The Cozy Mystery List Blog

I just received this request from Sandra and thought that it would make a perfect blog. If any of you out there have any ideas, please send a comment.

“I read some books in a series a few years ago that took place in Florida. The characters were friends (male and female, some worked in a real estate office, and would meet each day for lunch and happy hour at a bar/restaurant real close to the realtor office. They were such regulars there that they had there own table and chairs. I enjoyed this series so much but evidently read what I could get at that time and if I wrote the author and titles down for future reference, I have lost it. That is all I can really remember other than they were cozy mysteries and I definitely enjoyed them. Any ideas who the author was or character/titles? It may have been on one of the islands close to Florida but I keep thinking Florida.”

I just recently received a letter from a site reader asking these questions:

(1.)  What about murder by diary/journal?  How many can we come up with where the dastardly deed is revealed during the course of a series of diary entries?  The original great must be Les Liaisons Dangeureuses – though the deaths come at the end – but are there any contemporary ones?

(2.) Also I remember reading a few books where the murder was set against the background of collectible rare books – the chapter headings were descriptions of rare books taken from auction catalogues, (sorry about all these extra ‘u’ -I’m in England!) – and the book sale somehow tied in with the plot?  Does anyone remember these?

Please leave a comment if you think that you have a book or book series which might be relevant to either of these questions.