The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Nothing to do with Mystery Books… but …

This may seem like a very silly blog entry on a site that is devoted to Mystery Books… in particular Cozy Mystery Books  BUT:::

I am pretty sure that I have mentioned that I enjoy cross-stitching a whole lot! Recently most of my cross-stitching involves 11 mm glass beads in one way or another. I use "regular" cross-stitching patterns and simply add the beads that coordinate with the floss colors to achieve a truly 3-D effect…. and I love it!

I started "adapting" my cross-stitch charts shortly after I became addicted to the Mill Hill beaded cross-stitch kits. I thought… why am I purchasing these kits when I have oodles and oodles (that’s a term I haven’t used in "oodles and oodles" of years!) of cross-stitch books and pamphlets?!? And, since I had so many of those little glass beads left over from my past kit projects, I decided to put them to good use.

Of course, with my rather compulsive personality, this meant that I had to separate the mixed beads into little packets, which almost meant that I had a new separate hobby… Thanks to my reading glasses I have been able to "keep ahead of the game" by separating the beads as they become available. I was able to supplement my cross-stitch beading addiction with new bead additions… while our local Michael’s and Hobby Lobby kept the beads in stock. Unfortunately, neither of the stores carries them any longer (anyway our local stores don’t) so I have had to resort to other "suppliers"… See what I mean! It does sound like I’m talking about a true vice addiction!

E. V. Cunningham (aka Howard Fast)…

I started reading E. V. Cunningham‘s mystery novels several years ago. I enjoyed them so much that I put several of them on my Wish List for possible Christmas/birthday gifts for me… and was delighted to get all of the books I requested.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with E. V. Cunningham… “he” wrote the Masao Masuto Mystery Series. As Howard Fast (his real name) he wrote many (historical) novels including Spartacus, The Immigrants, Citizen Tom Paine, and Bunker Hill.

The books take place in Beverly Hills, back when it wasn’t over-populated, and had a very small police force. Masao Masuto is the head of the homicide department. He enjoys his rose garden at home, has a small room where he meditates in his saffron robe, loves his wife (Kati) and his two children, and sees the good in people, places, and things… doing so while he experiences the ugliest of things/circumstances that a homicide detective encounters.

I started reading the novels at a time when I wasn’t familiar with their chronological order…  If you are a reader of this blog,  you know how much I hate reading a series out of order! The series was a little confusing since, let’s take the first book as an example… it is named both Samantha and The Case of the Angry Actress. I think that I actually read the fourth novel first, then the second… and then the first. That was several years ago…

I recently got all of the Masao novels on my TBR bookshelf before even starting the first one (again!)… This is one of the instances where having a not-so-great memory for books’ details comes in handy—> When I want to enjoy a series from start to finish… even if it means reading a few of the novels for the second time, if it has been a matter of several years, then I’m OK.

These are books that were written in the 1960s, ’70s, & 80s… a much “gentler time.” So, although they aren’t your traditional cozy mystery with an amateur sleuth in a small village full of eccentric neighbors, I think that they still qualify as cozy… in that Cunningham (Fast) doesn’t feel the need to impress us with foul language and/or gruesome details. (***I just re-read a few of these books and see that there actually are a few very adult words in them…)

So far, I am only on the fourth (The Case of the Poisoned Eclairs) of the seven books. I am enjoying the books immensely. I just have to wonder why it took me so long to finally read the series in the correct order!

Six New Authors to the Site:

I have been trying to update the graphics on each of the individual authors’ pages… which continues to be a huge project for me. But, I decided it was time to add a few more authors to the Cozy Mystery Site… authors who I have heard about from you all, the site readers. Right now I have six new additions to the site:

Jeanne Glidewell: The very new Lexie Starr Mystery Series featuring a middle-aged assistant librarian…

Lee Charles Kelley: The Jack & Jamie Mystery Series features a dog trainer/owner of a dog kennel and a medical examiner. Also, Kelley has a story in the Bark M for Murder anthology…

Sherry Lewis: The Senior Sleuth Fred Vickery Mystery Series…

Sheila Lowe: The new Forensic Handwriting Mystery Series which features a handwriting analyst in the California Courts…

Sara Rosett: The Mom Zone Mystery Series which features a professional organizer/Air Force wife…

Chris Well: Stand-alone Christian crime thrillers with a lot of humor thrown into the mysteries…

Malice Domestic Awards 2008… or is it 2007?

I wonder how many cozy mystery readers would be able to answer the "How was your weekend?" question with "Fantastic!" "Fabulous!" "Wonderful!" "Exciting!" "Interesting!" "Phenomenal!" "Cozy!"??? If you were lucky enough to have been in the Washington, D.C. area (Arlington, VA)… at the  Marriott Crystal Gateway April 25-27 (2008)… then you probably would be able to answer that question with just such words.

The Malice Domestic 2008 took place last weekend, and, for those of you who don’t know… it is "the cozy mystery book" convention of the year. All sorts of cozy mystery authors, publishers, and readers attend this particular convention, at which the yearly Agatha Awards are chosen. (Remember… the 2008 convention gave out awards for the 2007 year. I know that it’s confusing, but I have posted the winners as the 2007 winners, since that is the year their works were published, even though they had to wait until 2008 to receive the awards.)I have included the winners and nominees on my Agatha Awards pages… divided into the different categories:

Best Novel
Best First Novel
Best Short Story
Best Non-Fiction
Best Children’s/Young Adult
Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement
Malice Domestic Poirot Award

I think that you will recognize a lot of the names!

***Click here to go back to the Mystery Book Awards page.***

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