The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

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.

Time Keeps On Slippin’, Slippin’, Slippin’

I think I mentioned that my daughter sent a lot of her belongings home last summer by UPS. Unfortunately the truck her things were in was involved in an accident, and she lost three of her large boxes. (Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident!) So here comes another “unfortunately”>>> She lost three of her work suits, and many other items, including an afghan I had crocheted for her when she was little. She was quite attached to the afghan, not because I am a great crocheter, but for sentimental reasons.

The yarn company no longer makes that multi-colored yarn, so we spent several days at the beginning of the summer trying to find a yarn that would closely resemble the previous afghan’s yarn. We came up with two different colors, one of which matches her current bedspread at her home, and the other which matches her bedspread at our house.

I am glad to say that I finally finished her afghan. My husband and I took it up to her this past weekend. I hope this afghan becomes as cherished to her as her lost/destroyed one. For some reason, it took me longer to crochet this one than it did the last one. Of course, it could just be my memory playing tricks on me. Perhaps I just think I whipped the last one out in record breaking speed because time seemed to go so much faster – back when I had little ones at home.

Steve Miller knew what he was talking about: “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ – Into the future”

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