The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

A British, Historical, Herbalist Mystery Novel…

I received an e-mail from a site reader yesterday that was an e-mail hoping for some help in locating an author. I could only come up with Kathy Lynn Emerson… but don’t think that this would be the author for whom she is looking.

“I have been looking for years for a book I once read in a hospital but never got to finish. I think the author was pretty famous and had written several mysteries, but I can’t remember her name. I think the book was called “The White Witch”, yet I’ve found nothing with that title that was the same book. It was a mystery about a woman in England who had an herb garden and people would come to her for healing herbs. The herbs had something to do with the mystery – similar to the Cadfael Chronicles. Does anyone know of this book?”

Do any of you out there have any ideas as to this author’s identity?  If so, please comment on the board or send me an e-mail. Thanks!

PS>>> I just found out that this book is at least forty years old… Definitely not Kathy Lynn Emerson!!! Hopefully someone will have a clue as to who the author could be!

Five New Mystery Authors Recommended by You!

Do you ever get the déjà vu feeling? Kind of like… this feels like two days ago… but I know it’s today? I guess that’s how I could explain this blog… Other than the difference in number, the idea is the same: I want to introduce… sort of put the spotlight on… new authors who came to my attention because of site readers.  So, without any further distracting “blogging,” here goes!

Amy Patricia Meade: Meade writes the Marjorie McClelland Mystery Series which is set during the 1930s in Connecticut and features a mystery author. (This series is included on its corresponding Historical Theme page.)

Deanna Raybourn: Raybourn writes the Lady Julia Grey Mystery Series which is a historical mystery series that is set in Victorian England. (I have included this series on its corresponding Historical Theme page.)

T. Dawn Richard: Richard writes the May List Mystery Series which features a woman who leaves her philandering husband after 35 years of marriage and moves to a retirement community… to begin a new life as a sleuth. (I have included this series on its corresponding Senior Sleuth Theme page.)

June Thomson (aka June Valerie Thomson): Thomson writes the Inspector Jack Finch (in Great Britain)/Inspector Jack Rudd (in USA) Mystery Series. (Different names, same series.) She has also written several Sherlock Holmes books which are collections of short stories. (I have listed these Sherlock Holmes books in the Mysteries with (Previously) Famous Fictional Characters Theme.)

Anne White White writes the Lake George Mystery Series which is set in a beautiful resort town on Lake George… (I actually came by Anne White in a rather round-about way… Her daughter, Kate White, was recommended for the site, and while I was compiling my information for Kate’s page, I clicked on her mom’s page, and once there, I thought that Anne White should definitely be included on the site!)

Thirteen New Recommended Authors…

Last weekend, I heard from someone who gave me the names of thirteen new authors for the site. I know that thirteen is an unlucky  number in the mystery book business, but, since I don’t write the cozies that I tell you about… then I consider thirteen to be a very lucky number… AND am hoping that of the thirteen new authors she recommended, a few of them fall right into the cozy mystery book style for which you are searching.

But, since I haven’t started working on these particular authors, let me take the time to tell you about a few new authors who I just posted. All of them were recommended by readers of the site… I haven’t been able to try out their books, but they sure do look interesting!

Sharon Dunn: Dunn (who describes herself as a Christian author) writes two series, both of which are set in Montana. The Ruby Taylor Mystery Series features a feed-store employee/sleuth, and the Bargain Hunters Mystery Series features a garage sale junkie. (I have included Dunn’s series in the Antiquing Theme, although, technically…)

Kaitlyn Dunnett: A lot of you are familiar with Kaitlyn Dunnett, but just might not be aware of the fact that Dunnett and Kathy Lynn Emerson happen to be the same author… with different series “between them.” As Dunnett, she is starting a new series which is quite different from the “Emerson series.” It is the Liss MacCrimmon Mystery Series, which features a member of a Scottish Dance Troupe in Maine. As Emerson, she has the very popular Lady Susanna Appleton Mystery Series, which features a 1600s herbalist.  (That series is found in both the Historical Theme page and the Gardening Theme page.) She also writes the Diana Spaulding Mystery Series, which features a descendant of Lady Appleton as an1800s reporter. (Also found on the Historical Theme page.)

Lisa Lutz: Lutz writes the Izzy Spellman Mystery Series, which features a P.I. in San Francisco.  Her first novel was nominated for three prestigious mystery awards: the Anthony, the Barry, and the Macavity Awards.

Hope McIntyre (aka Caroline Upcher):   McIntyre (the pseudonym for her crime fiction) writes about something she knows first-hand… ghostwriting. Having been a ghostwriter (as well as several other professions—including editor) she now writes the Lee Bartholomew Mystery Series featuring a ghostwriter…

Scented Soy Candles…

I am always on the lookout for scented soy candles. I don’t actually light them, though. I scoop the soy wax out of the candle jars and put the wax in tin containers which I buy at Michael’s. I then put the tin container on one of those little coffee cup warmers, and let it “simmer” throughout the day. (It never actually simmers, my coffee cup warmer is just hot enough to melt the wax, letting the aroma fill the air.) I just love the soft scent that permeates through the house. I know, I know… and yes, I am VERY CAREFUL! My coffee cup warmer has a bright red light on it so that I am very aware of when it is on… I never leave it on while I am gone or at night. But, I do enjoy it during the day. (Obviously, I don’t have a cat that can jump up on the kitchen counter and I didn’t do any of this when our children were young. Also, I have never put anything on my coffee warmer that has a sticker on it… like a price tag, etc.)

It is a bit of a drag to have to scoop out the wax from the original candle container, and then to have to continue to change the wax out of the tin when it loses its scent. But, it just one of those things that I am so used to doing that I don’t think anything about it.

I have different candle scents for the different times of year… cinnamon and spice for the autumn, pine and a soft mulberry for the winter months, and I alternate between hazelnut coffee, lemon, and lime during the rest of the year. (I may not be diligent about dusting and polishing, but my house sure smells lemony clean!) Of course, I have tried some scents which none of us like, but I think that I now have our selections down to scents that all of us like… or at least that none of us dislike!

We moved here over fifteen years ago, and I think that the lack of four definite seasons has made me look for ways to create some types of environmental differences which can mimic the seasons… adding the scents of the seasons into our home is just one of those ways.

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