The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Halloween Mystery Books I'm Looking Forward to Reading…

It’s that holiday time of year again, and I am trying to line up my holiday books on my TBR (To Be Read) bookshelves. With our warm weather down here in San Antonio, I rely on my holiday mystery books to get me into the holiday frame of mind.

My Halloween new mystery book discovery is Kate Borden‘s Death of a  Trickster. I also have her Thanksgiving Cozy (Death of a Turkey) so I’m looking forward to being able to read them in their correct sequence.

I have already started stocking up on my Christmas mystery books… The holidays are the only time of year when I will read a book out of its correct chronological order. I am willing to “jump ahead” in hopes that the setting will provide enough snow and windy gusts to make me feel all “cozy” in my house. So, I have stocked up on Kate Kingsbury‘s Christmas mysteries.

I am also planning on trying a new author (to me, that is!) during the next three months. I read several reviews of Cyril Hare’s Christmas mystery book – An English Murder – and wondered how I had missed him!  I cannot wait!!!

I have lined up all of my Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas mystery books in one designated area of my bookshelves. Yes, I actually have designated areas for my different types of books! Some might call this obsessive/compulsive — I call it “being organized.”

Do you have any Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas mystery books that you are looking forward to “making you feel cozy” during the next three months?

Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, followed by….

My husband convinced me to start up this site several years ago. I posted all of the authors with whom I was familiar. (Do I sound like a broken record? Again?!?) Agatha Christie was probably one of the first pages I made… followed by Rex Stout, no doubt! (And, I remember distinctly having someone help me with Rex Stout’s page. >>> Some of my publication dates were wrong…)

Recently it was brought to my attention that I had two books an author had written as “Stand Alones”… rather than as a new series by the author. Hmmm… How did that happen?

Well, a few years ago, when I first posted that particular author’s page, the first book in his new series was a stand-alone. I’m not sure if even he knew that book was going to be the first mystery book in a new series. Then, when I found out about the second book in that series, I didn’t know to look and see that it was actually the second in that new series. I really should be more careful…

Please do not get me wrong! I am NOT complaining! I actually appreciate it when site readers send me corrections and book additions. So, if you have spotted any mistakes that you think should be corrected, please write and let me know. I will probably make the correction immediately and I will most definitely appreciate your help.

Time to Revisit Favorite Cozy Mystery Book Authors…

I have recently been “trying out” new authors, in hopes of finding a few authors who I can add to my “Favorite Authors” list. Unfortunately, I have hit a few snafoos… which has me going back and revisiting authors who I really like, but who I have (for some reason) put on a type of “hold.” These are authors whose books I own, and whose books are sitting on my TBR (To Be Read) bookshelves.

When I get recommendations from site readers I add the authors to my list of authors to post, and when I finally get to their names, I do some research and then make up their pages. A lot of the time there are authors who look like they will be really good matches for my taste in mystery books. So even though I am a very slow reader these days, I put those authors who truly look interesting (to me, that is!) on my “authors to try” short list. Unfortunately, some of the time I find an author or two who I simply cannot read. I know I have said this before, but if the author can’t grab my attention in (+/-) the first fifty pages, then I feel like it simply is NOT going to happen.

Anyway, I have decided that it is time for me to go with the “tried and true” authors (for me, that is!) so I will be reading three authors who I have really enjoyed in the past, but for some reason I haven’t read in a while: Susan Wittig Albert, Carola Dunn, and Monica Ferris. All three are authors who I started reading YEARS ago… All three are authors who I revisited throughout the years, but for some reason, never read their series all the way through. I wonder if the reason I never “caught up” with these authors is because I always wanted to have books in my TBR bookshelf that I knew I would enjoy.

Do you have authors who you have “saved for a rainy day?“ Author who you know will pull you into their novels and make you want to read, read, and read?

It's At the Movies Again!

I have been watching At the Movies for years. (Yep… Years ago, when it aired on PBS!) I started watching it when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert reviewed the current movies. Their discussions never ceased to entertain my husband and me. We were saddened by Gene Siskel’s death. I always got the feeling that Siskel and Ebert respected and liked one another, even though they rarely agreed on a movie.

Enter Richard Roeper…

My husband and I continued watching At the Movies throughout Roeper’s tenure. The show used the same format to review the current movies. We were very sorry when Ebert left the show (due to illness) but continued to watch (and enjoy!) as Roeper had guest hosts fill Roger’s seat on the aisle.

Enter Lyons and Mankiewicz…

My husband watched the first two shows of this duo’s At the Movies, but refused to watch after that. Not only did the show have these two men reviewing the current movies, but they also had three more reviewers rating the movies and then “tabulating” their scores. (What a waste of time!!!) I had enjoyed Ben Mankiewicz on the Turner Classic Movies channel, but found that the rapport between him and Lyons just didn’t cut it.

Enter A. O. Scott and Michael Phillips…

YAHOO!!! These two critics were by far our favorite guest hosts who appeared with Roeper during Ebert’s illness. So while I’m sorry that Ebert decided not to come back to the show that he and Siskel started, and while I’m sorry that Roeper is no longer on At the Movies, I am not sorry that the show is back up to the standards I enjoyed oh-so-many years ago!

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