The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

News: Laura Childs and Kate Kingsbury (and Rebecca Kent!)

A while back, a wonderful librarian (Let’s call her "Janet"… since that is her name!) started sending me e-mails with all sorts of information that I have used several times. Most recently, Janet told me about a new series which Laura Childs is going to be writing…. and she also told me about a new series which Kate Kingsbury will be writing under a new pseudonym (Rebecca Kent).

Thank you so much, Janet!

Laura Childs will be putting out a new series called the Cackleberry Club Mystery Series. Yes, the Cackleberry Club Mystery Series will be joining her already popular Theodosia Browning Charleston Tea Room Mystery Series and her Carmela Bertrand Scapbooking Mystery Series. The Cackleberry Club series will take place in a cozy cafe which includes both a knitting and book area on the premises. The main characters are three women who have all passed their 40th birthdays, and it appears that the series will have a little something for everyone: knitting, recipes, quilting, all of the things one would normally associate with a cafe, and even some cake decorating! The first book (Eggs in Purgatory) is due out in December of 2008. (By the way Childs’ latest Scrapbooking Mystery book is due out in September: Death Swatch.)

Kate Kingsbury will be writing a new series also…. only she will be writing it as Rebecca Kent. As Kent, she will be starting the  Bellehaven House Mystery Series… which will be joining her (also) very popular series: the Lady Elizabeth Compton WW II Mystery Series and her Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series. The first book in the Bellehaven House Mystery series is High Marks for Murder and it will be released in June. We also have Kingsbury’s latest Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery book to look forward to: Ringing in Murder, which will be released in November.

So, thanks to a very diligent librarian who keeps me posted with all sorts of cozy mystery news….

Thank you again, Janet!

NASCAR & Car Racing Theme on the Cozy Mystery Site…

I personally don’t follow NASCAR, but one of my very best cozy-mystery friends does. So, I know that we are in the middle of the NASCAR season… Unfortunately, this will be a very short mystery-theme blog, since I only have one series to include in the NASCAR theme:

Janet Evanovich  also has the NASCAR theme, as Alicia reminded me. Barney Barnaby Mystery Series features Alexandra (Barney) Barnaby, a NASCAR mechanic.

Joyce & Jim Lavene write the Stock Car Racing Mystery Series which features Glad and Ruby Wycznewski, a couple who follow the NASCAR racing circuit in their RV… finding more than just car racing!

Sharyn McCrumb‘s St. Dale is a novel in which NASCAR plays a central role. Also, McCrumb’s new novel Once Around the Track will be set in the world of NASCAR.

Amy Myers writes the Jack Colby, Car Detective Mystery Series. Jack is the owner of a car restoration shop in England.

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

Mystery Books with Real People as Characters …

So, you say you want “REAL PEOPLE” mixed into your mysteries! I went through the authors on the site to find the authors who have incorporated “real people” into their mysteries. Since this is the Cozy Mystery Site… most of the authors write cozies…. (By the way, I am writing the descriptions in present tense… even though in some cases… the author is no longer with us…)

Please remember that I only include authors who are on the Cozy Mystery site…

Susan Wittig Albert: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter take place in England during the early 1900s, with Beatrix Potter and her menagerie of animals.

Bruce Alexander (aka Bruce Cook) writes the Sir John Fielding Mystery Series which features Sir John, who along with his older brother Henry, established the first British criminal records  and police department.

Steve Allen writes the (comedian) Steve Allen Mystery Series.

Robert Barnard… as Bernard Bastable he writes the (composer) Amadeus Mozart Mystery Series.

Stephanie Barron (aka Francine Mathews) writes the (author) Jane Austen Mystery Series.

George Baxt writes the Celebrity Sleuth Mystery Series featuring such celebrities as Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, etc.

Caleb Carr: John Schuyler Moore Mystery Series

Ron Goulart writes the Groucho Marx Mystery Series which features this 1930s Hollywood actor/comedian.

Barbara Hamilton pens the Abigail Adams Mystery Series which is set in colonial Boston.

Stuart Kaminsky writes the Toby Peters Mystery Series, which features Toby sleuthing to help Hollywood movie stars from the 1940s.

Peter King writes the (author) Jack London Mystery Series.

Deryn Lake writes the John Rawlings Mystery Series which features Sir John Fielding (the blind British magistrate who started the Bow Street Runners – the first British police force) along with John Rawlings, a young apothecary..

Anna Maclean (aka Jeanne MacKin) writes the (author) Louisa May Alcott Mystery Series..

J. J. Murphy writes the Algonquin Round Table Mystery Series which features poet/writer Dorothy Parker.

Elliot Roosevelt writes the (first lady) Eleanor Roosevelt Mystery Series..

Rosemary Stevens (aka Rosemary Martin) writes the (Regency England’s fashion expert) Beau Brummel Mystery Series..

Nicola Upson: The Josephine Tey Mystery Series is based on the “real life” author of Scotland Yard’s Alan Grant Mystery Series.

Nancy Means Wright: The Mary Wollstonecraft Mystery Series features Mary, an English governess in 18th Century Ireland. (Mary was a real person.)

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

Mysteries with (Previously) Famous Fictional Characters:

Here is another cozy mystery theme… I have gone through all of my authors and found two who “borrow” characters from other authors. They are as follows:

Carrie Bebris… Bebris has an MA in English Lit, has been an editor, freelance writer, and college instructor. Her Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mystery Series features two of the main characters from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Mrs. Darcy is Elizabeth Bennet, who, if you remember, married Mr. Darcy at the end of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice… obviously in England!

Barry S. Brown: Mrs. Hudson of Baker Street Mystery Series

Carole Buggé: Sherlock Holmes Mystery Series

D.E. Ireland: Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery Series, based on the George Bernard Shaw Pygmalion characters.

Laurie R. King: King has an MA in Old Testament Theology, and writes the very popular Mary Russell Mystery Series which features Mary Russell, a protégé of Sherlock Holmes. I won’t give all the details… but Sherlock Holmes is actually the partner/side-kick sleuth!

Lora Roberts: Roberts writes the Mystery with Sherlock  Holmes Mystery Series.

Joanna Campbell Slan: Jane Eyre Chronicles Mystery Series, which features Charlotte Brontë’s Jane.

June Thomson: Thomson writes the Sherlock Holmes Series.

Jill Paton Walsh writes the Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane Mystery Series, which is based on the characters of Dorothy L. Sayers.

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

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