The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Help Wanted: Patricia Wentworth

Here’s another stumper! I received a letter on Monday from Carrie that goes as follows:

“Hi,
I would like to find out more about Patricia Wentworth.  I know quite a lot about her books, and I know her basic biography, but I want to find out more about HER – I want to know whether she gave interviews, did book signings, that kind of thing – it’s well known that she was more successful and possibly better known in the US than in Britain, I have contacted Lippincott her main publisher, but this firm now mainly publishes medical journals and scientific works, and were unable to help me.  I have a couple of extracts from the New York Times from 1910 & 1912, but with so few people remembering her now, I am finding it very difficult to obtain information. 

Can you make any suggestions?  Does anyone know any older readers who ever met or saw Ms Wentworth?  Help!!!!”

Please post a comment if you can think of any helpful suggestions…

September 2008 Mystery Book New Releases:

The following mystery books will be released in September 2008:

Susan Wittig Albert: The Tale of Briar Bank (This will be the 5th in the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Mystery Series…)

Barbara Allan: Antiques Flee Market (This will be the 3rd in the Trash ‘n’ Treasures Mystery Series…)

Lori Andrews: Immunity (This will be the 3rd in the Dr. Alexandra Blake Mystery Series…)

Donald Bain: A Slaying in Savannah (This will be the 30th in the Murder, She Wrote Mystery Series…)

Sandra Balzo: Bean There, Done That (This will be the 3rd in the Maggy Thorsen Mystery Series…)

M. C. Beaton: A Spoonful of Poison (This will be the 19th in the Agatha Raisin Mystery Series…)

Carrie Bebris: The Matters at Mansfield Or, The Crawford Affair (This will be the 4th in the Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery Series…)

Lawrence Block: Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics (Anthology)

JoAnna Carl: The Chocolate Snowman Murders (This will be the 8th in the Chocoholic Mystery Series… It is a Christmas-themed mystery…)

C. S. Challinor: Christmas is Murder (This will be the 1st in the NEW Rex Grave Mystery Series… It is a Christmas-themed mystery…)

Laura Childs: Death Swatch (This will be the 7th in the Scrapbooking Mystery Series…)

Ann Cleeves: White Nights (This will be the 2nd in the Shetland Island Quartet Mystery Series…)

Judy Clemens: Different Paths (This will be the 5th in the Stella Crown Mystery Series…)

Margaret Coel: Blood Memory (This will be the 1st in the NEW Catherine McLeod Mystery Series…)

Cleo Coyle: Espresso Shot (This will be the 7th in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series…)

Isis Crawford: A Catered Halloween (This will be the 5th in the Mystery with Recipes Mystery Series…)

Jeanne M. Dams: Indigo Christmas (This will be the 6th in the Hilda Johansson Mystery Series… It is a Christmas-themed mystery…)

Carole Nelson Douglas: Cat in a Sapphire Slipper (This will be the 20th in the Midnight Louie & Temple Barr Mystery Series…)

Carola Dunn: Black Ship (This will be the 17th in the Daisy Dalrymple Mystery Series…)

Shelley Freydont: Sudden Death Sudoku (This will be the 2nd in the Sudoku Mystery Series…)

Susanna Gregory: The Devil’s Disciples (This will be the 14th in the Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew Mystery Series…)

Roberta Isleib: Asking for Murder (This will be the 3rd in the Advice Column Mystery Series…)

William Kent Krueger: Red Knife (This will be the 8th in the Cork O’Connor Mystery Series…)

Joyce & Jim Lavene: Wicked Weaves (This will be the 1st in the NEW Renaissance Faire Mystery Series…)

Sheila Lowe:  Written in Blood (This will be 2nd in the Forensic Handwriting Mystery Series…)

Debbie Macomber: 8 Sandpiper Way (This will be the 8th in the Cedar Cove Series…)

Edward Marston: Murder on the Brighton Express (This will be the 5th in the Robert Colbeck Mystery Series…)

Ralph McInerney: The Green Revolution (This will be the 12th in the Notre Dame Mystery Series…)

Elizabeth Peters: The Laughter of Dead Kings (This will be the 6th in the Vicky Bliss Mystery Series…)

Kathy Reichs: Devil Bones (This will be the 11th in the Temperance Brennan Mystery Series…)

Maggie Sefton:  Fleece Navidad (This will be the 6th in the Knitting Mystery Series… This is a Christmas-themed mystery…)

Joanna Campbell Slan: Paper, Scissors, Death (This will be the 1st in the NEW Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery Series…)

Alexander McCall Smith: The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday (This will be the 5th in the Isabel Dalhousie Mystery Series…)

Patricia Sprinkle: Daughter of Deceit (This will be the 3rd in the Family Tree Genealogy Mystery Series…)

Terri Thayer: Stamped Out (This will be the 1st in the NEW Stamping Sisters Mystery Series…)

Terri Thayer:  Old Maid’s Puzzle (This will be the 2nd in the Quilting Mystery Series…)

Aimée & David Thurlo: Coyote’s Wife (This will be the 14th in the Ella Clah Mystery Series…)

Joseph Wambaugh: Hollywood Crows (This will be a sequel to Hollywood Station…)

Livia J. Washburn: The Christmas Cookie Killer (This will be the 3rd in the Fresh-Baked Mystery Series… It is a Christmas-themed mystery…)

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

Bramwell Update…

I think that I mentioned before that we have all of the Bramwell DVDs… And, since we do, we are able to take our time watching them. I thought that I had seen the entire series when it first aired on PBS… Now that I have just finished re-watching the entire series, I find that I hadn’t actually seen the last (fourth) season.

I watched the series years ago when Masterpiece Theatre aired it. A few years ago I decided that we would enjoy the series as a family, so we got all of the DVDs. We waited to watch them when both of our college-age children were home, so it took us a while to watch all of the discs.  Our son watched the first season with us and decided that it wasn’t something he wanted to stay with, so we went on without him. And, our daughter comes home so infrequently, that it has taken us a long time to finish the series.

If there are any people out there who are thinking of watching the series: I would highly recommend the first three seasons. Everything I said in the initial post about the Bramwell series still stands.

HOWEVER!!!!!>>>>>

I would stop watching the series after the third season. It appears to be quite evident that they had planned on finishing the series after the third season… They had a definite completion (of sorts), with all of the characters seemingly knowing what they were going to be doing in the future. I would not recommend the fourth season. (It seemed like they simply tacked the fourth season on to the first three excellent seasons.) I won’t state the reasons since there are people out there who may be planning on watching all of the series’ discs, but be forewarned, the fourth season doesn’t stand up to the other three seasons’ level of excellence! My husband, daughter and I were left wondering who these characters were, since they were so “out-of-sorts” with the well-developed characters we “knew” from the first three seasons. Certainly, if we had started watching the series with the fourth season, we never would have watched the first three excellent seasons… That’s how much we disliked the new personalities of the old characters!

Vacation Theme Mysteries : Authors K – R

The fourth installment of this vacation theme includes the following list of authors K – R  who have written at least one mystery takes place during vacations, holidays, or simply at exotic locations.

Vacation Mystery Novels by authors whose last names begin with K – R:

Harry Kemelman: Rabbi Small Mystery Series: Monday the Rabbi Took Off… Rabbi Small is off to Israel but doesn’t get the relaxation he expected to get… instead he finds himself sleuthing…

Kate Kingsbury: Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series: What better vacation/holiday mystery series than one that actually takes place in an Edwardian Hotel…

Mary Kruger: Gilded Age Mystery Series: No Honeymoon for Death… Taking a a cruise gives Brooke and her husband Matt plenty of times to solve a murder…

John J. Lamb: Bear Collector Mystery Series: The False-Hearted Teddy…(Rick sums this up perfectly in his comment below: “the Lyons take a trip to Baltimore for a teddy bear show and get mixed up in a murder.”

Jane Langton: Homer Kelly Mystery Series: Dark Nantucket Noon… Nantucket Island (Massachusetts) is the beautiful vacation setting…

Margaret Maron: Deborah Knott Mystery Series: Shooting at Loons… Judge Knott is off to take a nice vacation at the beach…

Francine Mathews: Nantucket Mystery Series: Meredith Folger solves crimes on beautiful Nantucket Island>>>a vacation site for many…

Sharyn McCrumb: Elizabeth MacPherson Mystery Series: Missing Susan… Elizabeth is off on a wonderful tour in England which visits the British most famous murder locations…

Mary McHugh: Happy Hoofers Mystery Series: Chorus Lines, Caviar, and Corpses has the Happy Hoofers traveling to Russia and Flamenco, Flan, and Fatalities sees the Happy Hoofers in Spain.

Patricia Moyes: Henry Tibbet Mystery Series: Dead Men Don’t Ski… Henry just can’t seem to get away from his job as Chief Inspector, even on a skiing trip to Italy… AND Death on the Agenda… Even though this is a working conference in Switzerland, his wife (Emmy) comes along for the wonderful vacation time… AND Death and the Dutch Uncle… You can probably guess where Henry is off to this time…

The Mulgray Twins: Under Suspicion from the DJ Smith and Gorgonzola Mystery Series – This mystery is set in Teneriffe, in the Canary Islands.

Katherine Hall Page: Faith Fairchild Mystery Series: The Body in the Kelp… Faith is off to a retreat/vacation on a Maine island AND The Body in the Bouillon… Faith sleuths her way around a retirement home AND The Body in the Vestibule… Faith finds crime in France AND The Body in the Basement… Faith’s neighbor (Pix) actually does the sleuthing in at Faith’s summer island-cottage AND The Body in the Fjord finds Faith solving crimes in Norway AND The Body in the Lighthouse finds Faith and her family at the beach cottage… AND The Body in the Snowdrift takes the family to a ski resort… AND The Body in the Ivy takes place at a remote island…

Joanna Pence: Angie Amalfi Mystery Series: Cooks Overboard… Angie and her boyfriend find that Acapulco isn’t just a vacation get-away… AND The Da Vinci Cook involves Angie and her sister sleuthing in Italy…

Cynthia Riggs: Martha’s Vineyard Mystery Series: Victoria lives on beautiful Martha’s Vineyard, and has a knack for solving crimes…

Gillian Roberts: Amanda Pepper Mystery Series:  How I Spent My Summer Vacation… With a title like this, how could it be anything less than a vacation read?

Elliott Roosevelt: Eleanor Roosevelt Mystery Series: The series takes place in Washington, D. C.,one of the most visited cities in the USA…

Susan St. James: Solace Glen Honeymoon : Flip Paxton spends her honeymoon at a Caribbean resort on Little Cayman Island.

Please feel free to either send a comment or a letter to the site if you know of any other authors whose last names begin with K – R  who have written a mystery that qualifies as a Vacation Mystery Theme. Thanks!

VACATION MYSTERIES or MYSTERIES THAT TAKE PLACE IN EXOTIC LOCATIONS:

Authors beginning with A – B

Authors beginning with C – D

Authors beginning with F – H

Authors beginning with S – W

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

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