffiths: Ruth Galloway Mystery Series

John Grisham: The Appeal

Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series

John Dunning: Cliff Janeway Mystery Series

Sophie Kelly: Magical Cats Mystery Series

Alice Kimberly (aka Cleo Coyle): Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series

Mary Lou Kirwin: Librarian Mystery Series

Jill Marie Landis: Tikki Goddess Mystery Series

Victoria Laurie: Psychic Eye Mystery Series

Amanda Lee (aka Gayle Trent): Embroidery Mystery Series

M. Louisa Locke: Victorian Mystery Series

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

Molly MacRae: Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery Series

G. M. Malliet: Max Tudor Mystery Series

Lorena McCourtney: Ivy Malone Mystery Series

Jenn McKinlay (aka Lucy Lawrence & Josie Belle): Library Lover’s Mystery Series

Wendy Roberts: Latte, Espresso, Cappuccino & Murder Mystery Series

Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Series

Rochelle Staab: Mind for Murder Mystery Series

Teresa Trent: Pecan Bayou Mystery Series

Elaine Viets: Mystery Shopper Mystery Series

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