The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations – January 2012

With this being the first month of a new year, I thought it would be a perfect time to add a new page to the Cozy Mystery site. The new page will be called Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations. It is my intention to devote one entry a month to asking you all what Cozy Mystery book you are currently reading. I’ll be posting the month’s initial blog entry with your Cozy Mystery recommendations on this page.

I hope that since you are reading the Cozy Mystery book, that means you are enjoying it… so that you will have good things to say about the book and its author. This way, the rest of us can get a feeling as to whether we would like to try your current book’s author.  I don’t want this page to become a “gripe session” about authors we don’t like. (Believe me, I have quite a few authors who I don’t like!)

I get several letters a month asking for me to recommend Cozy Mystery authors to readers of the site. I received a letter this month asking if I would add other Cozy Mystery readers’ recommendations. It is high time that you all have the opportunity to recommend some of your favorite authors!

So >>> What Cozy Mystery book are you reading, and why are you enjoying it?

I have decided to go ahead and try to list all of the authors some of you are reading this month –  who you think would be good new-to-me authors for other Cozy Mystery readers. However, I would encourage you to read the comments below to find out why we are reading these authors!

January 2012:

Donna Andrews: Meg Lanslow “Bird” Mystery Series

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

Lorna Barrett: Booktown Mystery Series

Ella Barrick: Ballroom Dance Mystery Series

Stephanie Barron: Jane Austen Mystery Series

M. C. Beaton: Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series

Simon Brett: Fethering Mystery Series AND Mrs. Pargeter Mystery Series

Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries Mystery Series

Anne Canadeo: Black Sheep Knitting Mystery Series

JoAnna Carl: Chocoholic Mystery Series

Elizabeth Lynn Casey: Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series

Laura Childs: Tea Shop Mystery Series AND Cackelberry Club Mystery Series AND Scrapbooking Mystery Series

Joanne Clarey: Hummingbird Falls Mystery Series

Carol Higgins Clark: Regan Reilley Mystery Series

Blaize Clement: Dixie Hemingway “Pet Sitter” Mystery Series

Kate Collins: Flower Shop Mystery Series

Cleo Coyle: Coffee House Mystery Series

Edmund Crispin: Gervase Fenn Mystery Series

Amanda Cross: Kate Fansler Mystery Series

Mary Daheim: Emma Lord “Alpine” Mystery Series

Jeanne M. Dams: Dorothy Martin Mystery Series AND Hilda Johansson Mystery Series

Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series

Jo Dereske: Miss Zukas Mystery Series

Elizabeth J. Duncan: Penny Brannigan Mystery Series

Carola Dunn: Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series

Kaitlyn Dunnett: Liss MacCrimmon Mystery Series

Charles Finch: Charles Lennox Mystery Series

Joanne Fluke: Hannah Swensen “Cookie Jar” Mystery Series

Anne George: Southern Sisters Mystery Series

Dorothy Gillman: Mrs. Pollifax Mystery Series

Kerry Greenwood: Phryne Fisher Mystery Series AND Corinna Chapman Mystery Series

Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime National Organization: Fish Tales:  The Guppy Anthology (Ramona DeFelice Long, editor)

Parnell Hall: Puzzle Lady Mystery Series

Carolyn Hart: Henrie O Mystery Series AND Death on Demand Mystery Series

Veronica Heley: Ellie Quicke Mystery Series AND Abbott Agency Mystery Series

Julie Hyzy: White House Chef Mystery Series AND Manor of Murder Mystery Series

Miranda James: Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series

Tracy Kiely: Elizabeth Parker Mystery Series

Diana Killian: Mantra for Murder Mystery Series

Emma Lathen: Wall Street Mystery Series

Amanda Lee: Embroidery Mystery Series

Donna Leon: Guido Brunetti Mystery Series

Rett MacPherson: Torie O’Shea Mystery Series

Margaret Maron: Deborah Knott Mystery Series

Allana Martin: Texana Jones Death of a *** Mystery Series

Francine Mathews: Nantucket Mystery Series

Lorena McCourtney: Ivy Malone Mystery Series

Jenn McKinlay: Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series

Amy Patricia Meade: Pret’ Near Perfect Mystery Series

Leslie Meier: Lucy Stone Mystery Series

Shirley Rousseau Murphy: Joe Grey Cat Mystery Series

Tim Myers: Soapmaking Mystery Series

Leslie O’Kane: Allie Babcock Mystery Serie

Louise Penny: Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series

Elizabeth Peters: Amelia Peabody Mystery Series AND Vicky Bliss Mystery Series

Hannah Reed: Beekeeping Mystery Series

Elliott Roosevelt: Eleanor Roosevelt Mystery Series

Mark Schweizer: Liturgical Mystery Series

Maggie Sefton: Knitting Mystery Series

Paige Shelton: Farmers’ Market Mystery Series

Joanna Campbell Slan: Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery Series

Patricia Sprinkle: Family Tree Mystery Series

Dana Stabenow: Kate Shugak Mystery Series

Elaine Viets: Dead-End Job Mystery Series

Jill Paton Walsh: Lord Peter Wimsey & Harriet Vane Mystery Series

Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series

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

Margaret’s Perseverance Will Help Her Local Library’s Cozy Mystery Reading Patrons…

The Cozy Mystery blog got a comment from Margaret that so interested me, I just knew I “had” to post it as an entry. Something rather similar happened to me years and years ago, when I asked my library branch librarian about a mystery reading group. Her answer dissuaded me from even looking into the one that our branch already had!

Margaret’s comment is as follows:

“Just curious if anyone had a similar issue. This is way off topic but, because of your great website and all the new authors and series I have discovered, I am so anxious to start a Cozy Mystery Book Club. I thought about how great this would be for my Library, get more people in and not everyone can afford to buy their books. I really don’t use my Library because I prefer to buy my books, this might make me use my Library more. Well, I approached the Central Branch of my County Library (a County of 146k people and a City of 66k) and was told “well we already have three book clubs”. The three clubs are historical, non-fiction and fiction. They wouldn’t even let me explain what I wanted, they refused to even listen. I would handle it all myself, just looking for space and a little advertising on the website to annouce the club. I am not sure what the problem is. Cozy Mysteries are such a large portion of Mysteries and Mysteries in general are so popular. I am a member of Sisters in Crime and my local chapter, and see the interest in Mysteries. I can not believe all Libraries are all so “clique-ish”. It seems if it is not intellectual enough they don’t want to recognize it. Very frustrating, I thought any reading was better than no reading. I thought Libraries wanted to promote any type of reading. Sorry for the rant, just curious to see if others have any Mystery Book Clubs at their Libraries.”

In my case, the librarian told me that the group comprised of a very few “old” people. She said that the turn out was so bad, that sometimes they didn’t even have enough to have a meeting. I know I should have gone ahead and tried it,  but at the time I already was a member of two thriving online mystery reading groups, so I decided to pass.

What about you all?

Sharon Love Cook, Lesley A. Diehl, William Doonan, & Annelise Ryan (aka Beth Amos) : Four Author Additions to the Cozy Mystery Site

I have added four new (to me!) authors to the site. I know I keep repeating this, but I want to remind you, these authors have been recommended as belonging on the Cozy Mystery site by some of you.

Sharon Love Cook writes the Rose McNichols Mystery Series, which features a newspaper reporter in a coastal village in New Hampshire.  Cook is also a newspaper columnist, who is an illustrator as well as a cartoonist.

Lesley A. Diehl has her Ph. D. in psychology, and has worked as both a professor and a university administrator. Diehl pens the Microbrewers Mystery Series, which features a master brewer as its sleuth. She also writes the Big Lake Mystery Series, which has as its sleuth, Emily Rhodes, a retired preschool teacher who takes up bartending (and sleuthing!) in Florida.

William Doonan is an anthropology professor who has worked as a cruise ship lecturer many times. Doonan writes the Henry Grave Mystery Series, which features an octogenarian who works as a senior cruise ship investigator.

Annelise Ryan (aka Beth Amos) is an emergency room nurse who writes a mystery series which revolves around an ex-nurse. The Mattie Winston Mystery Series is set in Wisconsin, and has her ex-nurse now working as a deputy coroner.

February 2012 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in February 2012:

Avery Aames: Clobbered by Camembert (This will be the 3rd in the Cheese Shop Mystery Series…)

Lucy Arlington (aka 1/2 Sylvia May & 1/2 J. B. Stanley, Jennifer Stanley, & Ellery Adams): Buried in a Book (This will be the 1st in the NEW Mystery Series…)

Jeffrey Ashford (aka Roderic Jeffries & Peter Alding): Justice Deferred (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Lorraine Bartlett (aka Lorna Barret & L. L. Bartlett ): The Walled Flower (This will be the 2nd in the Victoria Square Mystery Series…)

M. C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney): Death of a Kingfisher (This will be the 28th in the Hamish Macbeth Mystery Series…)

Melissa Bourbon: A Fitting End (This will be the 2nd in the Magical Dressmaking Mystery Series…)

Jacklyn Brady (aka Sherry Lewis): Cake on a Hot Tin Roof (This will be the 2nd in the Piece of Cake Mystery Series…)

Simon Brett: Guns in the Gallery (This will be the 13th in the Fethering Mystery Series…)

Ellen Byerrum: Death on Heels (This will be the 8th in the Crime of Fashion Mystery Series…)

Kate Carlisle: One Book in the Grave (This will be the 5th in the Bibliophile Mystery Series…)

Nancy J. Cohen: Shear Murder (This will be the 10th in the Bad Hair Day Mystery Series…)

E. J. Copperman (aka Jeffrey Cohen): Old Haunts (This will be the 3rd in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery Series…)

Deborah Crombie: No Mark upon Her (This will be the 14th in the Kincaid  & James Mystery Series…)

Amanda Flower: Murder in a Basket (This will be the 2nd in the India Hayes Mystery Series…)

Joanne Fluke: Cinnamon Roll Murder (This will be the 15th in the Hannah Swensen Cookie Jar Mystery Series…)

Parnell Hall: $10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles (This will be the 13th in the Puzzle Lady Mystery Series…) (Actually January 31…)

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: Kill My Darling (This will be the 14th in the Bill Slider Mystery Series…)

B. B. Haywood: Town in a Wild Moose Chase (This will be the 3rd in the Candy Holliday Mystery Series…)

Joan Hess: Deader Homes and Gardens (This will be the 18th in the Claire Malloy Mystery Series…)

Maddy Hunter: Dutch Me Deadly (This will be the 7th in the Passport to Peril Mystery Series…)

Sue Ann Jaffarian: Gem of a Ghost (This will be the 3rd in the Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery Series…)

J. A. Jance: Left for Dead (This will be the 7th in the Ali Reynolds Mystery Series…)

Jonathan Kellerman: Victims (This will be the 26th in the Alex Delaware Mystery Series…)

Victoria Laurie: Quest for the Secret Keeper (This will be the in the 3rd in the Oracles of Delphi Series…) (This is a children’s mystery series.)

Lisa Lutz: Trail of the Spellmans (This will be the 5th in the Izzy Spellman Mystery Series…)

James Patterson & Mark Sullivan: Private Games (This will be the 4th in the Jack Morgan Private Mystery Series……)

J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts): Celebrity in Death (This will be the 35th in the Eve Dallas Mystery Series…)

Peter Robinson: Before the Poison (This will be a Stand Alone…)

David Rosenfelt: Heart of a Killer (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Dana Stabenow: Restless in the Grave (This will be the 19th in the Kate Shugak Mystery Series…)

Betty Webb: Desert Wind (This will be the 7th in the Lena Jones Mystery Series…)

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

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