The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Hazel Holt’s Mrs. Malory Mystery Series

Every once in a while I read a book that makes me feel like I absolutely just have to shout about it. (I mean this in a good way!)

Hazel Holt is the British author who writes the Mrs. Malory Mystery Series. (For those of you who love E. F. Benson’s Lucia novels, perhaps you have read the two follow-up books in that series, written by her son, Tom Holt.) She has also written “My Dear Charlotte” – a Regency mystery book.

Holt’s Cozy Mystery series features Sheila Malory, a middle age literary critic who lives in the fictional Taviscombe, a very Cozy British village. (Every once in a while, however, she visits London in order to do required research.)

Sheila has a son (Michael) who is seldom at home, but who has a terrific relationship with her. As a widow, Mrs. Malory is very independent, which is perfect – since her amateur detective status requires her to be able to come and go as she pleases. Of course, Foss and Tris (Sheila’s cat and dog) think she is dependent of them!

A lot like Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, people trust and confide in Mrs. Malory. She is able to glean information from people in order to figure out the who and why of the mystery at hand.

Even though Holt is still writing the Mrs. Malory Mystery Series, it is very reminiscent of mysteries that were written before the 1960s. Holt’s series would qualify (to me) more as a classic mystery series.

Hazel Holt is one of my favorite authors not only because of her writing style which is very easy to read, but also because I like her characters and setting.  Mrs. Malory, Rosemary (her best friend), the quaint village, and all of its inhabitants are interesting to me. I would enjoy meeting the people who inhabit Holt’s mystery books, as well as visiting the town. I even enjoy Sheila’s pets! All of these are woven into well-thought-out mystery cases that I happen to enjoy a lot.

If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Kathy Hogan Trochek’s Fatal Fruitcake – as Mary Kay Andrews

I know I have talked about how much I like Kathy Hogan Trochek‘s Callahan Garrity Mystery Series. I really missed her mystery books when she stopped writing this series. I missed Callahan and the whole crew of her House Mouse cleaning company. The series just didn’t last long enough for me (only eight books). With many of my authors, by the time I get to their eighth book, I’m ready to retire the sleuth, not so with this series.

Yes, I know this same author went on to write as Mary Kay Andrews. And yes, I know she has the successful Weezie & Bebe series under that name. But I missed the House Mouse gang. I felt that I had gotten to know them in the 1990s, and was sorry they didn’t stick around in the 2000s. (The last book in the mystery series was published in 2000, so technically, that last sentence isn’t technically correct.)

So imagine my surprise and delight when I saw that Kathy Hogan Trochek has a new Callahan Garrity mystery out! It’s just a story, but I’m still excited. I hope that this is one of many new Callahan mysteries.

As you can see, she is writing this Callahan book as Mary Kay Andrews. She is also republishing her Callahan Garrity Mystery Series as Mary Kay Andrews. I don’t know why, but I am hoping that this means there will be a ninth full-length Callahan Garrity mystery.

I have recently been trying a lot of Christmas theme books and novellas/stories (by new-to-me authors) on my Kindle, and so far, I haven’t been happy with any of them. So, I am really hoping Fatal Fruitcake delivers what I have been craving: a good Christmas mystery yarn.

If at First You Don’t Succeed… Should Others Try & Try Again?

As the time nears when the first mystery novel by Susie is released, I thought I would post this entry asking you all for your opinions. [I should say that we know her as “Susie” but A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate (the first in her Lucy Campion Mystery Series – which is coming out in April) will be published using her more formal name – “Susanna”.

Susie (Susanna Calkins)asked:

“… I’ve heard many writers struggle with the second book, especially when their first book was well received. I’d be so curious to know if readers usually like the FIRST book in the series the best, or do they think it takes a few books for the author to hit his or her stride.

…I’d love to hear everyone’s responses!”

Please feel free to post a comment with your opinion. Thank you!

January 2013 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in January 2013:

Mignon F. Ballard: Miss Dimple Suspects (This will be the 3rd in the Miss Dimple Mystery Series.)

Mike Befeler: Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder (This will be the 4th in the Paul Jacobson Geezer-Lit Mystery Series.)

Josie Belle (aka Jenn McKinlay & Lucy Lawrence): A Deal to Die For (This will be the 2nd in the Good Buy Girls Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

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

Simon Brett: The Corpse on the Court (This will be the 14th in the Fethering Mystery Series.)

Mollie Cox Bryan: Scrapped (This will be the 2nd in the Cumberland Creek Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Anne Canadeo: The Silence of the Llamas (This will be the 5th in the Black Sheep Knitting Mystery Series.)

Bailey Cates (aka Cricket McRae): Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti (This will be the 2nd in the Magical Bakery Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Mary Jane Clark: Footprints in the Sand (This will be the 3rd in the Piper Donovan Wedding Cake Mystery Series.)

Mary Daheim: The Alpine Xanadu (This will be the 24th in the Emma Lord Mystery Series.)

Phillip DePoy: December’s Thorn (This will be the 7th in the Fever Devilin Mystery Series.)

Tim Dorsey: The Riptide Ultra-Glide (This will be the 16th in the Serge A. Storms Mystery Series.)

Janet Evanovich & Dorien Kelly: The Husband List (This will be the 2nd American Gilded Age Romantic Mystery.)

Christy Fifield (aka Christy Evans): Murder Hooks a Mermaid (This will be the 2nd in the Haunted Souvenir Shop Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Earlene Fowler: The Road to Cardinal Valley (This will be the 2nd in the Ruby McGavin Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Susan Froetschel: Fear of Beauty (This will be a Stand Alone.)

Sue Grafton: Kinsey and Me: Stories (This will be a Kinsey Millhone Stand Alone.)

Kerry Greenwood: Unnatural Habits (This will be the 20th in the Phryne Fisher Mystery Series.)

Parnell Hall: Arsenic and Old Puzzles (This will be the 14th in the Puzzle Lady Mystery Series.)

Julie Hyzy: Fonduing Fathers (This will be the 6th in the White House Chef Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Miranda James (aka Honor Harman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Out of Circulation (This will be the 4th in the Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series.)

Liz Lipperman: Murder for the Halibut (This will be the 3rd in the Clueless Cook Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): Panic Button (This will be the 3rd in the Button Box Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Ada Madison (aka Camille Minichino & Margaret Grace): A Function of Murder (This will be the 3rd in the Sophie Knowles Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Leslie Meier: Easter Bunny Murder (This will be the 19th in the Lucy Stone Mystery Series.) (This is an Easter theme mystery book.)

Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini: The Bughouse Affair (This will be the 1st in the NEW Carpenter & Quincannon Mystery Series.)

J.J. Murphy: A Friendly Game of Murder (This will be the 3rd in the Algonquin Round Table Mystery Series.) (Actually, Dec. 31, 2012)

Amy Myers: Classic in the Clouds (This will be the 3rd in the Jack Colby, Car Detective Mystery Series.)

Joyce Carol Oates: Daddy Love (This will be a Stand Alone.)

James Patterson & Mark Sullivan: Private Berlin (This will be the 5th in the Private Mystery Series.)

Wendy Roberts: Grounds to Kill (This will be the 1st in the NEW Latte, Espresso, Cappuccino & Murder Mystery Series.)

Peter Robinson: Watching the Dark (This will be the 20th in the Inspector Banks Mystery Series.)

Wendy Corsi Staub: Shadowkiller (This will be the 3rd in the Nightwatcher Mystery Series.)

Charles Todd: Proof of Guilt (This will be the 15th in the Ian Rutledge Mystery Series.)

Betty Webb: The Llama of Death (This will be the 3rd in the Gunn Zoo Mystery Series.)

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

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