The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Mystery Books that Take Place in Illinois:

Here are some fun Illinois Facts:
The largest city is Chicago and the capital is Springfield.
State motto is “State Sovereignty, National Union State.”
State bird is the Cardinal.
State flower is the Purple Violet Viola.
State nickname is “Prairie State.”
State Animal is the white-tailed deer.
In 1885, the first skyscraper in the world was built in Chicago.

Mystery book authors found on the Cozy Mystery Site who feature Illinois locations in their books:

Julia Buckley… writes the Undercover Dish Mystery Series… Lilah Drake, owner of a catering company

Joelle Charbonneau: Rebecca Robbins Mystery Series… Rebecca owns a roller skating rink she tries to get rid of >>> while solving mysteries…

Jill Churchill: Jane Jeffry Mystery Series… Jane is a housewife/sleuth…

Lonnie Cruse: Metropolis Mystery Series… features Sheriff Joe Dalton… AND ’57 Chevy Mystery Series… features the owners of Sadie, a ’57 Chevy…

Barbara D’Amato: Cat Marsala Mystery Series… Cat is a journalist/sleuth AND Suze Figueroa Mystery Series… Suze is a police officer…

Sharon Fiffer: Jane Wheel Mystery Series… Jane is an antiquer…

Chris Forman: Maria Hart Mystery Series… Maria is an insurance investigator…

Julie Hyzy: Alex St. James Mystery Series… Alex is a reporter/sleuth…

Kylie Logan (aka Miranda Bliss & Casey Daniels): Botton Box Mystery Series…Josie is an antique/vintage button expert who owns a button shop in Chicago…

Alex Matthews: Cassidy McCabe Mystery Series… Cassidy is a psychotherapist/sleuth…

Ralph M. McInerny (aka Monica Quill): Father Dowling Mystery Series… Father Dowling is a priest/sleuth…

Catherine O’Connell: High Society Mystery Series… Pauline Cook is a widowed socialite living in Chicago.

Sara Paretsky: V. I. Warshawski Mystery Series… V. I. is an ex-attorney, current private investigator…

Mary Monica Pulver (aka Monica Ferris & 1/2 of first 6 Margaret Frazer Sister Frevisse mysteries): Peter Brichter Mystery Series… Peter is a police detective…

Monica Quill (aka Ralph M. McInerny): Sister Mary Teresa Mystery Series… Sister Mary Teresa is a nun/sleuth…

Denise Swanson: Scumble River Mystery Series… Skye Denison is a school psychologist…

Mary V. Welk: Caroline Rhodes Mystery Series… Caroline is a nurse/sleuth…

Please feel free to comment if you see an author from the Cozy Mystery Site who belongs on this list, or if you have any corrections.

♦To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link.♦

Mystery Book Series with Genealogy Theme…

Amy asked me if I could include a Genealogy theme, as she has enjoyed Rett MacPherson, and is looking for some other mystery book authors who write Mysteries with a Genealogy Theme:

Susannah Hardy (aka Sadie Hartwell): Greek to Me Mystery Series

E. L. Larkin: Demary Jones Mystery Series… Demary is a genealogist and historical researcher in Seattle…

Rett MacPherson: Torie O’Shea Mystery Series… MacPherson is passionate about genealogy and writes a mystery series that reflects that. The main character of this series is a genealogist…

Fiona Mountain: Natasha Blake Ancestor Detective Mystery Series… This series features a genealogist who is also a sleuth in the Cotswolds.

Patricia Houck Sprinkle: Family Tree Genealogy Mystery Series… The main character (Katherine Murray) investigates trinkets and/or objects belonging to families in the past.

Sarah Stewart Taylor: Sweeney St. George Msytery Series… Sweeney is a professorand historian who specializes in grave stone art.

Please remember that I have only included the authors who are currently on the Cozy Mystery Site. Feel free to post a comment if you know of any other mystery authors from the site who write genealogy-themed mystery books. Thanks!

♦ To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link ♦

Special Orders at "Special" Stores…

Here I go again! Please don’t read this entry if you are looking for mystery book fare. This is yet another one of my rants!

Whatever happened to customer service?!? Is there anyone out there who remembers the time when you could actually “order” something from a department or grocery store? I do!

It used to be that when you went to … say … Walmart, Walgreen’s, Michael’s, ETC, and they didn’t have a product that they normally carry, you could speak to the person in charge of that area and they would special order it for you. They would actually call you when it arrived at the store.

Those days (I’m afraid!) are long gone. When you finally track down the person in charge of a given department, you are invariably told “They send us what they want.” and that there is no special ordering of any kind. Sometimes you get a super nice department manager who will, however, take your name and phone number and say that he/she will call you the next time the store has that particular product. The super nice department manager will then pull a piece of scrap paper out of his/her pocket and take down all of the necessary information… so that he/she can call you just as soon as the particular product is sent by “THEM“…

Don’t hold your breath!

I don’t like to recall the “good, old days”… You know, when we, as children had to walk five miles through snow storms just so that we could get to school (à la Little House on the Prairie!) for our daily 3 Rs, but I just have to say one last thing>>>

I do miss the “good, old days”!

Spencer Quinn & Peter Abrahams, J. F. Englert, Rebecca M. Hale, & Beth Solheim… Mystery Authors Recently Added to Cozy Mystery Site

I just added four new authors to the Cozy Mystery Site. These authors have been recommended to me by site readers. They are new to me, but look very interesting…

J.F. Englert writes the Bull Moose Dog Run Mystery Series which features a Black Labrador Retriever and his often-confused owner… The Black Lab (Randolph) is the narrator of this mystery series…

Rebecca M. Hale (a patent attorney and New York Times bestselling author) writes the Cats and Curios Mystery Series which features the new owner of an antique shop and two pets (cats)…

Spencer Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams) writes the Chet and Bernie Mystery Series, which is told from Chet’s point of view. Chet is the loyal dog of Bernie Little… As an aside: I  love finding authors (especially mystery authors!) who are really successful at their profession, who write mysteries for children and/or young adults (the Echo Falls Mystery Series). Abrahams is one of those authors. (As Abrahams, he is not cozy.)

Beth Solheim writes the Sadie Witt Mystery Series which is a paranormal mystery series. Both Sadie and Belly LaGossa (Sadie’s dog) are able to see the dead…

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