The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Cozy Mystery Librarians…

No, I don’t mean Librarians who work in Cozy Libraries! I mean…. cozy mysteries that feature sleuths who just happen to be librarians, also. (Or should I say sleuths who sometimes are librarians?!?) Here is the list of the cozy mystery authors (on the Cozy Mystery Site) who keep us entertained with librarians:

Jeff Abbott:  His Jordan Poteet Series features a librarian in Texas.

Deborah Adams:  Her Jesus Creek Mysteries feature volunteer librarians.

Lydia Adamson:  The Lucy Wayles Series features a retired librarian.

Claudia Bishop:  Hemlock Falls Series has one less librarian, and one more inn.

Lillian Jackson Braun:  No, The Cat Who *** Series is not about a cat librarian… but Jim’s friend Polly fills that part.

Allison Brook: Haunted Library Mystery Series – Carrie Singleton is the head of programs and events at her Connecticut library.

B.B. Cantwell:  The Portland Bookmobile Mystery Series feautures Hester McGarrible as its sleuth.

Elizabeth Lynn Casey (aka Laura Bradford): Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series… Tori Sinclair is a librarian/sleuth who is also a member of the Sewing Circle in South Carolina.

Laurie Cass write the Bookmobile Cat Mystery Series. Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat Eddie are on the bookmobile (and the case!)

Elizabeth Spann Craig (aka Elizabeth Craig & Riley Adams) pens the Village Library Mystery Series which features Ann Beckett, a librarian in a small town.

Shirley Damsgaard:  Ophelia of the Ophelia and Abby Series fills the librarian position.

Jo Dereske:  Helma Zukas of the Miss Zukas Series is the librarian in this series.

Amanda Flower: The India Haye Mystery Series features a college librarian.

Eva Gates: The Lighthouse Library Mystery Series features a North Carolina librarian.

Victoria Gilbert: Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series – Amy Webber is a former university librarian who now manages a public library in Virginia.

Jeanne Glidewell: The Lexie Starr Mystery Series features an assistant librarian.

Charlaine Harris:  Her Aurora Teagarden Series revolves around Aurora, a librarian.

Patricia Harwin:  The Far Wychwood Mysteries‘ retired librarian moves to England to be close to her daughter.

Marion Moore Hill: Scrappy Librarian Mystery Series

Miranda James (Honora Hartman, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Dean James): Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series

Sofie Kelly: Magical Cats Mystery Series

Mary Lou Kirwin: Librarian Mystery Series

Jess Lourey:  Her Murder by the Month Mysteries feature a librarian/reporter

Charlotte MacLeod: Her Peter Shandy Mysteries quickly added Helen, the librarian, to the list of main characters.

Jenn McKinlay (aka Lucy Lawrence): Library Lover’s Mystery Series

D. R. Meredith:  Megan Clark, from the Murder by the Yard Series, is the librarian.

Miriam Grace Monfredo:  The Seneca Falls Historical Mystery Series features a 19th century librarian.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy:  Her Joe Grey Cat Series features Dulcie, the library cat.

Nora Page (aka Amy Myers) Bookmobile Mystery Series – Cleo Watkins is a septuagenarian who drives the “Words on Wheels” bookmobile in Georgia.

Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz, Barbara Michaels): The Jacqueline Kirby Series features an ex-librarian who now is a romance novelist.

R. T. Raichev: Antonia, from the Country House Mystery Series, is not only an author, but also a librarian.

Ian Sansom: The Mobile Library Mystery Series follows sleuth Israel Armstrong in Northern Ireland.

Secrets of Blue Hill Library Mystery Series is a Guideposts Cozy series written by Emily Thomas. Anne Gibson (the sleuth) converts an old Victorian into her town’s library.

J. B. Stanley:  The Supper Club Mystery Series features an ex-professor who currently is a librarian/sleuth. (She is re-releasing this series as Ellery Adams.)

Fran Stewart: The Biscuit McKee and Marmalade Mystery Series has a librarian/sleuth.

Judith Van Gieson: The Claire Reynier Mystery Series

Gayle Wigglesworth: Claire Gulliver Mystery Series

Eric Wright:  The Lucy Trimble Brenner Series revolves around a librarian who inherits a detective agency.

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

Miss Marple Movies and Television Series…

Ordinarily, you probably don’t think of Miss Marple as funny. That will change if you are able to see Margaret Rutherford’s portrayal of Miss Marple. You will most likely by tempted to think of her as “Jane” instead of “Miss Marple.”

At first, I was quite put off by Ms. Rutherford’s portrayal of Miss Marple. Once I got over my initial shock (for truly that is what it was!) I was delighted by these early 1960s movie productions.  The Agatha Christie Miss Marple Collection includes Rutherford in the classics Murder, She Said, Murder at the Gallop, Murder Most Foul, and Murder Ahoy. Margaret Rutherford was truly busy playing this feisty rendition of Jane. And, as an added bonus, we are able to see Joan Hickson appear as the housekeeper in Murder, She Said!

Some of you may ask…. Who is Joan Hickson, and why would seeing her be a treat? For some, those who were teenagers or older in the 1980s, Joan Hickson will always be Miss Marple. She has a quiet resolve about her… She is very proper, never excited, always observant. Fortunately for those of us who remember Ms. Hickson playing Miss Marple, there are now DVDs available for us to capture the true essence of Miss Marple. (I miss the days when A & E played these classic BBC shows, don’t you?)

Joan Hickson portrays Miss Marple in such a manner that makes it totally believable when she is able to casually stay in the background while gleaning even more information than the police detectives. I read somewhere that Agatha Christie had actually said that Joan Hickson was the actress who best could play Miss Marple as she had written her.

There are several sets out on the market (as well as being available through rental places) that brought back memories of a time when you had to be seated in front of your television at the precise time the show was scheduled to begin if you wanted to watch a Miss Marple movie/episode. Shows like The Body in the Library,  A Murder is Announced, and A Pocket Full of Rye (Gift Set)…The Mirror Crack’d, 4:50 from Paddington, Sleeping Murder, and A Caribbean Mystery (Collection 1)… Nemesis, They Do It with Mirrors, The Murder at the Vicarage, The Moving Finger, and At Bertram’s Hotel (Collection 2) And, such luminary actors as Donald Pleasence, Claire Bloom, Jean Simmons. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the BBC produced these shows… You know that you can rely on the costumes and sets to be right on the mark!

I think that Joan Hickson’s portrayal of Miss Marple is probably the one which most captures Agatha Christie’s character, including the hair pins in her bun and the knitting needles in her over-sized (almost a carpet!) bag. If you love cozy mystery movies, then I strongly recommend checking out these Joan Hickson renditions of our beloved Miss Marple.

Here is the actual way that the Joan Hickson/Miss Marple shows aired:
  1   The Body in the Library
  2   The Moving Finger  
  3   A Murder is Announced
  4   A Pocketful of Rye 
  5   The Murder at the Vicarage 
  6   Sleeping Murder
  7   At Bertram’s Hotel 
  8   Nemesis 
  9   4:50 from Paddington  
10   A Caribbean Mystery   
11   They Do It With Mirrors  
12   The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Valentine's Day Cozy Mystery Books…

Well, it’s that time of year again… The "holiday season" is truly behind us, and January marks the time to start celebrating smaller holidays. Now that it is February, we can look forward to Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day has never been a big day for us… Before I was married, and perhaps the first two years of our marriage, Valentine’s Day was a "semi big" holiday. I still have the cards my husband gave (or sent) me… Of course, the chocolates are no longer around, but the lacy cards with their sweet sentiments of love are still here. That was years ago….

We now do not celebrate the day… My husband actually refers to it as a "Hallmark Day"… right there with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, or any other day he thinks benefits ONLY the card companies….  Oh well…

When our children were in grade school, of course Valentine’s Day included decorating shoe boxes with doilies, glitter, buttons, etc, for their homeroom mailboxes…. cards and conversation candies marked the day back then.

So, what marks my Valentine’s Day now?  Well, I know that my Valentine’s Day ritual won’t include a romantic "Hallmark Day" type of sentiment, but it will include something I actually enjoy even more… Reading a Valentine’s Day Cozy Mystery Book will probably be the way I spend my Valentine’s Day "season." I don’t know if it is because my husband has ingrained the "Hallmark Day" mentality into me, or if it is actually that I enjoy a good cozy more than a beautiful card… but as for the (missing) chocolates…. well, that might be a toss!

Ruth Rendell: Same Author, Different Century…

A few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to put more time into reading, rather than spend most of my "free time" working on this site. With that in mind, I went through all of my TBR books and picked out several authors who I had amongst my books, who I hadn’t read in a long while.

I just finished my first Inspector Wexford novel by Ruth Rendell, and have added those novels to my long list of cozy series to "read my way through." As my last blog said, I was also listening to a Ruth Rendell novel in my car. I enjoyed The Water’s Lovely a lot.  What astounds me is that both books are written by the same person… with some forty years between publishing dates. The Wexford novel definitely falls in the cozy genre… no gruesome details, no truly gratuitous sex, no swearing, etc. One of the cozy guidelines that is absent is the amateur sleuth… The two men who solved this mystery are by no means amateurs… they are detectives on the local police force.

As for The Water’s Lovely, it almost isn’t a mystery at all… To me, it falls into that category of psychological books, where you see what three-dimensional characters are almost "made to do" when, at the lack of a better way to phrase it, life happens. You can almost imagine yourself doing the same (sometimes bizarre) things that the fleshed-out characters in the novel do. (Make a note at the word "almost"… I have it underlined, in bold, and italicized!)

 If you’re looking for a traditional cozy… I definitely recommend From Doon With Death… the first of the Inspector Wexford series!

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