Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV
Here is the list of new releases for April 10 to April 23!
Heather Horrocks: A Match Made Inn Heaven (5th in Who-Dun-Him Inn Cozy Mysteries)
Anne Perry: The Fourth Enemy (6th in the Daniel Pitt Mysteries)
Peter Robinson: Standing in the Shadows (28th in the Inspector Banks Mysteries)
Dana Stabenow: Not the Ones Dead (23rd in the Kate Shugak Mysteries)
Can it be May already?! I just can’t believe 2023 is going so fast!
The Turner Classic Movies channel is changing things up for us this month – with The Thin Man mystery movies. A lot of us are used to seeing the channel air a slew of The Thin Man movies starting on December 31 and continuing through January 1 of each year. I can’t quite remember if they have done that during other times of the year. However, this year they will be running The Thin Man mystery movies starting on May 10 and continuing on May 11. I have seen these movies several times, and enjoy them a lot… except for the inebreation scenes. For some reason, movies from the 1930s/1940s seem to think those types of scenes are funny. (I find myself fast forwarding through a lot of drunk scenes…)
For those of you who remember reading Nancy Drew mysteries — you’ll be pleased to see that three of the four 1930s Nancy Drew movies with Bonita Granville will be airing during May 2023. I don’t know how many times I have watched these movies!
***** ***** ***** *****
***** ***** ***** *****
12:30 PM The Gazebo (1960)
A suburban couple tries to cope with a murder victim whose body refuses to stay put.
Dir: George Marshall. Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner
100 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
2:00 AM Woman of Straw (1964)
A rich old man’s nurse and his nephew plot his murder.
Dir: Basil Dearden. Cast: Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson
120 mins
10:30 AM Assignment To Kill (1968)
A private eye is hired by an insurance company to investigate a shipping magnate suspected of deliberately sinking his own ships for the insurance money. He finds himself involved in a web of deception, double-crossing and murder.
Dir: Sheldon Reynolds. Cast: Patrick O’Neal, Joan Hackett, John Gielgud
102 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
12:30 AM Evelyn Prentice (1934)
A criminal lawyer’s wife faces blackmail when she has an affair.
Dir: William K. Howard. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Una Merkel
80 mins
10:00 PM Key Largo (1948)
A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane.
Dir: John Huston. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall
101 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
10:00 PM Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman’s ambitions for her daughter drastically impact her life.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott
113 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
8:27 AM Blind Alibi (1938)
A man pretends to be blind to foil blackmailers.
Dir: Lew Landers. Cast: Richard Dix, Whitney Bourne, Eduardo Ciannelli
62 mins
10:08 AM Nancy Drew: Detective (1938)
A teen-aged sleuth investigates a wealthy woman’s disappearance.
Dir: William Clemens. Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, James Stephenson
60 mins
11:30 AM Hit and Run Driver (1935)
In this short film, a man runs over a young couple on a deserted road, then tries to cover up the incident.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn. Cast: Sam Flint, Carl Stockdale, Jonathan Hale
20 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
12:00 PM The Letter (1940)
A woman claims to have killed in self-defense, until a blackmailer turns up with incriminating evidence.
Dir: William Wyler. Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson
97 mins
10:30 PM The Blue Gardenia (1953)
A telephone operator kills in self-defense but can’t remember the details of the encounter.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Cast: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern
90 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
8:00 PM The Thin Man (1934)
In New York, a detective, his wife and his dog solve the murder case of an eccentric inventor.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan
80 mins
9:45 PM After the Thin Man (1936)
Married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles try to clear Nora’s cousin of a murder charge.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart
110 mins
11:45 PM Another Thin Man (1939)
Not even the joys of parenthood can stop married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles from investigating a murder on a Long Island estate.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey
105 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
1:45 AM Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
High society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles run into a variety of shady characters while investigating a race-track murder.
Dir: Major W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Barry Nelson
97 mins
3:30 AM The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
On a trip to visit his parents, detective Nick Charles gets mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson
100 mins
5:15 AM Song of the Thin Man (1947)
Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club.
Dir: Edward Buzzell. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Keenan Wynn
86 mins
7:00 AM Private Detective 62 (1933)
A private eye in Paris falls for the beautiful gambling lady he’s investigating.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: William Powell, Margaret Lindsay, Ruth Donnelly
67 mins
8:15 AM The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a murder tied to a Long Island dog show.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette
73 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
6:00 AM Foreign Correspondent (1940)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall
119 mins
12:00 PM The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Miss Froy disappears on her return train trip from a vacation in the Balkans. However, Iris Henderson is the only person, on a train filled with suspicious and unsavory characters, who can attest that Miss Froy was ever on that trip.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas
97 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
8:29 AM Midnight Alibi (1934)
An elderly recluse shelters a gambler on the run from bogus murder charges.
Dir: Alan Crosland. Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Ann Dvorak, Helen Chandler
60 mins
10:09 AM Nancy Drew… Reporter (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth sets out to prove a young girl innocent of murder charges.
Dir: William Clemens. Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Frank Thomas Jr.
68 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
12:00 AM Flamingo Road (1949)
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet
94 mins
10:00 AM Flamingo Road (1949)
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet
94 mins
12:00 PM Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman’s ambitions for her daughter drastically impact her life.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott
113 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
6:15 AM Above Suspicion (1943)
A honeymooning couple are asked to spy on the Nazis in pre-war Europe.
Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt
90 mins
8:00 AM Conspirator (1949)
A newlywed suspects her husband of being a Communist spy.
Dir: Victor Saville. Cast: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Flemyng
87 mins
9:30 AM Hot Summer Night (1957)
A hot-shot reporter risks his life to land an interview with a notorious crook.
Dir: David Friedkin. Cast: Marianne Stewart, Claude Akins, Robert Wilke
86 mins
11:00 AM Young Bride (1932)
A newlywed discovers her husband is a cheating phony.
Dir: William Seiter. Cast: Helen Twelvetrees, Eric Linden, Arline Judge
76 mins
12:30 PM Gaslight (1940)
A turn-of-the-century bride moves into the house where her aunt was murdered and begins to fear she’s going mad.
Dir: Thorold Dickinson. Cast: Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell
84 mins
2:00 PM Girl Missing (1933)
A new bride disappears from her honeymoon hotel the same night a dead body pops up.
Dir: Robert Florey. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Ben Lyon, Mary Brian
69 mins
4:30 PM Cat People (1942)
A newlywed fears that an ancient curse will turn her into a bloodthirsty beast.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph
71 mins
6:00 PM Stop Me Before I Kill! (1961)
After surviving an accident, a race car driver begins to suffer violent impulses.
Dir: Val Guest. Cast: Claude Dauphin, Diane Cilento, Ronald Lewis
93 mins
8:00 PM He Ran All the Way (1951)
A crook on the run hides out in an innocent girl’s apartment.
Dir: John Berry. Cast: John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford
77 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
3:15 AM The Outrage (1964)
A murderer, a sexually assaulted wife and the dead man himself present conflicting versions of a brutal crime.
Dir: Martin Ritt. Cast: Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom
97 mins
7:30 AM Main Street After Dark (1944)
A police clean-up campaign could put a family of pickpockets out of work.
Dir: Edward Cahn. Cast: Edward Arnold, Selena Royle, Tom Trout
56 mins
10:15 AM The Unsuspected (1947)
The producer of a radio crime series commits the perfect crime, then has to put the case on the air.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, Audrey Totter
103 mins
12:00 PM The Sellout (1951)
A small-town newspaper editor risks everything to expose a corrupt sheriff.
Dir: Gerald Mayer. Cast: Walter Pidgeon, John Hodiak, Audrey Totter
83 mins
1:30 PM Lady in the Lake (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective’s viewpoint.
Dir: Robert Montgomery. Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan
103 mins
3:15 PM High Wall (1947)
Psychiatry provides the key to proving a veteran flyer innocent of his wife’s murder.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt. Cast: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall
99 mins
6:15 PM Tension (1950)
A man who had planned to murder his wife’s lover becomes the prime suspect when somebody beats him to it.
Dir: John Berry. Cast: Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse
95 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
4:00 PM Deception (1946)
A woman tries to protect her refugee husband from her rich and powerful ex-lover.
Dir: Irving Rapper. Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains
110 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
1:15 AM The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)
A detective teams with his ex-wife to solve a murder.
Dir: Stephen Roberts. Cast: William Powell, Jean Arthur, James Gleason
80 mins
11:45 AM Rendezvous (1935)
A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
Dir: William K. Howard. Cast: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes
91 mins
1:30 PM Star of Midnight (1935)
A New York lawyer tries to track down a kidnapped actress.
Dir: Stephen Roberts. Cast: William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Paul Kelly
90 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
8:15 AM Kill or Cure (1962)
A detective bumbles through the investigation of murders at a spa.
Dir: George Pollock. Cast: Terry-Thomas, Eric Sykes, Dennis Price
88 mins
4:00 PM The Gazebo (1960)
A suburban couple tries to cope with a murder victim whose body refuses to stay put.
Dir: George Marshall. Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner
100 mins
5:45 PM Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
The Brewster sisters are spinster pillars of Brooklyn society, except for their secret penchant for poisoning old male callers with their homemade elderberry wine, to end the men’s loneliness!
Dir: Frank Capra. Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey
118 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
2:00 AM 12 Angry Men (1957)
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Dir: Sidney Lumet. Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley
95 mins
8:28 AM Women Are Trouble (1936)
A small-town news journalist goes after a big-city job by investigating a vicious protection racket.
Dir: Errol Taggart Cast: Stuart Erwin, Paul Kelly, Florence Rice
60 mins
10:08 AM Nancy Drew… Trouble Shooter (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth tries to clear one of her father’s friends of a murder charge.
Dir: William Clemens. Cast: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel
68 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
12:00 AM Dial 1119 (1950)
A killer holds the customers at a bar hostage.
Dir: Gerald Mayer. Cast: Marshall Thompson, Virginia Field, Andrea King
75 mins
4:00 AM The Carey Treatment (1972)
A doctor uncovers a hotbed of corruption when he tries to clear a colleague of a murder charge.
Dir: Blake Edwards. Cast: James Coburn, Jennifer O’Neill, Pat Hingle
101 mins
10:00 AM Dial 1119 (1950)
A killer holds the customers at a bar hostage.
Dir: Gerald Mayer. Cast: Marshall Thompson, Virginia Field, Andrea King
75 mins
1:15 PM Charade (1963)
A young woman returns home from vacation to find her elegant apartment stripped and her husband murdered.
Dir: Stanley Donen. Cast: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
114 mins
3:30 PM Suspicion (1941)
A young woman marries a charming man after a brief romance but then comes to believe that he is only after her money and will do anything to get it.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
99 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
7:45 AM 21 Days Together (1940)
After accidentally killing his mistress’ husband, a man must decide whether to let another man hang for his crime.
Dir: Basil Dean. Cast: Vivien Leigh, Leslie Banks, Laurence Olivier
75 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
3:30 AM Crossroads (1942)
A French diplomat who’s recovering from amnesia is blackmailed over crimes he can’t remember.
Dir: Jack Conway. Cast: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, Claire Trevor
84 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
12:15 AM Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
On one of the hottest days of August 1972, three amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a Brooklyn bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.
Dir: Sidney Lumet. Cast: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Carol Kane
130 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
12:00 AM The Fallen Sparrow (1943)
Nazi spies pursue a Spanish Civil War veteran in search of a priceless keepsake.
Dir: Richard Wallace. Cast: John Garfield, Maureen O’Hara, Walter Slezak
94 mins
10:00 AM The Fallen Sparrow (1943)
Nazi spies pursue a Spanish Civil War veteran in search of a priceless keepsake.
Dir: Richard Wallace. Cast: John Garfield, Maureen O’Hara, Walter Slezak
94 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
6:00 PM The Big Sleep (1946)
Called into a case involving a wealthy family, detective Philip Marlowe discovers blackmail and murder as he falls for the eldest daughter in the family.
Dir: Howard Hawks. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely
114 mins
8:00 PM North by Northwest (1959)
A suave, successful New York advertising executive finds himself, through a case of mistaken identity, embroiled in a web of intrigue and murder that takes him across the country to prove his innocence to the police.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
136 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in May, be sure to leave a comment below!
In case you’re interested in seeing the rest of this month’s television mystery movies, here’s the April 2023 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for April 2023 on Turner Classic Movies channel
And here is the page on my site with plenty of entries about movies and television shows you may enjoy:
Cozy Mystery List TV and Movie Section – all you have to do is click on the link to go to that page on my site.
I’ve got two more pieces of good news about established Cozy Mystery site authors!
First, Peggy Ehrhart will be putting out at least two new Knit & Nibble Cozy Mysteries, plus an Easter-themed novella, over the course of 2024 to 2026. This will bring the series starring Pamela Patterson, a widow, empty nester, associate editor of a craft magazine, and founder of a knitting club to at least 12 entries.
Lynn Cahoon will be writing three more entires in the Tourist Trap Mystery Series, which will bring the series to at least 17 entries. Cahoon is also the author of the Farm-to-Fork Mystery Series, the Cat Latimer Mystery Series, the Kitchen Witch Mystery Series, and the Survivors’ Book Club Mystery Series.
I know it’s a bit late, but Happy Easter! I don’t have a whole lot more to say today, but I still wanted to take a few moments to say that I hope everyone is having a good Spring so far and is enjoying the holiday, if you observe it, or just a good day either way!
