The Cozy Mystery List Blog

So it’s on with my winter/Christmas theme reading…

I enjoyed Marian Babson’s Twelve Deaths of Christmas so much, that I am now embarking on Marian Babson‘s Murder on a Mystery Tour. I should point out that Murder on a Mystery Tour is not a Christmas mystery book, but it is a winter theme book, which is helping to get me in more of an end-of-December mood. (We’re back to 70* days again…)

I have to admit that Marian Babson is an author who I tried reading years ago, and when I finished that particular book, I just couldn’t decide whether to continue reading her books, or not. Every once in a while, I read an author who I am just not that sure about, so I put him/her on the back burner for a while (in this case, a long while!) and try reading them again. Most of the time, when I try the author again, I still don’t like him/her. But, every once in a while my perseverance pays off.

I am delighted I REtried Marian Babson. I’m glad I kept her mystery books. She is now on my list of favorite authors!

I recently got a letter from a Cozy Mystery site reader who asked about the books in Barbara Cleverly‘s Laetitia Talbot Mystery Series. Why, she asked, did I have the WWI, archaeology-themed mysteries out of order?

Upon doing a little research, I found that the second mystery in the series was actually written before the first book in the series, so it makes it a prequel to the first book in the series… sort of like George Lucas’ Star Wars first three movies being followed by the prequel years. I mean, how can the 1977 Star Wars movie be part IV, when part I didn’t get released until 1999.

That got me thinking: If you were going to embark on reading a new-to-you author who had a prequel amongst the mysteries in the author’s series, would you cut to the chase (so to speak) and read the prequel mystery first, and then follow it with the rest of the books in their chronological order? OR Would you stick to the publication order and read the prequel wherever it falls in the series… as the publisher intended?

I have to admit that my obsessive compulsive disorder would totally dictate what I would do. There is no way I would be able to stop myself from reading the prequel before hitting the rest of the mysteries in the series.

What would you do?

One of our frequent visitors to the Cozy Mystery blog area is Maria E. Schneider… and she would like your input! She is once again having a book cover poll on her site, this time for her next novel published: Under Witch Aura. Under Witch Aura will be the second in her Moon Shadow urban fantasy series.

If you have a minute, I am sure she would appreciate it if you would stop by and cast your vote between the two book cover possibilities. Here is her link to the Under Witch Aura cover poll. (This link is no longer available.)

Thanks!