The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Laura Childs: Tea Shop Mystery Series, Scrapbooking Series, or Cackleberry Club Mystery Series… Which one would you recommend reading first?

I started thinking about a comment Susie made two days ago. The comment was about how some of the authors on the March 2012 Mystery Book New Releases list are so prolific. It’s especially gratifying when one of your favorite authors is highly productive. When I finally “catch up” with a favorite author, I wonder what is taking them so long to write the next mystery in their series.

That started me thinking about the “newbies” amongst  us. When a newbie hears that a mystery writer is really, really good at his/her craft, how does the newbie decide which one of the author’s several mystery series he/she should start with.

So, I decided to take a look at the March release list, pick out a few authors, and see what we can come up with to help all of the newbies decide which series to begin with?

This entry will only be about Laura Childs. In the following days I will highlight some of the other mystery authors from the list.

Laura Childs is one of the most popular (bestselling New York Times) Cozy Mystery authors today. She has been writing the following three mystery series since the very early 2ooos.

Tea Shop Mystery Series features the owner of a Charleston Tea Shop.
Scrapbooking Mystery Series stars the owner of a scrapbooking shop in New Orleans.
Cackleberry Club Mystery Series is set in a midwestern cafe that specializes in food, knitting, and even has a book section.

I will start the ball rolling: I think I would recommend the Tea Shop Mystery Series to a newbie Cozy Mystery reader. It not only was Childs’ first mystery series, but it is also my favorite.

Which one of Laura Childs‘ three series would you recommend  a newbie to the Cozy Mystery genre to begin with? (And, would you mind telling us why?)

March 2012 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in March 2012:

Susan Wittig Albert: Cat’s Claw (This will be the 20th in the China Bayles Mystery Series. This will be the 1st in the NEW Pecan Springs Mystery Series…)

Marian Babson: No Cooperation from the Cat (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Rhys Bowen: Hush Now, Don’t You Cry (This will be the 12th in the Molly Murphy Mystery Series…)

Rita Mae Brown: The Big Cat Nap: The 20th Anniversary Mrs. Murphy Mystery (This will be the 20th in the Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series…) (Actually, April 3…)

Anne Canadeo (aka Katherine Spencer): Till Death Do Us Purl (This will be the 4th in the Black Sheep Knitting Mystery Series…)

C. S. Challinor: Murder of the Bride (This will be the 5th in the Rex Graves Mystery Series…)

Laura Childs: Agony of the Leaves (This will be then 13th in the Tea Shop Mystery Series…)

Jane K. Cleland: Dolled Up for Murder (This will be the 7th in the Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery Series…)

Harlan Coben: Stay Close (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Fire Engine Dead (This will be the 3rd in the Museum Mystery Series…)

Clive Cussler & Justin Scott: The Thief (This will be the 5th in the Isaac Bell Mystery Series…)

Lindsey Davis: Falco: The Official Companion (This is what the title says…)

Kate Ellis: The Cadaver Game (This will be the 16th in the Wesley Peterson Mystery Series…)

Mary Anna Evans: Plunder (This will be the 7th in the Faye Longchamp Mystery Series…)

Christopher Fowler: The Memory of Blood (This will be the 9th in the Bryant & May Mystery Series…)

Kerry Greenwood: Cooking the Books (This will be the 6th in the Corinna Chapman Mystery Series…)

Jane Haddam: Blood in the Water (This will be the 27th in the Gregor Demarkian Mystery Series…)

Rebecca M. Hale: Adrift on St. John (This will be the 1st in the NEW Mystery in the Islands Mystery Series…)

Gemma Halliday: Play Nice (This will be the 1st in the NEW Anna Smith & Nick Dade Mystery Series…)

Veronica Heley: False Report (This will be the 6th in the Abbot Agency Mystery Series…)

Victoria Houston: Dead Tease (This will be the 12th in the Loon Lake Fishing Mystery Series…)

Jonnie Jacobs: Paradise Falls (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Jonathan Kellerman: Victims (This will be the 27th in the Alex Delaware Mystery Series…)

Jess Lourey: November Hunt (This will be the 7th in the Murder-by-Month Msytery Series…)

Ada Madison (aka Camille Minichino & Margaret Grace): The Probability of Murder (This will be the 2nd in the Professor Sofie Knowles Mystery Series…)

Judi McCoy: Fashion Faux Paw (This will be the 6th in the Dog Walker Mystery Series…)

G. A. McKevett: Buried in Buttercream (This will be the 17th in the Savannah Reid Mystery Series…)

Jenn McKinlay (aka Lucy Lawrence): Due or Die (This will be the 2nd in the Library Lover’s Mystery Series…)

Sharon Pape: Sketch a Falling Star (This will be the 3rd in the Portrait of Crime Mystery Series…)

James Patterson & David Ellis: Guilty Wives (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Richard North Patterson: Fall from Grace (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Thomas Perry: Poison Flower (This will be the 7th in the Jane Whitefield Mystery Series…)

Denise Swanson: Little Shop of Homicide (This will be the 1st in the NEW  Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery Series…)

Maggie Toussaint: Death Island Style (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Jacqueline Winspear: Elegy for Eddie (This will be the 9th in the Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series…)

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

I Beat the Colorado Snow: I’m Back…

I am back home, and have been busy trying to “catch up” with some of my household responsibilities. My husband and I changed insurance plans in January, and had to have our medications sent to another online pharmacy, which would have been a little easier for me to do>>> if my doctor’s nurse was a little better at her job. I don’t mean to be negative, but I had to talk to her before I left (several times), while I was gone, and will have to call her tomorrow. Good Grief! 

I feel like I got a lot accomplished while out in Colorado. I found a dog walker for my mother – who is unable to take her dog for an extended morning walk. I also found an organization that will send a woman to her home (Visiting Angels) every morning for three hours to help with small household tasks and to drive her places. Her fiancé is mending from his surgery, but will not be home for at least another month.

Although I had my laptop with me while in Colorado, my time was spent going through insurance forms, taking my mom to doctors’ appointments, lining up services that will help my mother, ETC. Also, her fiancé’s sons finally came down to see him last weekend. Their visit seemed to really raise his spirits. I really liked them, but unfortunately the daughter in law filled me in on all of my mom’s fiancé’s gossip… which I am really sorry I know! Here’s another Good Grief!

Anyway, I am back and will start being better about responding to your comments. When I finally did fire up the laptop, the connection was so slow and the mouse so stubborn, it made the whole computer process a real drag. Seemed to take forever to do anything.

Also, if any of you wrote me directly to my mail box, I will go ahead and apologize right now. I usually get my mail through Outlook Express, and was not at all prepared for the “regular” internet mail box system. Good Grief! What a mess!

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