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Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations – February 2012

This will be the second entry in the Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations theme. The authors who we will be recommending are Cozy Mystery authors who we have read this month (February 2012) who we think other Cozy Mystery readers should give a try.

Again, if you are currently reading a Cozy Mystery author, or can think of one (or two, or three!) who you read this month, who you think everyone else should try, please post a comment with his/her name and tell us why.

(Please only post about those Cozy Mystery authors and books you have positive things to say about, not who you think we should stay away from!)

What Cozy Mystery book (or author) are you reading (or have read during February 2012), and why are you enjoying it (or him/her)?

February 29, 2012:

Here are the recommendations you all sent in about the Cozy Mystery books you have read (and enjoyed!) during the month of February 2012:

Avery Aames: Cheese Shop Mystery Series

Ellery Adams (aka , J. B. Stanley, Jennifer Stanley, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington): Books by the Bay Mystery Series

Lucy Arlington (Jennifer Stanley & Sylvia May): Novel Idea Mystery Series

Sarah Atwell (aka Sheila Connolly): Glassblowing Mystery Series

Lorna Barrett (aka Lorraine Bartlett & L. L. Bartlett): Booktown Mystery Series

Lorraine Bartlett (aka L. L. Bartlett & Lorna Barrett): Victoria Square Mystery Series

M. C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney): Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series

Carrie Bebris: Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery Series

Fiona Buckley: Ursula Blanchard Mystery Series

Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib): Key West Food Critic Mystery Series

Caroline Cousins: Pinckney Plantation Mystery Series

Deborah Crombie: Kincaid & James Mystery Series

Casey Daniels (aka Miranda Bliss & Kylie Logan): Pepper Martin Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Carola Dunn: Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series

Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology – Ramona DeFelice Long (Editor), Chris Roerden (Introduction)

B. B. Haywood: Candy Holliday Mystery Series

Veronica Heley: Ellie Quicke Mystery Series & Abbot Agency Mystery Series

Joan Hess: Claire Malloy Mystery Series

Maddy Hunter: Passport to Peril Mystery Series

Faye Kellerman: Decker & Lazarus Mystery Series

Sofie Kelly: Magical Cat Mystery Series

Liz Lipperman: Clueless Cook Mystery Series

Judi McCoy: Dog Walker Mystery Series

Leslie Meier: Lucy Stone (Holiday) Mystery Series

Ann Purser: Ivy Beasley Mystery Series

Spencer Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams): Chet and Bernie Mystery Series

Sarah R. Shaber: Professor Simon Shaw Mystery Series

Paige Shelton: Country Cooking School Mystery Series

Dana Stabenow: Kate Shugak Mystery Series

Rex Stout: Nero Wolfe Mystery Series

Victoria Thompson: Gaslight Mystery Series

Kathy Hogan Trocheck (aka Mary Kay Andrews): Julia Callahan Garrity Mystery Series

Livia J. Washburn: Fresh Baked Mystery Series

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

Sheila Connolly aka Sarah Atwell: Orchard Mystery Series, Museum Mystery Series, or Glassblowing Mystery Series… Which one would you recommend reading first?

The final Cozy Mystery author from the March 2012 Mystery Book New Releases page to be highlighted is Sheila Connolly, who actually debuted writing Cozy Mystery books as Sarah Atwell. Sarah Atwell (pseudonym) published the first in her Glassblowing Mystery Series in 2008. This was quickly followed with Sheila Connolly’s Orchard Mystery Series being published. Two years later brought us the Museum Mystery Series, under her own name, Sheila Connolly.

Sheila Connolly is a very prolific best selling author. So, for the last time this month I will pose the question: If you were to recommend one of these three mystery series to a “hypothetical newbie” (to Sheila Connolly/Sarah Atwell) – which of these Cozy Mystery series would you want the newbie to start with?

As Connolly:

Orchard Mystery Series: Our sleuth, Meg Corey, is an apple orchard owner in Massachusetts.

Museum Mystery Series: Nell Pratt is a fundraiser for the Preservation of Pennsylvania Antiques, and she happens to also be our sleuth.

As Atwell:

Glassblowing Mystery Series: The sleuth, Em Dowell, is an artist you owns a glassblowing studio in Tucson, Arizona.

Which one of Sheila Connolly’s/Sarah Atwell’s three series would you recommend a newbie to the Cozy Mystery genre to begin with? (And, would you mind telling us why?)

PS>>> Great news for all of you Sheila Connolly/Sarah Atwell fans: She will be publishing an Irish mystery series starting next year!

Hallmark Movie Channel: Perry Mason Marathon on Presidents’ Day 2012

I hope you all are off from work and enjoying Presidents’ Day.

I want to pass on what Jennifer told me in an e-mail: A Perry Mason movie marathon will be running all day (today) on the Hallmark Movie Channel.

(Also, I just looked at the line-up on the Hallmark Movie Channel, and they are showing two Matlock mystery movies next Sunday – February 26 –  followed by an all-day marathon of Murder, She Wrote mystery movies.)

Susan Wittig Albert (aka 1/2 of Robin Paige): China Bayles Mystery Series, Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, Darling Dahlias Mystery Series or the Victorian Kate Ardleigh Sheridan & Sir Charles Sheridan Mystery Series… Which one would you recommend reading first?

As I said in my entry from two days ago, I will highlight a few of the other “prolific” authors who are on the March 2012 Mystery Book New Releases list. Today I thought we could help the “newbie” to Cozy Mystery books hear from those of us who read another tremendously popular mystery author, Susan Wittig Albert.

So again, we have the hypothetical “newbie” person who (this time) has never read one of Susan Wittig Albert‘s mystery books. Yes, I know this sounds virtually impossible… since almost every Cozy Mystery reader has read at least one mystery book by this New York Times bestselling author!

China Bayles Mystery Series stars China Bayles, an ex-lawyer who now owns her own herbal shop in Texas.

Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Mystery Series has, as its sleuth, early 1900s Beatrix Potter – the wonderful British author and illustrator.

Darling Dahlias Mystery Series features a group of garden club ladies during the Depression.

Victorian Kate Ardleigh Sheridan & Sir Charles Sheridan Mystery Series was written by Susan and her husband, Bill Albert.

Which one of Susan Wittig Albert’s four series would you recommend  a newbie to the Cozy Mystery genre to begin with? (And, would you mind telling us why?)

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