The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Mystery Book Set During WWII Amsterdam…

Here is the latest identity question for you all to tackle. This one was submitted by Lisa:

Hope someone can help – I’m trying to remember the title of a mystery set in Amsterdam during WWII. A dead Nazi soldier is left on the lawn of a Dutch family and they are arrested. The teen-age son is the only survivor and he spends the rest of the book trying to find out why his family was targeted in this way. It was a great book and I want to get my book club to read it, but I haven’t a clue about the title or the author!

If any of you think you might know the identity of either the author or the mystery, would you please post a comment for Lisa. Thank you!

What Type of Weather Brings Out the Reading In You?

A frequent commenter to the site, Alfred, just sent me a quick note wondering if the weather affects our reading? Now he has me wondering if it does!

… with the weather turning cooler and eventually colder do… [you] read more when it is that way or read the same throughout the year…

I am going to take a wild guess on this one: I am guessing that people who have four distinct seasons might have a very different reading pattern than those who are “lucky enough” to have only two (hot and hotter than blazes!)… but I might be wrong.

So, Alfred (and I!) are interested in knowing: Does the weather affect your reading pattern?

Cozy Mystery Special Interest Themes… What Do You Think?

My last entry elicited a lot of really good comments on whether or not we would continue reading a Cozy Mystery series that we are enjoying… after the main sleuth does something for no apparent reason other than progressing the story line. (In this case it was keeping a very vital piece of evidence from the competent police department.)

Thank you all of your responses… You certainly have me thinking about this, and I’m still deliberating on whether I can continue with this sleuth. There is a lot to think about… in regards to what we want and expect from our sleuths.

Amongst all of the responses, there was another theme that came up:

Gail wrote:

… Lately, I’ve found many of the cozies with a gimmick (cozies built around a hobby, special interest etc) to be really problematic. It seems the mystery plot is sacrificed for the sake of the hobby. So everything stops while we have a little lesson on quilting, or coffee making or something. The gimmick needs to move the plot along or enhance our understanding of the characters. The movement of the plot shouldn’t stop for a lecture.
Not what you asked but it’s annoying me lately! And that’s my new YUCK category.

Maria responded:

Gail, I’ve seen this a lot lately too. A little bit of instruction or hobby is okay–cooking four meals and two desserts in the first 30 pages…well, I think I better go eat something instead of read…

The balance has to be there. And it’s probably easier to take after I love the characters. Sort of like watching grandma bake (or quilt or whatever). If I already like the characters I can enjoy the atmosphere, but if it’s just some gal named Sophie discussing the pros and cons of dark brown sugar versus molasses versus white sugar there better be arsenic in the white sugar that kills the guest! (okay that was kind of mean, but you know what I’m getting at. I hope!)

I have to admit to trying a few Cozy Mystery series just because they revolved around a particular interest of mine. One of those themed series was the Needlecraft Mystery Series by Monica Ferris. Because I enjoy needlework so much, I thought I might enjoy this particular series, and I was right! Monica Ferris is now on my “favorite authors” list. The needlework theme is what caught my interest, but the actual series is what has made me a Monica Ferris fan. (Also, I don’t remember Ferris ever actually devoting pages in these Cozy Mysteries on “how to” types of instruction.)

Do you all have opinions on special interest themes?

If you enjoy a particular theme, say paranormal, do you read every paranormal author you can get your hands on?

Do you think that some authors are using gimmicks to get us to read their books by getting on the bandwagon of a popular theme? (I do! Certainly not all authors, but I think that many do!)

Amateur Sleuth Who Withholds Evidence…

As I have mentioned before, I keep a list of authors I have tried and did not like. I know I have mentioned my “*****YUCK” annotation for these authors. However, every once in a while, I read so many good reviews about one of these “*****YUCK” authors on my list that I simply have got to try him/her again. I have found some of my current favorite authors by revisiting my “*****YUCK” authors list. (It seems like sometimes I have set aside an author because I was just not in the right mood – only to find that I really like the author.)

Well, I just tried one of my previously tried “*****YUCK” authors, and 2/3 into the book, I thought: “This is great! I have a new author to add to my favorite author list.” I was enjoying the author’s writing style, her Cozy Mystery characters, AND  her village-type setting. (In this case it wasn’t a village, it was people who share a similar interest.)

UNTIL>>>

Aha!!! I think I found the reason I chose to cast this particular author off of my reading list: Her sleuth willingly and deliberately kept a VERY important piece of evidence from the local police department! Her sole purpose for not handing over the crucial evidence was: she and her best friend wanted to solve the mystery! No, she didn’t attempt to give the police the evidence, only to be told to mind her own business, and that she didn’t know what she was talking about. She truly kept the evidence a secret which, had the police department known about, they would have been able to solve the mystery a whole lot faster.

This brings me to these questions for you all!

1) When you read a Cozy Mystery author, is her/his writing style more important than the actual mystery? Or are you able to overlook the mystery in favor of the author’s writing style?

2) When you meet a main sleuth who does something you find reprehensible (like impeding the solving of the case by withholding crucial evidence) can you dismiss it in favor of the author’s good writing and terrific character development?

3) Is it OK to have a flawed main character who does things you might not agree with?

I am really struggling with whether or not to discontinue this mystery series. I had been enjoying the book so much, that I thought maybe I could overlook this sleuth’s actions. I’m still debating what to do… and wondered what you all thought about this. What do you think?

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