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Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations – January 2013

Here it is: 2013, a brand new year!

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♦

Thank You, All

Thank you all for your well-wishes. It looks like several of us are either going through this awful stretch, have gone through it, or will be going through it soon. Right now (unfortunately) my mother is still in the “everything is under control, I know what I am doing” stage. Along with this goes the parent-child relationship. How could my sister or I know what might possibly be best for her? We are her children, and she is the parent.

We are in Amarillo, Texas for the night. This is a very flat-land, tumble weed-full type of drive. There are several patches on this journey where you do not get cell phone reception. It’s strange that this no-cell-phone thing really bothers me. It’s so easy to forget that about ten/fifteen years ago, EVERYWHERE was a no-cell-phone area for us. Funny how spoiled we get. New technology just becomes  everyday fare so quickly.

I Can Wait, but It’s On the Road Again…

This past week has been rather hectic. My mother has not been doing as well as we had hoped, so my husband and I are driving up to Colorado to see her. (Luckily, my son is able to stay here at our house, so we at least don’t have to worry about finding someone to take care of our home while we are away.) I have been on the phone a lot during the last week, coordinating between the hospital, my mother’s long term care insurance company, her at-home care service, my sister, my brother, and, it feels like anyone else who happens by.

I have to tell you that it is extremely difficult to coordinate my mother’s health care situations from this far away. Both my sister (who lives in Oak Park, Illinois) and I have tried to talk our mother into moving to either of our cities. Unfortunately, she does not want to leave her friends.

Anyway, I will be “On the Road Again”. It takes us two days to drive up there, so it’s a good thing my husband and I enjoy listening to the same types of audio books. We tend to listen to books a lot during conversation lulls. John Mortimer is on our agenda for the trip, and perhaps we will listen to E. F. Benson’s non-mystery Queen Lucia, again! (We both enjoy E. F. Benson’s Lucia books.)

We have already bought the time on our computer “plug-in-stick” so I will have access to the internet. Those little stick-things are great to have when visiting people without WiFi. And, apparently I have complained a lot about the tiny, little keypad we usually travel with, as my husband has already packed a normal size keypad for me. That should make it a lot easier for me.

Unfortunately, we aren’t pulling a double-your-fun type of trip, like we did the last time we went up to Colorado – when we were able to head up to Yellowstone Park.  This is one of those “just-the-facts-ma’am” types of trips. A time to get all sorts of health related business done so that things are easier for my mother.

As Time Goes By – British Television Series

I had not planned to write an entry about this delightfully clever British sitcom because it has been running on local PBS stations since… well… almost forever! (Also, it is not a mystery series.) I have a feeling everyone knows about As Time Goes By already. But I have gotten several letters from Cozy Mystery readers who have urged me to get the word out to those of you who may have never watched the show.

First of all, let me say As Time Goes By is one of my husband’s and my favorite shows. It is a character-driven sitcom with very humorous  and touching dialog. I truly cannot adequately express what a good show this is. There is only one “negative thing” I can say about the show, which isn’t really negative, simply a word of caution: If you are not familiar with the show, you really need to watch it in its correct chronological order. I tried the show years ago by simply “dropping in” on it after watching another PBS show (Keeping Up Appearances) and I did not like As Time Goes By at all. This is why I am urging you to watch the shows in the correct chronological order.

As I said, it is a character-driven show. To enjoy the show, you really need to know the characters. When I tried to watch it out of sequence, I did not like the character who turned out to be my favorite character of the show. (I hope that makes sense!) I thought he was a caricature of a total idiot. Once I got to know him (Alistair) from the beginning, as the show introduced him and kept adding to him, I couldn’t wait until he appeared on the screen.

There are five characters in the show. The two main characters are Jean (Judi Dench) and Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer). They are two “more mature” people who were once each other’s first loves – many years ago. They meet quite by chance – and get reacquainted with each other.

Jean runs a secretarial agency which specializes in temporary placements. Jean’s adult daughter Judith (Moira Brooks) and Sandy (Jenny Funnell) work for the agency, and eventually move into Jean’s and Lionel’s home. (I know this sounds contrived, but it really does make sense if you follow the story line chronologically.)

The fifth character is Alistair (Philip Bretherton). As I mentioned, he turned out to be my favorite character in the series. Alistair is a very rich playboy who endears himself to the family. They (sort of) adopt him into the fold, even though he really doesn’t have much in common with any of them. (Did I mention he is VERY rich?)

As Time Goes By progresses through the years, and follows all five of the characters as their lives go through many different changes. I strongly recommend this very British sitcom. Great acting, terrific scripts, and delightful characters.

For more Cozy viewing ideas, click on my Cozy Mystery TV & Movies page.

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