The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

The Cozy Chicks Kitchen

Have you ever read a Cozy Mystery culinary themed book and thought you absolutely HAD to try a recipe? Have you ever listened to a Cozy Mystery culinary themed book and thought that a recipe being described sounded wonderful,  but alas, since you didn’t own a hard copy of the book, you couldn’t try the recipe?

Well, seven Cozy Mystery authors have gotten together and decided to do something about those types of “problems”.  The book is called The Cozy Chicks Kitchen, and the seven authors are:

Ellery Adams/J. B. Stanley (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery Series & Supper Club Mystery Series),

Deb Baker/Hannah Reed (Yooper Mystery Series & Beekeeping Mystery Series),

Lorraine Bartlett (Victoria Square Mystery Series),

Kate Collins (Flower Shop Mystery Series),

Maggie Sefton (Knitting Mystery Series),

Leann Sweeney (Cats in Trouble Mystery Series), and

Heather Webber (Lucy Valentine Mystery Series).

In the book’s description, it says they cover all types of food categories: appetizers, entrées, vegetable sides, soups and salads, desserts, and even drinks.

Several people have written to tell me about the book, so that I could tell you all. It sounds like a really cute premise for a cookbook, and I’m hoping that authors who typically include several recipes at the end of their Cozy Mystery books (like Diane Mott Davidson) take up this great idea and put out cookbooks of their own. (Actually, with my cooking skills, I doubt I could replicate any of Goldy Bear’s recipes!)

Masterpiece Mystery Endeavor – PBS July 1, 2012 (Tonight)

I meant to write about this show when I found out about it, weeks ago. You know what they say about putting off until tomorrow…

Short notice, but tonight, on your local PBS stations, Masterpiece Mystery will be airing Endeavor. For those of you who are Inspector Morse fans, you will know that his first name, although highly guarded, was actually revealed as >>> you guessed it! >>> Endeavor. Morse’s mother had been a Quaker, and assigned this very big name to her little baby, something he never quite grew into. Thus, everyone called him Morse. (That was years ago, before it became commonplace for people to name their babies with such unusual names.)

This 1 1/2 hour Masterpiece Mystery episode stars Shaun Adams as Morse, the young version of the Morse many of us “knew” as John Thaw’s portrayal. Inspector Morse was an opera-loving,  Oxford-educated man, who enjoyed working the most difficult crossword puzzles while listening to the most beautiful classical music, sipping the finest liquor. (Oh, and he never met a beautiful woman he didn’t want to know better! Even though she might be a suspect in his current murder investigation…)

Yes, I guess I do sound like what I am: a Colin Dexter fan! Although he doesn’t write Cozy Mystery books, his Inspector Morse books are some of the very finest police procedural mystery books I have ever read. And, of course, I am like many  in that I have seen every one of the Inspector Morse television mystery shows, at least once.

So, go set up your mode of taping OR make sure you are sitting in front of your television tonight, with it set on your local PBS station’s channel, and get ready to be introduced to a young Endeavor Morse, before he owned his beloved red Jaguar.

PS >>> Watch for John Thaw’s daughter – Abigail – playing the part of a very busy newspaper editor. The editor is being questioned by Endeavor, while she is trying to get work done at her desk. She asks his name, hears it, and finally looks up to see him and ask him if they have ever met. He says no, to which she replies “Another life then.”

Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations – June 2012

Since we started this monthly recommendation of Cozy Mystery books, I have tried several new authors who some of you recommended… about a dozen. I thank you all for your previous recommendations! I have added a few of the new-to-me authors you all recommended to my list of “favorite authors” –  and will soon be reading  the second mysteries in their series.

These monthly recommendations of authors are great ways for us to take a look at your authors, and read the reasons you like them. Then, for those of us who are looking for the same things you listed, we can try the authors. So, please nominate one, two, or even three of your favorite Cozy Mystery authors who you read during the month of June 2012, and please tell us why you enjoyed the authors’ mystery books. (And, please don’t tell us about the authors you tried reading and didn’t like.)

What Cozy Mystery book (or author) have you read during June 2012, 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:

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

Donald Bain & “Jessica Fletcher”: Murder, She Wrote Mystery Series

K. K. Beck: Iris Cooper Mystery Series

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries Mystery Series

Frances Brody: Kate Shackelton Mystery Series

Heron Carvic: Miss Setton Mystery Series

Erika Chase: Ashton Corners Book Club Mystery Series

Laura Crum: Gail McCarthy Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Anna Dean: Dido Kent Mystery Series

Charlotte & Aaron Elkins: Alix London Mystery Series

Janet Evanovich: Stephanie Plum Mystery Series

Judy Fitzwater: Jennifer Marsh Mystery Series

“Jessica Fletcher” & Donald Bain: Murder, She Wrote Mystery Series

Anne George: Southern Sisters Mystery Series

Isidore Haiblum: Murder in Gotham

Victoria Hamilton: Vintage Kitchen Mystery Series

Janice Hamrick: Jocelyn Shore Mystery Series

B. B. Haywood: Candy Holliday Mystery Series

Hazel Holt: Mrs. Malory Mystery Series

P. D. James: Adam Dalgliesh Msytery Series

Rita Lakin: Gladdy Gold Mystery Series

Edward Marston (aka Conrad Allen & Keith Miles): Railway Detective Mystery Series

Nancy Martin: Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series

Leslie Meier: Lucy Stone Mystery Series

Julie Moffett: No One to Trust

Katherine Hall Page: Faith Fairchild Mystery Series

Patricia Rockwell: Bingoed, an Essie Cobb Senior Sleuth Mystery Series

Sax Rohmer: Hangover House

Mark Schweizer: Liturgical Msytery Series

Cynthia Smith: Emma Rhodes Mystery Series

Lillian Stewart: The Blue Hackle 

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

Dorothy L. Sayers : Busman’s Honeymoon : Haunted Honeymoon

A while back, Andie told us about the Turner Classics Movies magazine called Now Playing. Her comment was so positive about it, that I subscribed. I’m glad I did! I watch a lot of old movies, and this guide has helped me to check out, in advance, all of the movies the TCM channel is going to be playing any given month. I actually use a highlighter when going through the descriptions.

Recently, Andie wrote me to tell me that she thought some of us might enjoy a movie that will be airing early tomorrow morning, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. It’s called Haunted Honeymoon, and stars Robert Montgomery (yes, he’s Bewitched’s Elizabeth Montgomery’s dad) and Constance Cummings. It is based on the Dorothy L. Sayer‘s Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Series.

This movie has Lord Peter Wimsey (Robert Montgomery) finally marrying Harriet Vane (Constance Cummings).  It is based on the Dorothy L. Sayers 1937 mystery book called Busman’s Honeymoon.

I’ve already set up my taping device!

Thank you, Andie!

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