The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Before the Awards ……. Bouchercon???

A lot of you know about Bouchercon. I found out about it several years ago, while I was a member of several online mystery reading groups. I don’t know why it had taken me so many years to discover it… It’s been around since 1970. I have never attended a convention, but a few of the people in one of my online reading groups got together at a Bouchercon, and apparently they had a great time. During the convention, several awards are given. (Which is why I am prefacing my blogs about awards with this one.)

Bouchercon gets its name from Anthony Boucher, who was an author, editor, and, even a reviewer. I have to admit that I had never heard of him…. shame on me (apparently.) Each year, it is held in a different city. The host city’s volunteers line up the guests and decide on the different schedules for that year. The convention is for authors, readers/fans, publishers, book sellers, authors’ agents, (ETC)….. anyone who has a passion/career/interest/ ETC  for mystery/detective/crime novels. 

Glancing at the list of cities that have previously hosted the Bouchercons, it appears that almost all of the conventions have been held in the United States, with two taking place in Canada and another two in England. This year’s Bouchercon convention is going to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, September 27-30. Sounds like fun to me!

Agatha VS Edgar VS Anthony VS Hammett VS Nero VS the cat, Macavity!

If you’re anything like me, you probably like to see that a favorite author has merited a special award…….. especially an award for writing the very type of book that you enjoy reading. And, if you’re anything like me, you probably don’t know why that particular award was received. Was it given by other mystery book authors?  Was it given by mystery book readers? (Or, was it given by the author’s family and friends?)

Most of us are probably familiar with the more popular awards. I am going to do some research on the different mystery awards that are given each year and then I plan to write some blogs about what exactly the different awards mean to us…… the mystery readers. I have already started doing the research and I must say that I have been surprised to find that there are more awards than I knew about.  And, that’s a good thing….

Sometimes, when we aren’t quite sure if we want to "try" an author, just the fact that he/she has won "an Agatha," or "an Edgar" might help us in making the decision. I know that when my children were growing up, the fact that an author won a Newbery, Carnegie,  Caldecott (in this case, an illustrator), ETC, was a good starting point for our book choices.

So, on with the research, and on with the awards!

Charlotte MacLeod VS Alisa Craig…One person, Two names, Very good books…

I think that I have mentioned that I am a huge fan of Charlotte MacLeod‘s Peter (and Helen) Shandy mystery series and her Sarah Kelling (and Max Bittersohn) mystery series.  I have read (and enjoyed!) almost all of the books in both of these series, but I must admit that I am putting off reading the remaining few that I haven’t read. I have always hated finishing a good cozy mystery series, so I am simply saving the rest of the novels. I know this sounds rather silly….. Why don’t I simply read the remaining novels and "enjoy the moment" now?

Well, I think that the reason I like to "save books" that I own (for future reading enjoyment) probably comes from the times when I read books for my mystery reading groups that I didn’t particularly enjoy. That is one of the main reasons I no longer belong to a mystery reading group. I found that a lot of time I had to work at finishing a novel. And then, I was always a little hesitant about stating how much I disliked the novel that someone else had nominated for us to read. (Let’s face it…. we should love our novels, not feel like we HAVE to finish them!)

But, I am losing the point that I was going to make about Charlotte MacLeod vs. Alisa Craig….

I have only read one of the Inspector Madoc Rhys books that Craig/MacLeod wrote….. Murder Goes Mumming. I remember enjoying it a lot, but at the time, I was reading so many other authors (for my mystery reading groups) that I sort of put the Craig books on the back burner to the MacLeod books. Well, I finally decided that I want to resume my Craig pursuit, so I have started reading the first in the series…. A Pint of Murder. I am such an advocate of reading book series in the correct chronological order that I am ashamed to admit that I read the second book (Murder Goes Mumming) of the series first!

I will have to write a blog once I get farther in the book, and see if Craig’s books stand up to MacLeod’s!  Yes, I know that the author is (was) the same person, but her two MacLeod series set the standard pretty high. My verdict later……………………

Susan Rogers Cooper……..I love her books, and can't wait to read the first in the Kovak series!

Well, I know I have written several times about how important it is to me to read a series in the correct chronological order.  Having said that, I must admit that I have had to read some series out of order….. not really on purpose, but …. sort of.

Susan Rogers Cooper is one of my favorite cozy mystery authors. She has three series, and I have read all three. That’s a lot of books! The only one I haven’t read is The Man in the Green Chevy, which is the first Milt Kovak cozy. I tried desperately to buy a copy of that book, but was unable to find it. At one time, I was eagerly waiting for my library to pull off an inter library loan, but that fell through. Boy! Was I having a difficult time finding that book!

Cooper’s three series are based on main characters who come from very different backgrounds. The E. J. Pugh series is about a romance novelist who lives in Texas.  The Kimmey Kruse series is about a stand-up comedian, and Milt Kovak is a sheriff from Oklahoma. I think that "Milt’s series" is my favorite……. which is a good thing, since it looks like Susan is continuing to write those books. (There hasn’t been a Kimmey Kruse books since 1994.) Vegas Nerve is set for a 2007 publication…. and I can’t wait to read it….. after I finally read The Man in the Green Chevy, since (after several years of searching) I have finally gotten a copy of it!

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