Here is the list of new releases for September 30 to October 6 (just one this week so far, though it’s a big one)!
Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Death at the Dinner Party (3rd in the Secret Bookcase Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV
Here is the list of new releases for September 30 to October 6 (just one this week so far, though it’s a big one)!
Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Death at the Dinner Party (3rd in the Secret Bookcase Mysteries)
September is almost over, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we read this month!
If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read the first entry of Betty Hechtman’s Crochet Mystery Series. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!
So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in September? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)
As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.
What really good Cozy Mystery did you read September 2024 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?
Ellie Alexander (aka Kate Dyer-Seeley): Secret Bookcase Mystery Series
Allison Brook (aka Marilyn Levinson): Haunted Library Mystery Series
Laurie Cass (aka Laura Alden): Bookmobile Cat Mystery Series
Peg Cochran (aka Meg London and Margaret Loudon): Cranberry Cove Mystery Series
Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Coffeehouse Mystery Series AND Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series
Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker): Cozy Capers Mystery Series
Maria DiRico (aka Ellen Byron): Catering Hall Mystery Series
Margaret Grace (aka Camille Minichino, Ada Madison, Jean Flowers, & Elizabeth Logan): Miniature Mystery Series
Carolyn Haines: Sarah Booth Delany Mystery Series
Betty Hechtman: Crochet Mystery Series
Alyssa Maxwell: Gilded Newport Mystery Series
Julie Mulhern: Country Club Murder Mystery Series (first entry The Deep End)
Andrea Penrose: Wrexford & Sloane Mystery Series
Robert Thorogood: Marlow Murder Club (first entry The Marlow Murder Club)
I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.
♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦
P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.
Today, as part of my very long-running series on highly recommended Cozy Mystery reader suggestions, I’ll be discussing Hooked on Murder, the first in Betty Hechtman‘s Crotchet Mystery Series.
Molly Pink is the events planner for a local bookstore. When the novel opens, she is going to return a set of crochet hooks to Ellen Sheridan’s house, which had been left behind at the bookstore after a crochet group meeting held at the bookstore.
One of my favorite elements of this book is that it literally opens with the crime – the very first scene is Molly finding the body, a very nice contrast to many Cozies, which can sometimes take a very significant portion of the page count to reach the point where it really becomes a ‘mystery’. Come to think of it, it’s actually a rare opener in any era of mysteries – though very welcome in this case! As I’m sure I have mentioned many times, I definitely like it when a book emphasizes the ‘mystery’ part of ‘Cozy Mysteries’, and starting with the murder discovery on page one certainly does that!
There are definitely a number of other unusual elements to this story as well, making it feel almost like a middle-of-series entry instead of the first. For one thing, Molly is already dating tall/dark/handsome police detective Barry, though the relationship isn’t going well. and has been well-established at her current employment for some time at the beginning of the novel. I actually found myself checking to make sure I had started at the right entry in the series at one point!
Molly is also a bit older than most Cozy sleuths, which now seem to generally trend toward the younger side – 30s-ish feeling like a fairly good recent average. Instead, Molly is older, in her late 40s, a somewhat-recent widow with grown children.
Another unusual element is that Molly doesn’t start the novel as an avid enthusiast of the featured hobby. Instead, she has an interest in crochet, but has never learned how, and only becomes really introduced to it during the course of the novel.
All told, if you’re looking for a “modern Cozy” that bucks many of the “modern Cozy” trends, including having a more mystery-first approach, I recommend picking up Hooked On Murder!
PS: For crochet or cooking enthusiasts, there are several additions at the end of the book – a crochet pattern and several recipes, in this case.
As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.
Can you believe it’s fall? It’s difficult for me to believe it here in San Antonio! Our heat indexes are either over 100* or, if not that high, close to 100*! I invested in a silk “flower” arrangement from Petals, with fall leaves so I could enjoy the fall colors I’ve been missing – since moving down here years ago for my husband’s job. (My mother sent me an arrangement from Petals, and I’ve wanted to order something from that company for years. Now that we’re thinking of down-sizing probably isn’t the best time to have done that!)
Getting back to the purpose of this blog entry. Here are the mystery and crime movies that I was able to find from the Turner Classic Movies channel roster for October 2024. I’m surprised I found this many mystery/crime movies this month, since as the Halloween month, their schedule is full of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, Peter Lore, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, etc, type movies. (Love them!)
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – October 2, 2024
1:00 PM The Guilty (1947)
Two friends land in hot water when they begin dating twins and one of the women ends up dead.
Dir: John Reinhardt. Cast: Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey
71 mins
4:00 PM Dead Ringer (1964)
One of a pair of twins, jealous that the other became wealthy and took away her husband, kills her sister and takes over the latter’s identity.
Dir: Paul Henreid. Cast: Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford
115 mins
6:00 PM The Woman in White (1948)
Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.
Dir: Peter Godfrey. Cast: Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet
109 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 3, 2024
8:00 PM Sudden Fear (1952)
Wealthy San Francisco heiress Myra Hudson, a successful playwright, meets Lester Blaine while casting her new play in New York. They meet again on the train ride back, fall in love and marry. Unknown to Myra, Lester has a mistress, Irene Neves, whom he still loves and has married her only for her money.
Dir: David Miller. Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame
110 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – October 4, 2024
5:00 AM The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
A man remains young and handsome while his portrait shows the ravages of age and sin.
Dir: Albert Lewin. Cast: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed
110 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – October 5, 2024
1:45 AM City Hall (1996)
The accidental shooting of a boy in New York leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.
Dir: Harold Becker. Cast: Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello
111 mins
8:07 AM The Amazing Mr. Nordill (1947)
This short film focuses on Everett Nordill, a mastermind behind a counterfeiting ring in the mid-nineteenth century.
Dir: Joseph Newman. Cast: Paul Maxey, Leon Ames, John Nesbitt
10 mins
8:26 AM Strange Alibi (1941)
An undercover cop finds himself on the wrong side of the law when the mob discovers his true identity.
Dir: D. Ross Lederman. Cast: Arthur Kennedy, Joan Perry, Jonathan Hale
63 mins
6:30 PM Macao (1952)
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
Dir: Josef Von Sternberg. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix
80 mins
Sunday – October 6, 2024
12:00 AM Detour (1945)
A hitchhiker takes on a dead man’s identity only to face blackmail by an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake
68 mins
10:00 AM Detour (1945)
A hitchhiker takes on a dead man’s identity only to face blackmail by an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake
68 mins
3:15 PM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich. Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
132 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 10, 2024
3:00 AM The Death Kiss (1933)
A movie actor is killed while filming a scene.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin. Cast: David Manners, Adrienne Ames, Bela Lugosi
71 mins
4:15 AM Scared to Death (1947)
A beautiful murder victim recalls how she met her untimely end.
Dir: Christy Cabanne. Cast: Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Nat Pendleton
64 mins
8:00 PM Rear Window (1954)
A photographer with a broken leg uncovers a murder while spying on the neighbors in a nearby apartment building.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey
112 mins
10:15 PM Sisters (1972)
A small-time reporter tries to convince the police she saw a murder in the apartment across from hers.
Dir: Brian De Palma. Cast: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning
92 mins
Friday – October 11, 2024
2:00 AM The Haunting (1963)
You may not believe in ghosts…but you cannot deny terror! Hill House has a reputation for evil. The mysterious New England mansion has been the scene of grisly murders. But when four people spend the night, they find themselves trapped by The Haunting.
Dir: Robert Wise. Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson
112 mins
8:00 AM Count the Hours! (1953)
A lawyer defends a migrant worker in a sensational murder trial.
Dir: Don Siegel. Cast: Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Dolores Moran
76 mins
9:30 AM Criminal Court (1946)
An unorthodox lawyer accidentally kills a crooked nightclub owner, only to discover that his cabaret singer sweetheart has been arrested for the crime.
Dir: Robert Wise. Cast: Tom Conway, Martha O’Driscoll, June Clayworth
63 mins
1:45 PM The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940)
A defense lawyer sets out to topple a powerful gangster.
Dir: Vincent Sherman. Cast: George Brent, Virginia Bruce, Brenda Marshall
75 mins
3:15 PM Mr. Ricco (1975)
A defense lawyer faces down racist killers to prove his black client innocent.
Dir: Paul Bogart. Cast: Dean Martin, Eugene Roche, Cindy Williams
98 mins
5:00 PM No Questions Asked (1951)
A young lawyer’s primrose path to success gets him framed for murder.
Dir: Harold F. Kress. Cast: Barry Sullivan, Arlene Dahl, George Murphy
81 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – October 12, 2024
5:00 AM Z (1969)
A political assassination uncovers a hotbed of corruption.
Dir: Costa-Gavras. Cast: Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin
125 mins
6:00 PM Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
A scientist’s investigations into the nature of good and evil turn him into a murderous monster.
Dir: Victor Fleming. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner
113 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – October 13, 2024
12:30 AM The Crooked Way (1949)
A war hero’s amnesia keeps him from dealing with his criminal past.
Dir: Robert Florey. Cast: John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew
90 mins
10:00 AM The Crooked Way (1949)
A war hero’s amnesia keeps him from dealing with his criminal past.
Dir: Robert Florey. Cast: John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew
90 mins
12:00 PM House of Women (1962)
A young woman is wrongly implicated in a crime and sent to prison for five years.
Dir: Walter Doniger. Cast: Shirley Knight, Andrew Duggan, Constance Ford
85 mins
Monday – October 14, 2024
6:00 AM Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
The Brewster sisters are spinster pillars of Brooklyn society, except for their secret penchant for poisoning old male callers with their homemade elderberry wine, to end the men’s loneliness!
Dir: Frank Capra. Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey
118 mins
8:00 AM Storm Warning (1951)
While visiting relatives in a small town, Marsha Mitchell witnesses the beating death of a man at the hands of the Klan and soon discovers that the whole town is controlled by the group–and that her loutish brother-in-law is a member.
Dir: Stuart Heisler. Cast: Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day
93 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – October 15, 2024
12:15 AM Mystery Street (1950)
Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim’s bones to go on.
Dir: John Sturges. Cast: Ricardo Montalbán, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett
93 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – October 16, 2024
9:30 AM Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947)
A mystery writer runs into the real thing when he holes up at a deserted inn.
Dir: Lew Landers. Cast: Phillip Terry, Jacqueline White, Eduardo Ciannelli
64 mins
2:00 PM My Forbidden Past (1951)
A beauty with a skeleton in her closet seeks revenge on the suitor who jilted her.
Dir: Robert Stevenson. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas
81 mins
3:30 PM Gambling House (1951)
A gambler faces deportation when he gets mixed up with murder.
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff. Cast: Victor Mature, Terry Moore, William Bendix
80 mins
5:00 PM Nocturne (1946)
A police detective refuses to believe a composer’s death was suicide.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin. Cast: George Raft, Lynn Bari, Virginia Huston
87 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 17, 2024
1:15 AM The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
A phony medium tries to prove her protege innocent of murder.
Dir: Tod Browning. Cast: Conrad Nagel, Leila Hyams, Margaret Wycherly
72 mins
6:00 AM Le Samourai (1967)
When a professional hitman is seen by witnesses leaving the scene of a killing, his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner.
Dir: Jean-Pierre Melville Cast: Alain Delon, Francois Perier, Nathalie Delon
105 mins
*****In French*****
1:45 PM Bullitt (1968)
A detective is sent by a politician to catch a big-time gangster so he can procure him before a Senate crime committee for selfish gain. When the gangster is killed before this can happen, the detective and the politico clash with each other.
Dir: Peter Yates. Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
114 mins
4:00 PM Point Blank (1967)
A professional thief seeks revenge on his unfaithful wife and a fellow mobster who double-crossed him.
Dir: John Boorman. Cast: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn
92 mins
5:45 PM Get Carter (1971)
A small-time gangster searches for the truth behind his brother’s death.
Dir: Mike Hodges. Cast: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland
112 mins
11:45 PM The Wicker Man (1973)
A righteous police officer investigates the disappearance of a young girl. While searching for the missing girl, he comes into contact with the unusual residents of a secluded Scottish isle.
Dir: Robin Hardy. Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento
97 mins
Saturday – October 19, 2024
7:00 AM The Law in Her Hands (1936)
A lady lawyer for the mob tries to break free of her criminal connections.
Dir: William Clemens. Cast: Margaret Lindsay, Glenda Farrell, Warren Hull
58 mins
8:26 AM Law of the Underworld (1938)
A respectable citizen lures two innocents into his secret criminal plots.
Dir: Lew Landers. Cast: Chester Morris, Anne Shirley, Eduardo Ciannelli
61 mins
5:15 PM Crime Wave (1954)
A reformed parolee is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter.
Dir: André de toth. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk
73 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – October 20, 2024
12:30 AM Too Late for Tears (1949)
A married woman’s discovery of stolen money changes her character for the worse.
Dir: Byron Haskin. Cast: Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea
99 mins
10:00 AM Too Late for Tears (1949)
A married woman’s discovery of stolen money changes her character for the worse.
Dir: Byron Haskin. Cast: Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea
99 mins
2:00 PM The Big Sleep (1946)
Called into a case involving a wealthy family, detective Philip Marlowe discovers blackmail and murder as he falls for the eldest daughter in the family.
Dir: Howard Hawks. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely
114 mins
4:00 PM The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Dir: Orson Welles. Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane
86 mins
8:00 PM The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
Sherlock Holmes seeks psychiatric help from Sigmund Freud and gets caught up in mystery.
Dir: Herbert Ross. Cast: Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Duvall, Nicol Williamson
114 mins
10:00 PM The Human Factor (1980)
A diplomat is suspected of being a double agent.
Dir: Otto Preminger. Cast: Nicol Williamson, Richard Attenborough, Joop Doderer
115 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – October 21, 2024
12:15 AM The Lodger (1927)
A family running a boarding house suspects their new tenant is Jack the Ripper.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Ivor Novello, Malcolm Keen, Marie Ault
91 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – October 23, 2024
10:45 PM The Saint’s Double Trouble (1940)
Reformed jewel thief Simon Templer lands in hot water when a look-alike smuggles stolen goods out of Egypt.
Dir: Jack Hively. Cast: George Sanders, Helene Whitney, Jonathan Hale
68 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 24, 2024
1:30 AM Genius at Work (1947)
Two radio sleuths tackle a real murder case.
Dir: Leslie Goodwins Cast: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Anne Jeffreys
61 mins
*****Possibly more of a comedy than a mystery.*****
8:00 PM The Night Digger (1971)
A drifter with a deadly secret ignites passions in two lonely women.
Dir: Alastair Reid Cast: Patricia Neal, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Clay
110 mins
Saturday – October 26, 2024
8:29 AM Dick Tracy’s Dilemma (1947)
Dick Tracy takes on the Claw in this crime thriller.
Dir: John Rawlins Cast: Ralph Byrd, Lyle Latell, Kay Christopher
60 mins
4:00 PM While the City Sleeps (1956)
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Cast: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders
99 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – October 27, 2024
2:00 AM Cape Fear (1962)
A released convict decides to menace and wreak havoc on the family of his defense lawyer.
Dir: J. Lee Thompson. Cast: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen
105 mins
4:00 AM Tiger Bay (1959)
A seaman kills his two-timing girlfriend in a fit of jealousy, but is witnessed in the act by a young girl. He kidnaps her for fear she’ll turn him in, but oddly the two strike up a friendship until a detective comes snooping around, using the girl as bait to catch the killer before his ship sails off.
Dir: J. Lee Thompson. Cast: John Mills, Horst Buchholz, Hayley Mills
105 mins
6:00 AM Cat People (1942)
A newlywed fears that an ancient curse will turn her into a bloodthirsty beast.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph
71 mins
1:45 PM The Bad Seed (1956)
An eight year old girl–a quintessential psychopath–kills a schoolmate, an old woman, an apartment janitor and prompts the suicide of her despairing mother before fate intervenes bringing this “bad seed” to her own premature finish.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy. Cast: Gage Clarke, Jesse White, Joan Croyden
129 mins
4:00 PM Night Watch (1973)
An unhappy housewife who settles her fraying nerves with alcohol syares out her window and witnesses what she thinks is a murder through a neighbor’s window. She calls the police, who find nothing when they investigate.
Dir: Brian G. Hutton. Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Billie Whitelaw
105 mins
6:00 PM Gaslight (1944)
A newly wed wife refuses to believe that her new husband is a thief who murdered her aunt…
Dir: George Cukor. Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
114 mins
Monday – October 28, 2024
8:00 PM Gilda (1946)
A gambler discovers an old flame in South America, but she’s married to his new boss.
Dir: Charles Vidor. Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready
110 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in October, be sure to leave a comment below!
In case you’re interested in seeing the rest of this month’s television mystery movies, here’s the September television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for September 2024 on Turner Classic Movies channel
And here is the page on my site with plenty of entries about movies and television shows you may enjoy:
Cozy Mystery List TV and Movie Section – all you have to do is click on the link to go to that page on my site.