The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Mystery Book with Antique Shop, Scrap of Paper, Harpsichord, and Secret Room…

Lila posted a comment asking the following:

“Forgive me if this is not a place to ask, but I have been trying to find the title and author of an audiobook I heard about 10 years ago. The best summary I can give of the plot follows. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you:

A young woman finds a scrap of paper in a small, old harpsichord (clavichord or similar?) from an antique shop she is running (purchased or just minding – not sure). The scrap may also be quite old, but the words on the paper cause her to think someone may be currently in trouble and she feels compelled to investigate. She eventually makes her way to a manse (possibly in New England – again not sure) and there finds a hidden room and danger (of course).”

If you think you might have a clue for Lila as to whom the author could be, please post a comment. (I will be so embarrassed if this is an author I read!)

Cleo Coyle’s Invitation for You to Drop By…

On July 7, Cleo Coyle posted a comment that I want to be sure you ALL get a chance to see. It looks like August is going to be a fun month over at her website… with some “fun themed giveaways”…

Hi Danna – I’m dropping by to say thank you kindly for listing my new release (Murder by Mocha). I’m in great company this August, and I hope everyone enjoys their summer reading.

I’ll be doing some fun themed giveaways in August via my web site so drop on by. I’m also happy to report that Roast Mortem (last year’s HC Coffeehouse Mystery) will be released August 2nd in paperback form, and AudioGo (BBC Audiobooks America) has purchased rights to put the entire Coffeehouse Mystery back list in audio form for the first time. (This was a long time coming, and it’s great news.)

Finally, I didn’t want to pop in empty handed. :) Murder by Mocha will include chocolate recipes, but two of the most popular summer recipes on my site involve strawberries and limes. I hope you and your site visitors enjoy them. For a free PDF of my (Low Fat) Strawberry Muffins click here. For my Key Lime Coolers (cookies) click here, and…

Enjoy your summer!
~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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.♦

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