Hi to ALL of you! I hope you had terrific three-day weekends! We had a typical Memorial Day lunch. My husband grilled hamburgers, I fixed the corn on the cob and cole slaw, and there were plenty of left-overs. Our son had dinner with us, so we enjoyed the day immensely.
In between fixing and then cleaning up after our dinner, I worked on my Soon to be Released Mysteries page. I added something like fifty new titles of Cozy (and a few not-so-Cozy!) Mystery books that will be released in the (near) future.
I was excited to see that some of our favorite Cozy Mystery authors have Cozies that they are getting ready to publish. I was also happy to see that a few new mystery series are on the horizon.
Anyway, in case you are interested, you can check out all of the new titles from authors on my Soon to be Released Mysteries page by just clicking on this link:
Soon to be Released Mysteries page on Cozy Mystery site.
I think you might be as excited/happy as I am about what we have in store for us!
Rita says
As I said on Facebook… 50 really 50 new books. Yikes. I just got caught up on Amanda Lee, now I have to work on Jessica Beck (on #16) and Kate Collins (flower shop series, I just finished To Find a Leaf)
Rita says
Correction the name of the Kate Collins book is to Catch a Leaf.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Rita, and did you see that Jessica Beck just started a new Cozy Mystery series (the Cast Iron Cooking Mystery Series)? Yikes!
Rita says
Yes, I save that on one of your blogs. One series at a time. LOL
carolyn says
Your “Soon to be Released List” is the best thing ever! I used to try to keep up between the library & Amazon, but still missed a lot. have even found a couple of authors on the list that I thought were no longer writing. Love it!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Carolyn, I’m glad you enjoy the Soon to be Released Mysteries page. I also use it a lot.
Sheila in CT says
Thank you for this wonderful “Soon to Be Released List”. Wow! it goes through May 2016. I gave it a quick glance and found books that I want to add to my TBR list. So the list keep growing and growing.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sheila in CT, it’s just crazy, isn’t it? Imagine a publisher knowing a whole year in advance which Cozies they will be releasing! Sort of boggles the mind!
Stash Empress says
50 new cozies coming — whew! So here’s what I’m finding — as much as I love my cozies (and you *know* how I love my cozies!) — am I the only one who is feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of new series exploding on the scene in the past few years?????
There’s just no way to keep up! For example, I currently have about 40 (print) library books checked out — which used to be oh — maybe 6 – 8 weeks reading – TOPS! (Yes that seems like a long backlog, but due to my son’s medical situation, I don’t always get out of the house to go to the library very often). But I have these books out, some of them 6 mos or more & just keep renewing them online! Why? Because of all of my favorites that are being released as e-books & I put those on hold with the library to get them when available — so as those come available, I have to finish those before the print books — because the e-books expire sooner & can only be renewed once.
By now my TBR list has expanded beyond what anyone can possibly read — and another 50 books over the next couple months????
And then — how to keep track of so many series???? It used to be that there were “x” number of food themed mysteries, “x” number of book themed, etc. and they were all different enough that you wouldn’t mix them up — Goldie the caterer was enough different from the Chocoholic series, for example — but now there are SO MANY new series — and the themes are overlapping sooooo closely that its hard to keep them straight. Previously nobody would mix up Jessica Fletcher books with Carolyn Hart, for example, because they were just so different. But now there are how many needlework shops (and you notice how now they almost all have ghosts too???), how many candy shops, how many librarians, how many old book stores, etc. I find that even if I had read a book in a certain series a couple of months ago — when I pick up the next in the series, I’m frequently confused as to who is who… and why….
For example, over the weekend, I picked out one of the books from my TBR pile & read it… it was something about cooks & a cookbook & some murders… it was actually from a series where I’d read the previous book just a couple weeks ago & loved that one & loved the author… so… ok. Finished that, fished another book (at random) from the TBR pile — another author whose various series I really loved… and I had read the book previous to this one also not that long ago.. and… it was about cooks… and cookbooks… and murders… and I had the hardest time remembering the characters from last time!
Finished those two, picked another one from the TBR pile, based on the author.. and… more kitchen mystery… (and I actually had to look up the previous book in the series on Amazon just to figure out if I read it or not — because I was pretty sure I was up to date on this series — but for the life of me could NOT remember the previous book — because at this point they are all running together in my mind!).
Is anyone else having this problem?
So how do you decide what to do with your TBR list?
Just read books in series you’ve already started?
Just read books from authors you already know & love?
(And it doesn’t help that they all have the pseudonyms, but are then not even always the same person — ie. Lucy Arlington — who might be Ellery Adams.. or not… depending on which book you’re reading…)
But then you risk losing out on so many good new books! (I recently read an article where they explained this is called “FOMO” — Fear Of Missing Out!)
So what does everyone else do???
Marja says
Stash, I basically stick to the series that I totally love and am VERY selective about any new ones. You are so right about the proliferation of “theme” cozies. … more needlework, more librarians, more caterers &c.
I try to find the “best of” and leave the rest. At my age and long experience of reading, I’m finding I’m much fussier about quality of writing … plus, I want to read some Science Fiction again and the occasional “literary” novel.
Some of my favorite mysteries are set overseas, too, so thanks! Danna, for starting an international cozy section.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Marja, while I try a lot of new-to-me authors, I usually end up not adding a whole lot of them to my favorite authors list. I think I may be joining you in the “fussier about quality of writing”. I just dropped one of my favorite Cozy Mystery authors two days ago. I hated doing it, but her writing, plot, characters (in short, everything!) just felt like she was calling-it-in. The one good thing about dropping a favorite author is that it frees more reading time for me!
Hilary says
Stash, I know what you mean. Between checking out upcoming releases here and at Amazon, I have a long, long list of upcoming releases. But there’s only so many hours in a day, and I’ve a budget to stick to as well, so there are series out there I’d love to try, but unfortunately I can’t read them all, and I’m a huge sucker for “first in a new series” books. I too have a big TBR pile.
The best way I’ve found to avoid having books run together in your mind is not to read several books in a row with the same theme. I’ve made that mistake in the past while reading a bunch of historical fiction/western novels and I soon had the plotlines and characters of each tangled in my mind. LOL, what’s worse is two of the novels had the exact same title and I read one right after the other. It’s also good to mix it up by reading different genres.
Right now I’m reading “A Potion to Die For”, from Heather Blake’s Magical Potions series, before that was a Monk novel by Hy Conrad, before that was one of Rebecca M. Hale’s Cats and Curios mysteries, and before that was one of Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennen novels- all mysteries but different enough in theme that the characters and plots would never get tangled in my mind.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hilary, the books running into each other is exactly how I felt a few weeks ago when I was reading a Sally Goldenbaum Seaside Knitters mystery and listening to a Monica Ferris Needlecraft mystery. I got the characters and settings a little mixed up since they are both yarn/thread related Cozies.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Stash, I have noticed throughout the years, that if one Cozy Mystery author finds success with a brand new theme, all of a sudden there are a few more authors who release new series with that very same theme. ENTER my 50 page rule! I have tried many, many new-to-me Cozy Mystery series, but I always adhere to my 50 page rule! If I find the book to be a sort of déjà vu experience for me, I put it down. It’s not like I belong to a reading group where I am obligated to continue reading.
Also, I avoid having all of my Cozies come from the same themes. I may follow a few authors who write Cozy Mysteries with “cooks & a cookbook & some murders…” but I don’t keep adding more authors to my TBR pile from the very same theme.
I think my, as you say, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) has kept me reading some of my favorite authors a little longer than I really wanted. I just felt so connected with the characters that I found myself staying a few books too long just so I could see what they were up to.
My TBR queue consists of two groups: my favorite authors and new-to-me authors’ first books. I’m pretty tough on the new-to-me authors, though. And I’m pretty tough on my favorite authors >>> I just dropped one of my favorite Cozy authors from my list two days ago. I hate to do it, but I just don’t want to spend any more time with her sleuth, her setting, or her plots!