The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

P. J. Alderman, Jackie Chance, J. Michael Orenduff, & S. S. Van Dine… Four New Authors on the Cozy Mystery Site

Here are the four newest additions to the Cozy Mystery site. These four authors are people who some of you have recommended as belonging on the site:

P. J. Alderman writes the Port Chatham Mystery Series. This series belongs in the paranormal category. Jordan Marsh is the sleuth who lives in the Pacific northwestern coast of the USA. She solves her mysteries while inhabiting her haunted house…

Jackie Chance writes the Poker Mystery Series. This series follows the sleuth as she leaves her old life in the advertising field (as well as her fiancé) and becomes an amateur status poker champion…

J. Michael Orenduff is an ex-math professor who writes the Pot Thief Mystery Series. This series is set in Albuquerque, and centers on Hubert Schuze, a treasure hunter who owns the Spirits in Clay shop…

S. S. Van Dine is a pseudonym for an art critic who wrote the Philo Vance Mystery Series. Philo Vance is a rich art collector in New York. (One of my favorite actors – William Powell – played Philo in several movies… which, if you are familiar with Powell’s work, might give you an idea of Philo’s personality…)

No Name Brand Coffee VS Starbucks

Having recently found myself in two airports during the early morning hours, I was impressed at just how loyal Starbucks’ coffee drinkers are. In both airports (different states, mind you!) I was quite surprised by just how many people are willing to stand in lines that are both very long and extremely slow.

Now I should probably tell you that two Christmases ago, Santa brought me a Starbucks’ $20 gift certificate – which I have yet to use. It’s not that I have never had a Starbucks’ coffee – I have had at least half a dozen of them, and there are actually four of Starbucks located very close to my house. I just am not willing to wait that long to order a coffee that I can’t even describe as “large”! That’s just not for me…

This is not to say that at 5:00 AM I don’t want my coffee! Maybe that’s just it… maybe I’m in simply too big a hurry to get my coffee, that I am not willing to wait over twenty minutes in line. Or, maybe it’s because I probably couldn’t tell the difference between my large cup of coffee ordered from an employee behind the counter  of a pizza kiosk, and a “venti” cup of coffee that is ordered from a “barrista” >>> at twice the price! Either way, I feel like I -and a few other people- are in a win-win situation. We get our cups of coffee quickly from the no-name food vendor stores at about half the price, enabling us to get to our flights’ gates twenty minutes faster than the Starbucks’ lovers.

Hmmm… Maybe next time I fly I’ll go ahead and get out my Santa’s gift card – I haven’t had a venti, lowfat cappucino in years. Twenty minutes in line or twenty minutes at my gate… it’s all the same amount of time…

Dalziel & Pascoe Television Series…

I love this British television police procedural/mystery series! The series follows Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Sergeant/Inspector Peter Pascoe (or as Andy might say, “Paul”!) as they solve crimes in Yorkshire.

Warren Clarke plays Andy to perfection. He is an overweight, brash, uncouth man, who occasionally scratches himself in public. (No, not on his elbow!) Dalziel is one super, duper copper. He always gets his man… but doesn’t always get his woman!

Dalziel’s underling, Pascoe, is completely different. Colin Buchanan, besides being “Hollywood good looking,” seems to be everything Dalziel is not. Pascoe is a college graduate (which Dalziel enjoys using as a sort of put-down), married to a very independent, smart woman, and he is deliberate in his actions. (Dalziel seems to do first, think later.)

They are a perfect crime-solving team, but you wouldn’t expect to see them chumming around. There is a “deepness” in the characters. Even though Dalziel and Pascoe are as different as possible, and Ellie Pascoe (played wonderfully by Susannah Corbett) cannot abide “the Fat Man” (as she calls Dalziel), you can see that all of the characters respect each other professionally >>> to the point of Dalziel being Pascoe’s best man at his wedding. The interplay of the characters is interesting, quite believable, and very complicated.

The fourth character is Sergeant Wield, played by David Royle. His portrayal of a very sensitive man with a lot of secrets is endearing to watch. I look forward to every one of his scenes in the series.

The set locations make me wish I lived in England. Weekend travel must be such fun, with so many beautiful areas to visit. Since this is a British series (and not an American one) only one of the two leads is handsome, and the secondary characters are “normal” looking. (Bravo to normal-looking people on television shows!)

If you’re in the mood for a really good police procedural, with fleshed-out characters, great acting and direction, plenty of red herrings, smart dialogue, and a lot of dry humor >>> then you can’t go wrong with the Dalziel & Pascoe television series.

(The series is not for children.)

P.S.  The Dalziel & Pascoe television series is based on Reginald Hill‘s wonderful mystery book series, of which I am a fan.

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

My Favorite Sitcoms…

During this television “off-season” when they are running episodes of shows that the networks ran only a few months ago, I am left hoping (again!) that they don’t cancel any of my four favorite sitcoms. Of course, as I have stated before, by liking a show, I sometimes find that I jinx it… and it is cancelled.

When a sitcom has a good premise, with well-defined and likable characters, good acting, and funny dialog >>> it’s a show I will invariably enjoy. Unfortunately, there are only four current sitcoms I have found to meet my personal qualifications. I have to admit that there are sitcoms on the air today that I used to enjoy. But, like most things that have lasted too many years, I find that they have become stale for me, and some have even become mean-spirited in their attempts to be funny.

Before I list my four current sitcoms, I will say that there was one I truly looked forward to, that is no longer on telelvision. It had an ensemble of six characters (one of whom was Jim Gaffigan – one of my two favorite comedians >>> Brian Regan being the other) with a very clever writing team. It was simply too good of a show: My Boys. If you get a chance to watch it, make sure you do so in chronological order. I loved this show!

Here are the four current sitcoms I follow/watch:

1) Modern Family: The focus is on three separate units of the same family – the older father with his second wife and her son, the daughter with her husband and three children, and the son with his partner and their daughter. Great writing, very funny.

2) Better With You: Again, the focus is on three units of the same family – the parents, one daughter with her live-in boyfriend, and the other daughter with her fiance. Very clever premise >>> how each of the very different couples see the same events. Very funny. (*This was written April of 2011, UNfortunately, the network made a huge mistake that season, and took the show off the air.)

3) The Middle: This sitcom follows a working class family, with three very different children. A good example of opposites attracting, and normal children who don’t continuously talk back and mug for the camera. (*This was written April of 2011 – as of November 2011, I stopped watching this show.)

4) Raising Hope: Very quirky. Revolves around a couple who had their son when they were extremely young. The couple live in her grandmother’s house, with their son who is Raising Hope, his daughter. The entire cast is great to watch. Cloris Leachman and Martha Plimpton have been favorites of mine for years. (*This was written April of 2011 – as of October 2011, I stopped watching this show.)

These four shows are pretty much the only sitcoms I watch. I hope they are still “current” and haven’t gotten my jinx cancellation walking papers.

Do you have any favorite sitcoms you think are worthy of your time?

MENU