The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

February 2010 Mystery Book New Releases

The following mystery books will be released in Feb. 2010:

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Down Under (This will be the 15th in the Aunt Dimity Mystery Series…)

Kate Carlisle: If Books Could Kill (This will be the 2nd in the Bibliophile Mystery Series…)

Laura Childs: The Teaberry Strangler (This will be the 11th in the the Tea Shop Mystery Series…) (Actually March 2…)

Kate Collins: Sleeping with Anemone (This will be the 9th in the Flower Shop Mystery Series…)

Clive Cussler & Jack Du Brul: Corsair (This will be the 6th in the Oregon Files Series…)

Krista Davis: The Diva Paints the Town (This will be the 3rd in the Domestic Diva Mystery Series…)

Joanne Fluke: Apple Turnover Murder (This will be the 13th in the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series…)

Parnell Hall (aka J. P. Hailey): The Puzzle Lady vs. the Sudoku Lady (This will be the 11th in the Puzzle Lady Mystery Series…)

B. B. Haywood: Town in a Blueberry Jam (This will be the 1st in the NEW Candy Holliday Mystery Series…)

Betty Hechtman: A Stitch in Crime (This will be the 4th in the Crochet Mystery Series…)

Sue Ann Jaffarian: Corpse on the Cob (This will be the 5th in the Odelia Grey Mystery Series…)

Tamar Myers: Butter Safe than Sorry (This will be the 18th in the Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery Series…)

Robert B. Parker: Split Image (This will be the 9th in the Jesse Stone Mystery Series…)

James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge: Worst Case (This will be the 3rd in the Michael Bennett Mystery Series…)

J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts): Fantasy in Death (This will be the 31st in the Eve Dallas Mystery Series…)

Dana Stabenow: A Night Too Dark (This will be the 17th in the Kate Shugak Mystery Series…)

Mary Stanton (aka Claudia Bishop): Avenging Angels (This will be the 3rd in the Beaufort & Company Mystery Series…)

Penny Warner: How to Host a Killer Party (This will be the 1st in the NEW Party Planning Mystery Series…)

Heather Webber: Truly, Madly (This will be the 1st in the NEW Lucy Valentine Series…)

Melinda Wells: The Proof Is in the Pudding (This will be the 3rd in the Della Cooks Mystery Series…)

♦To go back to the Cozy Mystery Book New Releases page click here♦

Sprite’s Morning Rituals…

Sprite (our 15 year old puppy) has quite a regimen in the morning… or should I say “I” have that regimen?!? She keeps me on my toes… everything has to be punctual, and everything in the correct order. (She didn’t used to be like this!)

When it is wet outside, I have to carry her over the muddy area of the yard which is right up against the house. Our oak trees provide too much shade for the grass to thrive. When we moved into our house over sixteen years ago, we made sure to plant evergreen oaks so that they would shade the house. We simply hadn’t thought that too much shade makes grass difficult to sustain. We had wonderfully thick grass until our oaks grew to be so enormous that they now provide the shade we wanted from them, at the price of grass.

Anyway, Sprite loves the feeling of the mud in between her toes (or should that be paw pads?) Of course, on days when it is raining, this is a big drag for me. I have to stay right with her while she’s outside, unless I want to give her a bath… That’s how much she loves the feeling of mud.

After she comes inside, we get down to business! By this, I mean that I have to cajole her to swallow two very small pills. Sprite doesn’t know any traditional dog tricks… She doesn’t roll over on command, she doesn’t “shake” her paw with anyone, she doesn’t even sit on command. But, she does have one trick>>> She can find a little pill inside of whatever you wrap that doggone thing in… She will peel the food right off of the pill inside her mouth, and then spit it out.

I have tried to outsmart her, but, apparently I don’t have dog psychology down! She is the one with the psychology-thing going! She knows that if she spits the pill out, she will get another (and then another!) morsel of food with the same little pill. And she takes these two little pills in the a.m. and then again in the p.m. Double the fun for me!

Mystery Book Series I Would Dearly Love to Catch Up With…

Do you have any favorite authors you aren’t caught up with? I DO!!! (Notice that I use the word “favorite” to describe the authors. I am finding that as I get older, I simply will not spend time reading a mystery book that I don’t thoroughly enjoy. Thus the word “favorite!”)

I have several authors right now who I absolutely would love to catch up with, my problem is that I now read more slowly than I did before. By trying to focus on just those favorite mystery authors with whom I want to catch up, I won’t have time to try reading an author with whom I’m not familiar, or even have time to slip in a book my another favorite author. (I sure wish that all of my life’s “dilemnas” were like this!)

I would love to make a 2010 resolution: “I will catch up with the following authors!” But I hate to make a new year’s resolution that I know I won’t be able to meet. My intentions are good… I am going to try, try, try to catch up with the following favorite authors of mine: Susan Albert Wittig, Carola Dunn, Monica Ferris, and Hazel Holt. They are all authors who I really (really!) enjoy, but somehow I just didn’t keep up to date with their heroines/sleuths.

This is not to say that I don’t have other favorite authors who I am (also) not caught up with. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t have other favorite authors who I am already caught up with.

For example, I love Patricia Moyes… but I am so far behind with her mysteries that I am slowly making my way through her Inspector Tibbett mystery series, one book at a time. I slip the Inspector Tibbett books into my reading queue whenever I feel like I miss the Inspector. I do the same with Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford mystery series.

I’m caught up with authors like Alexander McCall Smith (I know he’s not technically a mystery author), Dorothy Gilman, Ann Granger, the Charlaine Harris series that I follow… and the list goes on and on.

I am, however, caught up with a lot of authors. Of course this means that any time one of them puts out a new book, I simply have to read it. There lays the problem… Too many books, too little reading time! (And what very little time is left over: housework!)

So>>> Hopefully I won’t start out 2011 with the same problem of being way behind with some of my favorite authors… and if I do (since this isn’t a commitment like a “real” resolution would be!), at least two of my 2010 chosen favorite authors (Susan Albert Wittig, Carola Dunn, Monica Ferris, and Hazel Holt) won’t make that list!

An Entry That Isn't about Mystery Books or Mystery Book Authors, AGAIN!?!?!

I received an e-card from a friend a few years ago, and I have loved this site ever since. The artist’s name is Jacquie Lawson, and her work is absolutely fantastic. You can go to her site and preview the cards before you send them. Make sure that you have the sound turned up on your computer. She also provides music for the cards.

I love her black Lab (Chudleigh) >>> He is absolutely a treat to watch! Bertie (the Golden Lab puppy) and Fluff (the black kitten) are also delightful. And, the artwork is spellbindingly beautiful.

I know this has nothing to do with mystery books or mystery book authors, but love this site so much that I thought I would tell you about it… in case you’re thinking about sending an e-card, or simply want to see some phenomenally fantastic computer artwork.

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