The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Four New Mystery Authors You All Have Recommended for the Site:

It’s that time again…. I have completed four new (to the site… but not actually "new") authors who I first heard about from you all. I have yet to read any of their works, but they do look interesting:

Garrison Allen: Allen writes the Big Mike Mystery Series which features the owner of a mystery bookstore, along with Big Mike… a huge Abyssinian cat who happens to love his Lima beans…

Lori Andrews: Although not a Cozy Mystery author, I included Andrews on the site because her books look really interesting, as well as… "smart mysteries"…  Andrews is a professor of law in Chicago and an expert in genetics. She writes the Dr. Alexandra Blake Mystery Series…

Christy Barritt: What better way to do your amateur sleuthing than to own a crime scene cleaning business, and have access to all of the freshly strewn evidence!  Barritt writes the Squeaky Clean Mystery Series which features the owner of that  very unusual business…

Patricia Batta: Batta has worked as an elementary school teacher, as well as a (document) librarian. She writes the Marge Christensen Mystery Series…

Wedding Theme Mysteries & Wedding Planner Theme Mysteries …

Another theme that is very popular in the summer months is Weddings. This summer (August 2008), I am actually going to be touched by that theme… My niece is getting married in Chicago, and I am so excited about this! She is an innately good person… and I wish all good (as in WONDERFUL!) things for her.

The authors who I am going to include in the Wedding Cozy Mystery Theme are:

Beverly Allen (aka Barbara Early): Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery Series… Audrey Bloom co-owns a flower shop in Virginia that specializes in wedding arrangements.

Stephanie Blackmoore: Wedding Planner Mystery Series

Ginger Bolton (aka Janet Bolin): Goodbye Cruller World (Deputy Donut Mystery Series)

Mary Jane Clark : Piper Donovan Wedding Cake Mystery Series

Peg Cochran (aka Meg London): Bought the Farm (Farmer’s Daughter Mystery Series)

Marla Cooper: Destination Wedding Mystery Series…

Kathy Cranston ….. Weddings are Murder (Bee’s Bakehouse Mystery Series)

Deborah Donnelly: Donnelly has a masters in library science… I believe that her Carnegie Kincaid is the only wedding planner I know of who is also a sleuth, and who lives on a houseboat! (Carnegie Kincaid Mystery Series)

Laura Durham: Durham is a Duke graduate with a degree in English who became a wedding planner. That paved the way for her Annabelle  Archer Mystery Series>>> Annabelle is also a sleuth and wedding planner…

Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Maid of Murder (India Hayes Mystery Series)

Agatha Frost: Champagne and Catastrophes ( Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Series)

Lee Hollis: Death of a Wedding Cake Baker (Hayley Powell Mystery Series)

Nancy J. Parra (aka Nancy Coco) writes the Perfect Proposals Mystery Series. Pepper Pomeroy was an event planner until she tried coordinating a perfect marriage proposal, which quickly made her change her specialty.

There are, of course, several mysteries that feature weddings in their plots…

Donna Andrews included not one, but three weddings in Murder with Peacocks, her first Meg Lanslow Mystery.

Catherine Bruns: Frosted with Revenge from her Cookies & Chance Mystery Series.

V.M. Burns: Wed, Read and Dead from her Mystery Bookshop Mystery Series.

Meg Cabot has The Bride Wore Size 12, which is the fourth in the Heather Wells Mysteries.

JoAnna Carl (aka Eve K. Sandstrom) wrote a wedding-setting mystery in her Chocoholic Mystery Series named The Chocolate Bridal Bash.

The Jane Jeffry Mystery Series by Jill Churchill gave us A Groom with a View andThe Accidental Florist, while Goldy Bear (of the Goldy Bear Mystery Series) had her own wedding to plan in The Last Suppers by Diane Mott Davidson.

Kate Collins: Seed No Evil, of the Flower Shop Mystery Series.

Elizabeth Spann Craig: Tying the Knot Southern Quilting Mystery Series

Isis Crawford (aka Barbara Block) has A Catered Wedding in her Mystery with Recipes Series, while Joanne Fluke‘s Cookie Jar Mystery Series has the Peach Cobbler Murder as its wedding themed-mystery.

Isis Crawford (aka Barbara Block) A Catered Cat Wedding (Mystery with Recipes Mystery Series)

Krista Davis: The Diva Takes the Cake – Sophie’s sister is getting married >>> again. (Domestic Diva Mystery Series)

Kathleen Delaney: Murder Half Baked (Ellen McKenzie Mystery Series)

Laura Durham wrote To Love and to Perish, which is the third in her Annabelle Archer Mystery Series.

K.J. Emrick….. Till Death Do Us Part (Darcy Sweet Mystery Series)

Christy Fifield (aka Christy Evans) ….. Murder Ties the Knot, from the Haunted Souvenir Shop Mystery Series.

Joanne Fluke: Wedding Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mystery Series)

Earlene Fowler: Steps to the Altar, in which sleuth Benni Harper is responsible for planning both her grandmother’s and best friend’s weddings

A. Gardner: Wedding Soufflé and a Dead Valet is in her Poppy Peters Mystery Series. Poppy is a former ballet dancer who then goes on to be a pastry chef.

Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino, Ada Madison, & Jean Flowers): Matrimony in Miniature (Miniature Mystery Series)

Sarah Graves: Death by Chocolate Malted Milkshake (Death by Chocolate Mystery Series)

Yes, even the Gregor Demarkian Mystery Series (by Jane Haddam/Orania Papazoglou) has a wedding inspired mystery: Deadly Beloved.

Jean Hager‘s Iris House Bed & Breakfast Mystery Series gave us both Sew Deadly and The Bride and Doom… While Bride and Groom was offered up for our reading enjoyment from Susan Conant‘s Dog Lover’s Mystery Series.

Gemma Halliday: Mayhem in High Heels from her High Heels Mystery Series

Miranda James (aka Jimmie Ruth Evans, Honor Hartman, & Dean James): Dead with the Wind – The Southern Ladies, An’gel and Dickce Ducote, are off to a wedding!

Diane Kelly: Death, Taxes, and a Shotgun Wedding from the Tara Holloway Mystery Series.

Colette London: Dangerously Dark from her Chocolate Whisperer Mystery Series.

Alyssa Maxwell: A Murderous Marriage (Lady and Lady’s Maid Mystery Series)

Maggie McConnon (aka Maggie Barbieri): Wedding Bel Blues (Belfast McGrath Mystery Series)

Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Wedding Cake Crumble – Cupcake Bakery Mystery Series

Staci McLaughlin: Marriage is Pure Murder from her Blossom Valley Mystery Series.

Leslie Meier‘s Lucy Stone Mystery Series had the Wedding Day Murder, and who can forget M. C. Beaton‘s Agatha Raisin and The Murderous Marriage… with its crazy ending!?! M. C. Beaton also has There Goes the Bride.

Liz Mugavero (aka Cate Conte): Murder, She Meowed (Pawsitively Organic Mystery Series)

Cynthia Riggs: Widow’s Wreath (Martha’s Vineyard Mystery Series)

Sara Rosett: Marriage, Monsters-in Law, and Murder – This wedding has two mothers-in-law getting a little more involved than they should! This is from the Ellie Avery Mystery Series.

Sara Rosett: Death at an English Wedding – from the Murder on Location Mystery Series.

Arlene Sachitano: Double Wedding Death – from the Harriet Truman/Loose Threads Mystery Series.

Denise Swanson writes the Scumble River Mystery Series which has a Wedding Theme mystery called Murder of a Wedding Belle.

Teresa Trent: Buzzkill (Pecan Bayou Mystery Series)

LynDee Walker: Lethal Lifestyles (Headlines in Heels Mystery Series)

Marty Wingate: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Potting Shed Mystery Series)

I am sure that there are other Cozy Mystery novels with Wedding Themes that I have read, but I just cannot seem to remember their titles… If you know of a novel that I have been remiss in adding to the Cozy Mystery Wedding Theme list… please send a comment and I will gladly add it.

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

What Happened to Him?!!!?

I know of one author (who I will not name) who actually killed off the husband of one of the primary characters in her series… and never mentioned him again!

Actually, I have to admit that the fact that the killed-off husband wasn’t mentioned even one time in the next mystery of the series was enough to turn me off of that particular author forever! I have never read another one of her mysteries, so maybe the deceased husband is mentioned in one of the following books in her series. But ignoring one of the secondary character’s death in the following novel of the series was enough for me to essentially "ignore" that particular author!

I just don’t like it when authors take "the easy road" on pesky details. Sometimes, I wonder what the editors are doing! Don’t they actually read the mysteries and make notes like "What happened to Mrs. Primary Character’s husband? Why don’t you mention his death? Why don’t you mention that he was the killer in the previous book? Why is Mrs. Primary Character still feared as a beacon of the town when her husband turned out to have killed several people? Do you even remember that Mrs. Primary Character had a husband?"

Yes, those are just some of the questions that I would have annotated in the margin of the original transcript to the following novel in the series. And, yes, (or should I say no?!)…. I am not an editor! I just don’t like inconsistencies…

How about you? Are you able to overlook author’s forgetting about a character? Or just changing a character mid-series? Maybe I’m too harsh of a reader… Or maybe it brings out the "teacher-days" in me… red pen in hand… trying to note the positive…. along with the sloppy/just-plain-wrong!

PS>>>>>>> I guess I am really showing my age when I say "the margin of the original transcript" instead of saying "highlighting and adding a comment in the downloaded file" that authors probably submit these days!

Twenty Four New Authors to Post… Shortly!

I am just wondering what is happening to my time! It feels like as soon as I post an author, I get two or three more recommendations… Which is why it is taking me so long to get all of the authors you all have been nice enough to recommend for the site. Not to worry though… I will get to them soon. (Some of them sooner than others!)

I am not following any particular manner in my posts… I just sort of "grab" the name of an author from my list, and start looking up the needed information. I really like it when I am able to gather all of the information from that particular author’s site. And, I have been lucky in being able to find authors’ sites through search engines.

But, as I have mentioned before… some of the authors don’t list their books chronologically. I don’t really know why they would scatter their novels… unless it is to make sure that we can see that the mysteries can also be read as "stand alone" novels. And, most of them can be.

Anyway… I will soon be posting new authors who you all have recommended for the Cozy Mystery Site. Thanks (again) for the recommendations!

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