The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Where Does the Time Go?!?

Good grief! Today is one of those days I simply dread. Yep! It’s the first day of my two day clean- the-house days. I still feel the same as I did about twenty years ago when we moved into our home… well, almost the same. What has me worried is that I used to be able to whip through the house – vacuum, dust, clean bathrooms, and mop – all in one day.This was a good thing, since I cleaned our house every week.

But, now that my cleaning is accomplished with my reading glasses on, I find it takes twice the time to do half the job… well, almost. I blame it on being able to see a whole lot better with my reading glasses, but, I have to concede that I used to have perfect vision, so that probably doesn’t account for the huge time increase. I can blame the use of the reading glasses on my need to get the high allergen dust out of the house, not my twenty-year-older eyes.

The only saving grace about this whole housework routine is that I listen to my audible books while doing these awful chores. Currently, I am listening to Patricia Wentworth‘s first Miss Maud Silver’s mystery. I actually read Grey Mask before, but now that audible.com has her books, I want to listen to them in the correct order. I discovered Patricia Wentworth’s mysteries after receiving several recommendations from Cozy Mystery site readers for me to add her to the site. She is one of the Cozy Mystery author gems I have added to my ever-growing list of favorite authors. And, she definitely falls into the traditional definition of Cozies… which I LOVE!

I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent… but, since this is one of my breaks from those pesky house chores, I am guessing that is why I am meandering. And, now that it takes me twice the time to clean the house, I admit I only do a major house cleaning every two weeks… which is more than enough for me – but possibly not enough for my husband… although he absolutely NEVER complains.

August 2011 Mystery Book New Releases

The following Mystery Books will be released in August 2011:

Jo Bannister: Death in High Places (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Stephanie Barron (aka Francine Mathews): Jane and the Canterbury Tales (This will be the 11th in the Jane Austen Mystery Series…)

Jessica Beck: Tragic Toppings (This will be the 5th in the Donut Shop Mystery Series…)

Jacklyn Brady (aka Sherry Lewis): A Sheetcake Named Desire (This will be the 1st in the NEW Piece of Cake Mystery Series…)

Judy Clemens: Flowers for Her Grave (This will be the 3rd in the Grim Reaper Mystery Series…)

Susan Conant: Brute Strength (This will be the 19th in the Dog Lover’s Mystery Series…)

Sheila Connolly (aka Sarah Atwell): Bitter Harvest (This will be the in the 5th in the Orchard Mystery Series…)

Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Murder by Mocha (This will be the 10th in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series…)

Ellen Crosby: The Sauvignon Secret (This will be the 6th in the Wine Country Mystery Series…)

Mary Daheim: All the Pretty Hearses (This will be the 26th in the Hillside Manor Bed & Breakfast Mystery Series…)

Carole Nelson Douglas: Cat in a Vegas Gold Vendetta (This will be the 23rd in the Midnight Louie Mystery Series…)

Anthony Eglin: Garden of Secrets Past (This will be the 5th in the English Garden Mystery Series…)

Jane Haddam: Flowering Judas (This will be the 26th in the Gregor Demarkian Mystery Series…)

Charlaine Harris: Home Improvement: Undead Edition (Editor of anthology with Toni L. P. Kelner)

Charlaine Harris: The Sookie Stackhouse Companion (This will be a companion to the Sookie Stackhouse Mystery Series…)

Roderic Jeffries (aka Peter Alding & Jeffrey Ashford): Murder Majorcan Style (This will be the 35th in the Inspector Alvarez Mystery Series…)

Toni L. P. Kelner: Home Improvement: Undead Edition (Editor of anthology with Charlaine Harrris)

Tracy Kiely: Murder Most Persuasive (This will be the 3rd in the Elizabeth Parker Mystery Series…)

William Kent Krueger: Northwest Angle  (This will be the 11th in the Cork O’Connor Mystery Series…)

Joyce & Jim Lavene: Harrowing Hats (This will be the 4th in the Renaissance Faire Mystery Series…)

Laura Lippman: The Most Dangerous Thing (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Casey Mayes (aka Tim Myers, Chris Cavender, Elizabeth Bright, & Melissa Glazer): A Killer Column (This will be the 2nd in the Math Puzzle Mystery Series…)

Judi McCoy: Till Death Do Us Bark (This will be the 5th in the Dog Walker Mystery Series…)

James Patterson & Marshall Karp: Kill Me If You Can (This will be a Stand Alone…)

Louise Penny: A Trick of the Light (This will be the 7th in the Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Series…)

Anne Perry: Acceptable Loss (This will be the 17th in the William Monk Mystery Series…)

Kathy Reichs: Flash and Bones (This will be the 14th in the Temperance Brennan Mystery Series…)

Sarah R. Shaber: Louise’s War (This will be the 1st in the NEW Louise Pearlie Mystery Series…)

Marcia Talley: A Quiet Death (This will be the 10th in the Hannah Ives Mystery Series…)

Charles Todd: A Bitter Truth (This will be the 3rd in the Bess Crawford Mystery Series…)

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

New Tricks – British Television Mystery Series

If you want to watch a tongue-in-cheek police procedural television show that makes light of aging “coppers” while also showing that people with age and experience make the best workers >>> then the British television series called New Tricks is probably exactly what you are looking for. (I happen to be a big fan of this British, humorous police procedural dramedy.)

New Tricks features one middle-age detective (Amanda Redman) who recently botched a large hostage operation. Because of this embarrrasement to the police force, she is assigned to head a cold case department. The three men she is assigned to work for her are policemenn who retired years ago… years and years ago! (Dennis Waterman, James Bolam, and Alun Armstrong play the retired coppers.)

Alun Armstrong plays Brian – a manic/depressive (I believe). He is a sort of walking computer. He can recall facts, names, dates, just about everything that was pertinent to the cases when they occurred years ago. Brian is fine… when he’s on his medications.

Dennis Waterman plays Gerry, an aging Lothario. I have lost count of how many ex-wives he has. He is the (somewhat) tough copper… who still considers himself to be quite the lady’s man.

Jack Halford’s character (James) is still in love with his best friend and wife… who has been dead for several years. He has built a shrine to her in his back yard, which he visits regularly.

As for Amanda Redman’s character (Sandra) – while she respects these older men, she also has to keep them in check >>> reign them in, make them follow the politically correct rules that are enforced in today’s police department. These three … I guess “codgers” is the term I’m looking for – policed during the days when it was “acceptable” to rough-up suspects. Sandra has her work cut out for her!

Of course, this cold case squad has a tremendous success rate. What else could we expect? But, the cases aren’t as important (to me!) as the characters’ interactions. What is that old saying? “Getting there is half the fun.” Well, in this case, all the fun is getting there!

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Robin Allen, Sofie Kelly, Leslie Kohler, & Roz Siegel : Four New Authors to the Cozy Mystery Site

Here are the four newest additions to the Cozy Mystery site. Remember that they have been recommended for me to add to the site by site readers. I have asked people to only recommend Cozy Mystery authors, as I add authors to the site without having actually read them … yet!

Robin Allen: Poppy Markham: Culinary Cop Mystery Series. I believe that this is actually the first of its “culinary type” mystery. This series features a health inspector in Austin.

Sofie Kelly: Magical Cats Mystery Series. This series is set in Minnesota, and features a librarian who solves mysteries with the help of her two previously stray, magical cats.

Leslie Kohler: Kohler writes Stand Alone mysteries. The first (Sins of the Border) is set in Scottsdale, Arizona. It features a suburbs’ mom who uses her ex-reporter skills in this case regarding illegal immigration.

Roz Siegel: Emily’s Place Mystery Series. The sleuth in this series is the owner of a high-end shoe shop that serves as a meeting place for lovers of fashionable shoes. Unfortunately, one of the stilettos is used for more than its intended purpose.

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