The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

To Austin and Back…

AustinI went up to Austin on Saturday morning to visit my daughter. We had a really good time just taking it easy. We took a walk along the Lady Bird Lake, which I have always thought of as a river. (It flows through the city, but I’m guessing that since a man-made dam is involved, it’s not a river.) My husband refers to it as Town Lake, which was its name before being renamed.

After our walk, we went out to dinner, watched television, and yakked the night away. The weather was unbelievably beautiful on Saturday.  Both my daughter and I wore short sleeve shirts. It felt downright balmy at times. Fast forward less than twelve hours.

Yow! The weather on Sunday was the norm for a January day in this part of Texas. I was very glad I had bothered to check the weather forecast before I headed up on Saturday. Around here, if you’re going out of town, you had better pack for two separate “seasons.” IT was definitely long sleeves and jacket weather on Sunday. (All of you in the northern part of the country would probably consider our Sunday “cold front” weather as “unbelievably beautiful” for your areas. I know this is a case of relativity.)

I remember back to when our children were still in school. >>> Every morning, while my husband was showering, I would tune in to the Weather Channel, and get the day’s forecast. I was always ready with the shorts VS long pants, short sleeve VS long sleeves, jacket VS no jacket, forecast they would need for the day. It was never “coat” weather.

I actually remember buying them heavy jackets when we first moved here. People kept telling us that every five (or so) years there would be snow. I was determined we would be ready for it! Those snow jackets were a big waste of money. In all the years we have lived here, only one time was there something on the ground that resembled snow – although it was so thinly distributed on the lawn that it was almost not worth waking everyone up to see it. Almost…

February 2013 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in February 2013:

Avery Aames: To Brie or Not to Brie (This will be the 4th in the Cheese Shop Mystery Series.)

Lucy Arlington (aka 1/2 Sylvia May & 1/2 of Ellery Adams): Every Trick in the Book (This will be the 2nd in the Novel Idea Mystery Series.)

Lorraine Bartlett (aka Lorna Barrett & L. L. Bartlett): One Hot Murder (This will be the 3rd in the Victoria Square Mystery Series.)

Lawrence Block (aka Paul Kavanagh): Hit Me (This will be the 5th in the John Keller Mystery Series.)

Rhys Bowen: The Face in the Mirror (This is a story in the Molly Murphy Mystery Series.)

Alan Bradley: Speaking from Among the Bones (This will be the 5th in the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series.) (Actually, January 29)

Ellen Byerrum: Veiled Revenge (This will be the 9th in the Crime of Fashion Mystery Series.)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Buried in a Bog (This will be the 1st in the NEW County Cork Mystery Series.)

E. J. Copperman (aka Jeffrey Cohen): Chance of a Ghost (This will be the in the Mystery Series.)

Elizabeth Craig (aka Riley Adams & Elizabeth Spann Craig): Knot What It Seams (This will be the 2nd in the Southern Quilting Mystery Series.)

Deborah Crombie: The Sound of Broken Glass (This will be the 15th in the Kincaid & James Mystery Series.)

Stephen Dobyns: The Burn Palace (This will be a Stand Alone.)

Chrystle Fiedler: Scent to Kill (This will be the 2nd in the Natural Remedies Mystery Series.)

Amanda Flower: A Plain Scandal (This will be the 2nd in the Appleseed Creek Mystery Series.)

Joanne Fluke: Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (This will be the 16th in the Hannah Swensen Cookie Jar Mystery Series.)

Kerry Greenwood: Out of the Black Land (This will be a Stand Alone.)

B. B. Haywood: Town in a Pumpkin Bash (This will be the 4th in the Candy Holliday Mystery Series.) (This will be a Halloween theme mystery.)

Maddy Hunter: Bonnie of Evidence (This will be the 8th in the Passport to Peril Mystery Series.)

Linda O. Johnston: Oodles of Poodles (This will be the 4th in the Pet Rescue Mystery Series.)

Jonathan Kellerman: Guilt (This will be the 28th in the Alex Delaware Mystery Series.)

Sofie Kelly: Cat Trick (This will be the 4th in the Magica Cats Mystery Series.)

Deryn Lake (aka Dinah Lampitt): Dead on Cue (This will be the 2nd in the Rev. Nick Lawrence Mystery Series.)

Staci McLaughlin: All Natural Murder (This will be the 2nd in the Blossom Valley Mystery Series.)

James Patterson: Alex Cross, Run (This will be the 20th in the Alex Cross Mystery Series.)

J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts): Calculated in Death (This will be the 37th in the Eve Dallas Mystery Series.)

Wendy Roberts: Dead Suite (This will be the in the Mystery Series 4th in the Ghost Dusters Mystery Series.)

David Rosenfelt: Airtight (This will be a Stand Alone.)

Dana Stabenow: Bad Blood (This will be the 20th in the Kate Shugak Mystery Series.)

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

What’s Up with Her Mystery Books?

Patti S. brought up another good point yesterday in her comment. I started writing my response to her comment, and realized it was way too long, so I decided to write an entry as my response.

Patti S.:

“I agree that some authors really stretch out a story. I have hit another problem. I have read a mystery series of a certain author since the first book, but the last two I didn’t even finish. Something in her writing is missing, it just doesn’t have the “catch” that her earlier ones did. They did not hold my attention at all. I have been trying to figure out why and all I can think of is that her writing has changed in some way. I am so disappointed!”

(By the way, I should probably warn those of you who don’t like my “Rants and Raves” that this is one of my Rants!)

Patti S, I have SO been there!!! I “make myself” continue reading a favorite author at least two books after I feel like dropping him/her >>> at least I try to read two more books!

I have one author who I absolutely loved reading. I was quite lucky, too, since she is so doggone prolific. She has written over fifty mystery books, so I could always count on having more of her books in my reading future. But I then found that I got to the point where I wasn’t even looking forward to her book release dates, let alone reading her books. (This has happened with many of the authors on my Favorite Authors list.)

I wonder if “very established” authors don’t reach a sort of complacency, sort of an “I can do no wrong, my fans will love me regardless” attitude. I felt like she was simply putting out two (or even four) mystery books a year >>> for the money. Don’t get me wrong, I realize writing is a profession, and she should be paid for her efforts. But her books seemed like they were being “phoned in”. They were formulaic and repetitive. The mysteries tended to be wrapped up in the last chapter, almost making me think she had a word deadline she had to make. (Sort of like: “Whoops! The publisher is only paying me for X amount of words, I only have to write 300 more, I had better wrap it up now.”)

This author’s books had the same personal relationship being played over and over, and over again. I like a little “will-they-get-together or won’t-they” >>> but, come on!!! How many books was it going to take until they did (or didn’t) get together?!? I hoped they would get together during the first +/-7 books, but after that, frankly, my dear, I didn’t care – AT ALL! I  was reading a mystery series, and wanted the focus to be on that!

It’s a big disappointment when this happens, and it leads me to again say, I would rather an author simply wrap up a series than put out substandard books. I have to wonder why publishers continue to publish series when they start to go down.

I’m guessing it has to do with President Truman’s “The buck stops here.” Only, the “buck” in this case is “$$$$$”.

Do 300+ Page Books Deliver a Better Mystery than 200+ Page Books?

Good grief! I am reading the second book in a series I thought I would love, but I just can’t seem to get into it. The first book had a good mystery, likable characters, the writing flowed, and the book seemed to promise me it was the first mystery book in what would be a really fun series. (I added the author to my “favorite authors” list.) But, the last few nights I have found myself wondering why I am reading this book.

With over 300 pages, it just seems like the author is using the “stretching” method. You know, putting a lot of unnecessary “fluff” into the book. But since I don’t buy my books like I do my produce, the book’s actual weight (the longer the book, the heavier) doesn’t matter. Do I really want to read the word-by-word exchanges the sleuth has with each of her friends? Do I really need to know every time she drinks a cup of coffee or hot chocolate? Do I really like the sleuth that much, that I’m willing to spend my time reading all of this “filler”?

I know I have commented (several times!) about the length of my books. If I’m going to read a 300+ page book, it had better have 300+ pages of plot. Recently I have found myself wondering if publishers demand 300+ pages from their authors.

I just went to Agatha Christie’s page, and clicked on the links for (more than) several of her books. Why is it that someone like Christie can write a mystery book with 3-D characters, lovely settings, great plots, and interesting mysteries in 200+ pages yet it seems like now it takes 100 more pages to do the same? Do publishers think that we judge our mystery books by their length? Do people feel “cheated” if the book is really good, but doesn’t take that long to read? Am I getting impatient with the 300+ length of books, when I don’t feel they have 300+ pages of interesting reading?

Perhaps an even better question would be “Am I really just nitpicking?”

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