Here is the list of new releases for July 1 to July 14!
Donna Leon: A Refiner’s Fire (33rd in the Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
David Rosenfelt: Dog Day Afternoon (29th in the Andy Carpenter Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV
Here is the list of new releases for July 1 to July 14!
Donna Leon: A Refiner’s Fire (33rd in the Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
David Rosenfelt: Dog Day Afternoon (29th in the Andy Carpenter Mysteries)
*Sorry that this is so much later than normal… I was going to post it on the 1st, which was already going to be late… then I hit save instead of schedule… very embarrassing!*
June is over, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we read this month!
If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read the first entry of Korina Moss’s Cheese Shop Mystery Series. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!
So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in June? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)
As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.
What really good Cozy Mystery did you read June 2024 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?
Ellery Adams (aka J. B. Stanley, Jennifer Stanley, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington): Secrets, Book & Scone Society Mystery Series
Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Secret Bookcase Mystery Series
Lorna Barrett (aka L. L. Bartlett & Lorraine Bartlett): Booktown Mystery Series
Lynn Cahoon: Tourist Trap Mystery Series
Ann Claire: Cyclist’s Guide Mystery (first entry A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants)
Krista Davis: Domestic Diva Mystery Series
Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker): Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery Series
Eva Gates (aka Vicki Delany): Lighthouse Library Mystery Series
Rupert Holmes: McMasters Guide to Homicide (first entry Murder Your Employer)
Susan Elia MacNeal: Maggie Hope Mystery Series
Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series
Korina Moss: Cheese Shop Mystery Series
Linda Reilly: Grilled Cheese Mystery Series
Paige Shelton: Alaska Wild Mystery Series
Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series
I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.
♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦
P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.
Today, I will once again be continuing my long-running monthly series highlighting the first entry in a Cozy Mystery, almost always a mystery recommended by site readers multiple times. This particular example is no different in that regard – the first book of Korina Moss‘s Cheese Shop Mystery Series, Cheddar Off Dead.
This is one of the newer Cozy Mysteries that I have featured in this series, starting as recently as 2022, though it already has four entries as of the time of this writing, with a fifth due out later this year. As such, it isn’t surprising to see that the series does a very good job in sticking with and representing the cheeses, in this case highlighting and discussing various cheeses for sale at sleuth Willa Bauer’s French-themed cheese shop, Curds and Whey, located in the scenic small town of Yarrow Glen, in turn located in the Sonoma Valley of California.
Willa has staked her life savings and taken a big loan out to open up the Curds and Whey, a move that represents her dreams for more than a decade of her life, which she has spent working in various cheese-related jobs around the country to learn enough to run a successful small-town artisanal cheese shop. Willa is hoping to get a good review from local food critic, Guy Lippinger, as it would go a long way to help making sure that the shop is a success. Unfortunately, Lippinger has a history of rough reviews, sometimes even being blamed for putting shops out of business, so Willa’s not hoping for too much… but even her lowest expectations aren’t low enough, as he shows up after closing time, obviously not sober, only to berate Willa’s shop, quarrel with the members of her cheese-making class, many of whom he had history, and depart, all in about five minutes.
Naturally, even newer Cozy readers will likely see how this is going. It isn’t long before Willa finds Lippinger again, this time dead with a cheese-cutting knife sticking out of his neck, and naturally, she and everyone else he had ever given a scathing review to were quickly put on the suspect list.
Cheddar Off Dead is a great example of a modern Cozy with a good theme, a flair for highlighting and discussing the theme, and a descriptive small-town setting with plenty of interesting potential suspects to go around. I recommend it to any fan of modern Cozies, particularly anyone with a serious love for all things cheese.
As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.
PS: For those cheese afficionados out there, this book does include several recipes at the end featuring cheese ideas and dishes
Here is the list of new releases for June 24 to June 30!
Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker): Murder at the Rusty Anchor (6th in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries)
Miranda James (aka Dean James, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Honor Hartman): Requiem for a Mouse (16th in the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries)
Laura Levine: Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket (20th in the Jaine Austen Mysteries)