The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

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.

I Finally Posted the Edgar (Mystery) Movie Winners and Nominees…

You know what they say about it being better to be late… Well, I finally made it through all of the Edgar movies that have been nominated and there are quite a few really good mystery movies that you might be interested in checking out…

1949 was an extremely good year… One of my favorite Barbara Stanwyck movies (Sorry, Wrong Number) was nominated, along with Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, Call Northside 777, and the Big Clock. Wow! What a year for classics (and Jimmy Stewart!)… And, you know what they say about making them like they used to….

1955’s winning movie was Rear Window.  Has anyone out there NOT seen that movie classic? The combination of Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly… Does it get any better? Some may argue that 1961’s winning movie Psycho is "getting better" with Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh teaming up with Alfred Hitchcock…. I guess that is left up to each individual’s taste…. Both movies are well worth renting, purchasing, or taping off of late night television.

A movie that was nominated in 1958 was based on none other than Agatha Christie’s play… Witness for the Prosecution lost out to a true classic… Twelve Angry Men. Of course, a remake of that movie today would necessitate a different title… since women are now "able" to sit on a jury!

1965 threw me a loop… I could definitely understand how Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte won for that year, but, I can’t quite understand how It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World made it as a nominated movie. While I really enjoyed the movie when I saw it during my youth, I don’t really remember it as a mystery… I remember it as more of a madcap comedy. ("I’m coming, Mama!" is one of the scenes I truly enjoyed… with Ethel Merman’s performance as every man’s nightmare-of-a-mother-in-law, making me smile… years later,  as I type this…)

Rather than go through each movie, here is the link to the exact page… There are a lot of movies that you might nostalgically recognize, which you just might feel like watching one of these days…

MENU