The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Beading Cozy Mystery Books…

I happen to be someone who loves beads. I don’t actually make any wearable things out of beads, but I love to look at all types of beads. I do happen to be someone who cross stitches, and a few years ago, I started adding the little, bitty glass beads into all of my cross stitch projects. I have to admit that since I started this web site… devoted to another passion I have (cozy mysteries!)… I have not cross stitched/beaded (for a lack of a better descriptive phrase) as much as I used to.

Anyway… to get back to this blog’s purpose…. cozy mystery series with a beading theme… Who are the authors who intertwine beading into their cozy mystery books?

Tonya Kappes writes the Divorced Diva Mystery Series. Holly Harper is one of the Divorced Divas and she owns a bead shop in Kentucky.

Ada Madison (aka Camille Minichino & Margaret Grace) writes the Sophie Knowles Mystery Series which features a college professor/beader/sleuth in Massachusetts.

Karen MacInerney completed the second Kitzi Camden Beading Cozy Mystery after Barbara Burnett Smith passed away. I know that MacInerney is busy with her Gray Whale Inn Mystery Series and her soon-to-be-published Tales of an Urban Werewolf Series, but I sure hope that she can find the time to continue writing this beading cozy mystery series!

Janice Peacock writes the Glass Bead Mystery Series, starring a glass bead artist named Jax O’Connell, in Seattle, Washington.

Barbara Burnett Smith‘s Purple Sage Mystery Series is a popular cozy mystery series. In 2005, Smith put out the first book in her new beading cozy mystery series that featured Kitzi Camden, a former politician (who happens to live in my very own state of Texas) and who happens to love beads, beading, and sleuthing.

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

Murder by the Book…

I just received the following e-mail (as a comment) from Patricia at Turner.com telling me about a show on Court TV which is returning.  When I read the e-mail, I wondered how I had missed watching season one (last season)… since it featured some of my favorite authors. Rather than posting the e-mail/comment as a comment, I am going to just go ahead and post most of it as a blog:

"Sandra Brown, David Baldacci and Joseph Wambaugh 
Among Acclaimed Authors Set for Court TV’s MURDER BY THE BOOK Hit, Real-Life Series Returns for Second Season Monday, Nov. 5 at 10 pm, (ET/PT)
Series Also Features Best-Selling Crime Authors Kathy Reichs, Lee Child, Harlan Coben , Linda Fairstein and Lisa Gardner

Sandra Brown (Play Dirty), David Baldacci (Stone Cold) and Joseph Wambaugh (Hollywood Station) are among the slate of acclaimed authors set to appear on MURDER BY THE BOOK, Court TV’s popular original series featuring best-selling authors who provide insight into true crime stories that have long captivated or had a personal impact on them. The series returns for a second season with 13 episodes beginning Monday, Nov. 5, at 10 pm (ET/PT).
Brown is set to be featured on MURDER BY THE BOOK Nov. 5 and will be followed by Baldacci on Nov. 12. Subsequent weeks will feature Wambaugh, Harlan Coben (The Woods), Lee Child (Bad Luck and Trouble), Lisa Gardner (Gone), Linda Fairstein (Bad Blood), Kathy Reichs (Break No Bones), Elizabeth George (What Came Before He Shot Her), and Nick Santora (Slip & Fall). Returning from last season are authors Lisa Scottoline (Daddy’s Girl), Faye Kellerman (Capital Crimes) and Jonathan Kellerman (Obsession)."

ETC, ETC, ETC

This is definitely a show that I will give a try!

Knitting / Crocheting Cozy Mysteries & Needlecraft / Needlework Cozy Mysteries…

This entry includes the mystery books whose authors include some type of needlework as a theme:

Barbara Bretton: Chloe Hobbs’ Paranormal Mystery Series… Chloe is one half sorceress and owns the Sticks & Strings Knitting Shop in Vermont…

Janet Bolin: Threadville Mystery Series… Willow owns a “high-tech” embroidery shop…

Anne Canadeo: Black Sheep Knitting Mystery Series… Maggie Messina owns the Black Sheep Knitting Shop in Massachusetts. (Canadeo co-authors the Cape Light Series with Thomas Kinkade.)

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…

Peggy Ehrhart: Knit & Nibble Mystery Series – Pamela Patterson is the associate editor of a craft magazine and founder of a knitting club in Arborville, New Jersey. These Cozies include both a knitting pattern as well as a recipe.

Monica Ferris writes the Needlecraft Mystery Series. Betsy Devonshire inherits the Crewel World needlework/yarn shop. Not only does she have to learn about needlework from the ground up, she also has to solve mysteries. I love that Ferris’s books are usually stocked in needlepoint shops where needle-pointers can be introduced to cozy mysteries!

Sally Goldenbaum has the Seaside Knitters Mystery Series, in which Izzy Chambers owns the Seaside Knitting Studio in Massachusetts… where she not only sells beautiful yarn… but also sleuths.

Sadie Hartwell writes the Tangled Web Mystery Series about Josie Blair, a yarn shop owner.

Betty Hechtman writes the Crochet Mystery Series, and is herself hooked on Crocheting. And, for those crocheters out there… She even includes a crochet pattern in each of her mysteries! Hechtman also writes the Yarn Retreat Mystery Series, which features a dessert chef who inherits a yarn retreat business.

Kate Jacobs is a New York Times bestselling author who writes a non-mystery series called the Friday Night Knitting Club, which features a yarn shop owner and her knitting circle.

Mary Kruger is another author who sets her cozy mystery series amongst the world of deeply hued yarns…. Ari Evans owns the Ariadne’s Web knitting shop in this cozy series.

Amanda Lee (aka Ruth Glick & Rebecca York) writes the Embroidery Mystery Series which takes place in Oregon, and features the owner of the embroidery shop. As Glick she writes cookbooks, specializing in cuisine for Diabetics. As York she writes the paranormal Moon Series.

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery Series. The sleuth inherits her grandmother’s wool shop, and an unexpected ghost.

Jaime Marsman: Crabapple Yarns Mystery Series

Carol Ann Martin writes the Weaving Mystery Series. Della Wright teaches weaving in a shop she owns.

Cate Price write the Deadly Notions Mystery Series. Daisy Buchanan is a retired teacher who currently manages the Great Notion Sewing and Antiques Shop in a quaint town in Pennsylvania.

Does the House of Lambspun sound like a yarn shop to you? It should! It is the name of the shop where Maggie Sefton‘s cozy mystery sleuth (Kelly Flynn) learns how to knit.

Lea Wait writes the Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series.

Oh, and Miss Marple knits!

The Annie’s Attic Mystery Series is a series of mysteries that feature a woman crocheter who has inherited her grandmother’s old home, and who ends up finding all sorts of puzzling items in the attic, which then lead her to solve different mysteries with the help of her friends.

I recently added Debbie Macomber to the site, even though she doesn’t write mysteries. She writes the Blossom Street Knitting Series…

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

The Last Detective Television Show…

THE LAST DETECTIVE: COMPLETE COLLECTION Is the Last Detective just that… the Last Detective?

If you are looking for a mystery series to watch that has heart— then try The Last Detective. We found this series quite by chance, and we are absolutely delighted that we did. It is based on the novels written by Leslie Thomas.

The series stars Peter Davison (from All Creatures Great and Small and the Campion series) as the “Last Detective.” I am not going to ruin it by telling you why he is called this, but there actually is a reason for the title of the series.

Davison’s portrayal of “Dangerous” Davies is brilliant. He actually looks the part of a middle-aged policeman in a dead-end job. (He’s quite unlike the beautiful, buff 28 year old actor they would cast over here in the U.S.A.!) Dangerous is someone we would actually trust if we were in a predicament which required us to interact with the police.

[On a huge aside— why is British television so much more believable than the fare we get over here?]

Dangerous has a… how would I describe him… crazy, kooky, out-there… side kick named Mod (after Tchaikovsky’s brother) who is delightfully played by Sean Hughes. Their (almost) philosophical conversations are… again, for the lack of another word…. believable.

In Season One (2003) we are introduced to the major players in the series. Dangerous, Mod, Dangerous’s boss, coworkers, and ex(?) wife… who has custody of their St. Bernard, which Dangerous is “allowed” to take on lengthy walks with Mod. Even Dangerous’s landlady is deliciously three-dimensional, although she does not have a lot of screen time.

The Last Detective’s Season Two (2004) continues with four more wonderful episodes. I am always very happy to find a series that is able to continuously deliver a great product. I just cannot say enough about Peter Davison’s excellent portrayal of Dangerous. Not only is Dangerous believable, but so are the plots.

As for Season Three, although we already own it, we are taking our time to watch the four episodes. We really don’t want to get to the point of not having anymore Dangerous Davies shows to watch!

The good news is that Season Four has already aired in Great Britain and the discs have just been released!  (As for a Season Five… When I initially filed this review I had found something that said they were working on the fifth season. Of course, now I can’t find that information… so it could have just been a bit of speculation that I saw… Let’s keep hoping that they are working on the fifth season!)

This series focuses on character and plot. If you’re looking for a series that you can add to a list that would include Inspector Morse, Foyle’s War and Brother Cadfael—then this is a series you should definitely check out.

Although in the past, I have been dismayed as to why British television only makes a small number of episodes per season, I now understand why they prefer that system over ours. Our television shows put out an hour episode each week for the entire season (except of course, when they tirelessly repeat the shows), and the characters are interchangeable, two-dimensional. Why not put out four or six two-part shows that are truly worth watching!?!

Knock on wood >>>> If I am ever in a position in which I have to be questioned by the police>>>>> I hope I get a policeman just like Dangerous. I hope that Dangerous Davies is truly not The Last Detective.

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

*****I wrote this review way back in 2007, but we still think it’s a terrific series. If you are a member of Netflix, they have the DVDs. Also, your library might just carry the DVDs. It truly is an exceptional British television mystery series. June 2014

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