The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Sudoku Mystery Series…

My daughter and I recently took a bus tour trip throughout the northeastern part of the US into Canada. We decided that neither of us wanted to drive so we would let the bus driver do the driving for us, while we enjoyed the beautiful views. (And, let the tour director worry about all of the details that one encounters on the trip… although, at the time we booked, we didn’t know that the tour director was going to be one of those annoying “encounters on the trip!”)

Anyway… back to the purpose of this blog…

I thought that I had packed absolutely everything I needed for the trip… until I noticed a fellow tour passenger enjoying his Sudoku puzzles. Drat! I had all of my books… both my audio and my “real” …. but I hadn’t packed my Sudoko books. I tried (unsuccessfully) to find one that I could actually see without having to put on my reading glasses so that I could still enjoy the scenery, without having to take off/put on those pesky reading lenses. I failed in my quest. (You probably can tell that I am a Sudoku fan, but not an avid Sudoku champ… since I lacked the foresight to bring along one of my two copies with extra large print.)

Imagine my (very pleasant) surprise this past weekend while I was trying to update my site’s authors’ lists…  There are now two Sudoku mystery series for the Sudoku enthusiasts amongst us…and I consider myself one of those… although not at the champ level!

Fans of Shelley Freydont’s Lindy Haggerty series will be delighted to know that she is now writing a second series… featuring Katie McDonald, a Sudoku champ…. The Sudoku Murder is the first book in this mystery series with a Sudoku theme.

Kaye Morgan writes the Sudoku Mystery Series which features Liza Kelly, the Sudoku creator for her Oregon newspaper. Death by Sudoku is the first in the series, and Murder by Numbers (the second book in the series) is scheduled to come out in ’08

Just in case you don’t know what Sudoku is, here is a Sudoku website that I enjoy using from time to time… It’s called websudoku.com, and it has different  levels. I actually started playing Sudoku on this site.

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

Holiday Theme Mysteries… Some Christmas Theme Mysteries & a Halloween Theme Mystery

I went to my veterinarian’s office the other day to pick up some antibiotics for our dog (again!), and I was a little startled to see their Halloween decorations already up on the shelves intermixed with various types of pet shampoos and flea/tick tablets. Although I really liked their new decorations, I wondered what the heck they were doing already displayed…. in August.

Some of you might wonder why the heck I’m already talking about Halloween and Christmas mysteries. (I haven’t yet found any Thanksgiving mysteries… or Easter, which of course is less than a year away!) But the bird who gets the worm usually is an early one….

You cannot imagine how excited (and yes, that is the correct adjective for it!) I was to find some of my very own favorite mystery authors putting out new holiday books. So far, these are the ones I have found  and added to my holiday mystery lists… only one in the Halloween Mystery list, but several in the Christmas Mystery book list.)

I am going to do this alphabetically…. and since C (as in Christmas) comes before H (you know the drill!)… here goes:

New Christmas Mystery Books:
Kissing Christmas Goodbye by M. C. Beaton (an Agatha Raisin novel)

A Carol for a Corpse by Claudia Bishop (an/a Hemlock Falls novel)

Mrs. Jeffries and the Feast of Stephen by Emily Brightwell (a Mrs. Jeffries novel)

Peppermint Twisted by Sammi Carter (a Candy Shop Mystery novel)

Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson (a Goldy Bear Catering novel)

Candy Cane Murders by Joanne Fluke (A Hannah Swensen Cookie Jar novella), Leslie Meier (a Lucy Stone novella), & Laura Levine (a Jaine Austen novella)

Shrouds of Holly by Kate Kingsbury (a Pennyfoot Hotel novel)

New Halloween Mystery Book:
Murder by the Slice by Livia J. Washburn (a Fresh-Baked Mystery novel)

I hope you are as excited by some of these holiday mystery books as I am!

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

Trying to Update… Taking More Time… What's New…

So, I have been trying to update my authors’ chronological book lists on the site, and it is going rather slowly… I have finally worked my way up to (but not yet including) Nancy Atherton. Yep, that’s right… but at least I am towards the end of the A list! I have only come up with one new book for one of "my authors" (Susan Albert Wittig) and I have absolutely no idea how I missed that 2007 release! 

One of the drawbacks to a site like this is that I have to become aware of (what seems like) a jillion new releases. I was recently very pleasantly surprised when one of "my authors" wrote to tell me about a new book that she is putting out so that I could update my list. That sure made my life a whole lot easier!

I would be remiss to not say that if you see one of your authors on the site who I haven’t updated, I’d love to hear from you! Believe me, I don’t think of myself as the "last word specialist with all-knowing powers"!!!  Actually, I have heard from a couple different site viewers who have let me know of "updates" for some of my authors. That is always appreciated!

Well, I think I have taken a long enough break… I am going to go update Nancy Atherton‘s book list…..

The Politician's Wife… miniseries

The two main characters in this (yet another British!) miniseries are such good actors that it is no surprise I was swept away with the intriguing plot. Actually, the plot was so good that I probably would have enjoyed The Politician’s Wife anyway,  but Trevor Eve and Juliet Stevenson are such treats to watch, that they made it all that more fun for me. (Juliet Stevenson seems like she was absolutely born to play this part! She is able to convey such a range of human emotions…)

Trevor Eve plays Duncan Matlock, the Tory Minister of the Family who is Britain’s golden boy politician and a devoted family man. (And, of course, he would be…. since he IS the Minister of the Family!) OR IS HE?

Juliet Stevenson plays his wife, Flora. Her family ties enabled Duncan to go as far as he has politically, and she has worked tirelessly campaigning and socializing for his political gains. She has given up her professional aspirations/ambitions so that she can micromanage Duncan’s family and social life.

Enter a young Minnie Driver…. Need I say more!?!

This is not a miniseries for the entire family. It deals with several “adult themes.” I saw The Politician’s Wife years ago when it first aired on (I believe) Masterpiece Theatre. I was recently delighted to find that they had finally released it in DVD form. I did not, however, remember a few of the graphic “adult situation.” So, I again must stress… this is not a for-the-entire-family fare.

As the wife of the Minister of the Family, Flora is expected to do what any great woman who has been relegated to the background is expected to do: Stand By Her Man! I found the plot totally believable… even her father’s reaction rang true. And, Flora does just that, and more… much more!

(I cannot tell you more because the plot is one that is easily given away. As a matter of fact, I almost feel like telling you not to read the reviews that the miniseries has gotten from other sites. They are replete with spoilers…)

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

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