Three Cozy Mystery Authors, and No More – Part 2

Comments

1. Donna says

   August 23, 2012 at 6:16 pm

   FYI, The Charlotte Armstrong novels are available now as Kindle ebooks! That’s where I discovered her. I’ve probably read half of the ebooks already, and they’re all good. 🙂

   Reply

   • Danna - cozy mystery list says

     August 24, 2012 at 3:46 pm

     Thank you, Donna, for the information about Charlotte Armstrong.

     Reply

2. susie calkins says

   August 23, 2012 at 11:07 pm

   Wow! I’m so impressed you did this! What I took from this discussion is that I seriously need to read Ngaio Marsh (an author I’d never even heard of before!). Thanks to all!

   Reply

   • Danna - cozy mystery list says

     August 24, 2012 at 3:49 pm

     Susie, it’s all due to my OCD!

     Reply

3. Isabelle says

   August 24, 2012 at 2:30 am

   3 COZY MYSTERIES AUTHORS:
   Lorna Barrtett (Booktown mysteries)
   Sue Grafton
   Lilian Jackson Brown

   Reply

4. *Susan says

   August 24, 2012 at 2:48 am

   Why am I surprised that I recognize / have read more than half of the authors on that list? I mean it’s not as if I’m a bookworm OR a mystery lover! Lol!

   Reply

   • Danna - cozy mystery list says

     August 24, 2012 at 3:58 pm

     I know what you mean, *Susan!

     Reply

5. Cathy says

   August 24, 2012 at 10:31 am

   I agree with susie calkins….thank you so much for doing this, and apparently I need to check out this Ngaio Marsh fellow!

   Reply

   • Danna - cozy mystery list says

     August 24, 2012 at 12:50 pm

     Cathy, I don’t think you’ll be sorry if you try a Ngaio Marsh mystery. Her Inspector Alleyn series is really a good read.

     Reply

6. Angela says

   August 24, 2012 at 10:33 am

   I didn’t even attempt to narrow my list down to three in the original posting and reading this post reminds me of why…it would be impossible to pick just three!! Let’s hope we never have too! (Many of those listed would be high on my list of possibilities though, we have great tastes here!)

   Reply

   • Danna - cozy mystery list says

     August 24, 2012 at 4:12 pm

     Angela, you said it better than I did. I totally agree with you about trying to pick just three authors.

     Reply

7. Mary Joy says

   August 24, 2012 at 11:06 am

   I enjoy:
   Lorna Barrett – Booktown Mysteries
   Katherine Hall Page -Faith Fairchild Mysteries
   Leslie Meier- Lucy Stone Mysteries

   These are authors that are still being published, but there are several I have mentioned in the past that I dearly miss. Right now I’m reading Jennie Bentley’s Do It Yourself Series, which I am liking. I also like Nancy Martin’s Blackbird Sisters. I live right where they take place, but I like her style. Also love Lisa Scottoline.

   Does anyone find they do not enjoy the books in series that go “off site” for that particular story? In all the series I read, I never enjoy the ones that take place on vacation or in a foreign country, etc. Instead of being more interesting for me, I usually end up skimming lots of pages. I think I enjoy the familiar surroundings and reading about their everyday routines. I sound dull, don’t I? Is it just me – do others out there enjoy the change of venue?

   Reply

   • linda says

     August 24, 2012 at 10:05 pm

     Sometimes I don’t mind if in a book or two the storyline is set in another location as long as the following books have the characters back home where they belong. Once in awhile Judith and Renie will go off on their own in Mary Daheim’s Bed & Breakfast series but then the proceeding books seem to have the two back at Hillside Manor again.
     Also, it isn’t so bad if several of the main characters go along on the trip. In one of Joan Hess’ Maggody series it seemed like the whole town went to Memphis, which made for a very funny situation.
     In the “Murder, She Wrote” series Jessica took a lot of trips. But I suppose we were expected to believe this was because she had to go on several book signing tours. Also during her many travels she had a large friendship base where she had to help a friend out of a murder jam or she had to go find out why her friend was murdered. But I sure did miss seeing the coastline of Maine whenever Jessica went away. I sure did miss the regular characters as well.
     I wonder if the TV show was actually filmed on the Maine coastline. Do any of you know?

     Reply

     • Julia says

       January 21, 2014 at 8:20 am

       I saw the Cabot Cove set on the Universal lot in Los Angeles…complete with harbor. It’s possible they might have filmed some aerial shots in Maine but I think it more likely they used coastal California – it would be easier, and less expensive, to add to the stock footage as needed that way.

       Reply

       • Danna - cozy mystery list says

         January 21, 2014 at 3:17 pm

         Julia, how neat that you saw “Cabot Cove”! Good thing Jessica wasn’t there. >>> It seemed like every time she was back home people would drop like flies…

         Reply

         • Greenway says

           March 20, 2021 at 10:24 pm

           The “establishing shots” of Cabot Cove, and some whole episodes, were filmed in Mendocino, California. Do an image search and you’ll see Jessica’s house several times. Just got into the TV/Hallmark Fixer-Upper Mysteries, starring and produced by the singer-and-then-some Jewel, from the Kate Carlisle novel series. It’s supposed to be set in Mendocino but is filmed in Canada!

           What serendipity or synchronicity, or something, to see the bad guy get smacked by our heroine with a chunk of plank, just a couple of days after (dread reality) a tiny 76-year-old woman was mugged almost blind by a racist maniac, but fought back and sent his worthless carcass to the hospital, whacking him with the same kind of found weapon. It was found that he beat up an 83-year-old man earlier, “who didn’t have a plank”.

           I like it when series characters travel, except the TV (as opposed to Bain’s books) M,SW: Jessica and her situations get so artificial. Travel freshens, and makes the amateur detectives’ finding all those decedents a little less hinky. And, in Mary Daheim’s Bed & Breakfast series, any time poor Judith gets away from her evil nightmare of a mother, it’s a very good thing!

           Reply

8. Mary Joy says

   August 24, 2012 at 11:10 am

   Forgot to mention that one thing I learned from this latest thread is I must read Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mysteries. Funny that I purchased about 3 several years ago and never read them. I don’t even know if I still have them – maybe have to
   re-buy for my ipad. Thank you all for great suggestions!

   Reply

   • Danna - cozy mystery list says

     August 24, 2012 at 4:56 pm

     Lucky you, Mary Joy, finding a new author to follow. And, even better, Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mystery Series has thirteen books!

     Reply

9. Nikki says

   August 24, 2012 at 1:00 pm

   This is so hard to pick just three but of course Agatha Christie is number one. Then M.C. Beaton and Susan Wittig Albert, I suppose. But I’d be very depressed to miss so many others.

   Reply

10. linda says

    August 24, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    Danna, just for the heck of it I went through your list of Cozies to see just how many writers from that list were among my many favorites. They are : Riley Adams*, Susan Wittig Albert,*** Donna Andrews, Mary Kay Andrews, Nancy Atherton, Donald Bain, Deb Baker, Nevada Barr*, Jo Bannister*, Lorna Barrett, M.C. Beaton***, Mike Befeler, Nancy Bell**, Claudia Bishop, Rhys Bowen***, Emily Brightwell**, Jan Burke, Jennifer Chiaverini*, Agatha Christie, Carol Higgins Clark*, Mary Higgins Clark, Blaize Clement*, Harlan Coben, Alisa Craig, Elizabeth Spann Craig, Phillip Craig*, Bill Crider*, Debora Crombie, Carol Culver, Mary Daheim***, Diane Mott Davidson***, Kaitlyn Dunnet***, Janet Evanovich*, Earlene Fowler***, Anne George***, Sue Grafton***, Sarah Graves, Martha Grimes (Richard Jury series only)***, John Grisham***, Charlene Harris, Rosemary Harris, Veronica Heley***, Sue Henry***, Joan Hess***, J.A. Jance***, Joyce Krieg, Rita Lakin, Charlotte MacLeod, Debbie Macomber, Rett MacPherson**, Margaret Maron***, Archer Mayor, Sharon McCrumb, Leslie Meier***, Katherine Hall Page***, Robert B. Parker***, James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club, only**, Cathy Pickens, Ann Purser, Emilie Richards, Ann B. Ross***, Dorothy Sayers, Dell Shannon***, Julia Spencer Fleming ***, Patricia Sprinkle, Dana Stabenow***, Sara Strohmeyer, Terri Thayer, Victoria Thompson, Kathy Hogan Trocheck, Minette Waters, Charlene Weir and last but not nearly least is Phyllis Whitney***. In that same vein, I also loved reading Catherine Cookson’s many novels. Some were mysteries, some were not. My favorite all time book from her was “The Dwelling Place”. I cried my eyes out in the first 4 pages. What a book; not a mystery but still a very good, good book.
    The *, ** and *** are my favorites. I will pick any and all books wrtten by these authors. I don’t even care anymore if a book in the series is not up to the writers standards. I know these writers will put out good book after good book after good book. I know these writers will keep me entertained and will keep me reading forever. If all Cozy writers would write in the manner and style that these writers do, they too would be among my favorites.
    Only posting 3 extra special favorites would be just too hard to do. But these are the types of writers that I want to read. There were many others that I have tried that have AKAs, but just sometimes the akas just don’t appeal to me. Can’t think of any really good reason but there it is.

    Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      August 24, 2012 at 7:29 pm

      Linda, with all of those authors as writers you follow, you shouldn’t ever have to find a new author to follow!

      Reply

      • linda says

        August 24, 2012 at 10:07 pm

        My problem though Danna, is that just as soon as the books become available in the libraries I will read them as soon as I can. This makes it so that I have to wait quite a while for my next favorite authors to release a new book. Waiting is not one of my stronger traits.

        Reply

        • Greenway says

          March 20, 2021 at 10:28 pm

          You and Danna win the Carolyn Hart> Annie Darling> Death on Demand (Book Store) award for listing great mystery writers!

          Reply

11. linda says

    August 24, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    Danna, Again something that I did truly enjoy while reading through your list of Cozies is the front cover artwork that runs along side. There are so many books that I want to run out and get just because of the interesting front covers. And I will try to pick up several of those books.

    Reply

    • Mary Joy says

      August 29, 2012 at 12:55 pm

      I agree that the front cover work can attract me to a book. One of the features I least like about my Kindle and iBook apps on my ipad is the fact I can’t see a large picture of the cover. The pictures are so tiny when you look at them on the library of books you’ve purchased. When I am reading a “real” book, I often flip over to take another peek at the cover. I wonder why, once you “open” the book on an electric book, you cannot see the cover again? In fact when it opens (fast), you can’t really get a good look at the cover anyway. I’m thinking all ipads must function the same way – I don’t like that.

      Reply

      • linda says

        August 29, 2012 at 6:52 pm

        Mary Joy, I too like to flip back and forth to the front cover, especially if the cover has a picture of the house and the house is important to the story.

        Reply

      • Danna - cozy mystery list says

        August 30, 2012 at 1:34 pm

        Mary Joy, I wonder if they aren’t trying to fix this cover art problem as we speak…

        Reply

12. Marie says

    August 24, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Really tough to narrow it to three. There are so many excellent authors on others’ lists here. My top three would be…

    Martha Grimes
    Margery Allingham
    Dorothy L. Sayers

    with Agatha Christie when we’re allowed four and Ngaio Marsh when we get five choices 🙂

    Reply

    • Marie says

      August 24, 2012 at 6:25 pm

      Oops, looks like I posted in the wrong place–sorry–then I scanned the Top 100 lists and see I forgot about another favorite–Josephine Tey. One that doesn’t get mentioned often and who I think is just excellent is Bruce Alexander (Bruce Cook)–if you like period English cozies (1700s) I think you’ll enjoy his Sir John Fielding (the blind beak of Bow Street) series.

      Reply

      • Danna - cozy mystery list says

        August 25, 2012 at 7:35 am

        Thank you, Marie, for “endorsing” Bruce Alexander, and his Sir John Fielding Mystery Series.

        Reply

13. Mar says

    August 26, 2012 at 10:57 am

    I printed out the list of authors and their books. I am going to develop a recommended book list as a result. I have read several of the authors listed but there were others whose books I have never read. Wish I could spend more hours in my day reading. Thank you for sharing the list.

    Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      August 26, 2012 at 1:22 pm

      Mar, as you can see, a lot of the authors are writers several of us would pick. Thank goodness we don’t have to pick just three!

      Reply

14. linda says

    August 29, 2012 at 8:00 am

    Danna, and some of the you others who have recommended The Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun. Because so many of you have recommended this series I picked up two large print editions of this series just yesterday. “The Cat Who Lived High” and “The Cat Who Came to Breakfast” are the titles of the 2 that I picked up. I started to read the first one last night. Almost didn’t want to put the book down but it was already after midnight when I started reading and I didn’t think I wanted to be up reading all night long so I left it for me to read this morning. It is a beautiful day here in my part of Ohio so I intend to sit outside all day and enjoy these two books.
    I really do think I am going to like this series. I certainly hope so because I see there are many books from this series on the library shelves. I will be reading for a while. I love finding likeable new-to-me series that have a lot of books in the series!!
    Now, can any of you tell me the jest of the storyline in these books? Is Quill our main sleuth? How old is Quill supposed to be? Does that matter!! Where is “Down Under”? Are the books set in the USA? I would really appreciate any kind words any of you can say about the series. Or are these things that I need to find out for myself?
    If I find that I do love the series I think I will go back and then read the series from the beginning before I go on and ruin the storyline for myself.
    Too bad I had to find the series after the death of what I think is going to prove to have been a really great storyteller!! I also picked up several Agatha Christie series in the large print yesterday. I think I am going to have a great time reading. I just hope that I can slow my reading down and really enjoy the stories.

    Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      August 30, 2012 at 12:26 pm

      Linda, I think it’s terrific that your library system has so many Cozy Mystery books in their large print edition section.

      Reply

    • Greenway says

      March 20, 2021 at 10:59 pm

      Qwill is your main sleuth, with oblique help from K’ao Ko K’ung, the Siamese with a Chinese name, and, like Qwill (and Poirot?), mustaches with antennae-like powers. Later in the series, a bubbly old lady, Celia Robinson, sometimes acts as Qwill’s “agent”. Many of THE CAT WHO…s have neither murders or detection of big crimes, but things are discovered, and you’ll always have a rich time in Moose County, “400 miles from anywhere”. It’s more “alternate universe” than many cozies; it’s supposed to be USA even though it would have to be Canada, even Michigan’s Upper Penninsula (about the only place that fits county shore communities sometimes west, & sometimes east, of “the Lake”) is too close.. “Down Under”, pronounced daanunda= the Antipodes, Oz and New Zealand. In Moose and adjacent counties, “Down Below”= points south; sometimes “civilization” in general. Pickax (city) is noted for many fanciful stone buildings with a crystalline sparkle, built in its past mining heyday. You’ll find out much about the Klingenschoen fortune and Foundation, Squunk Water, and so much more. And look for THE CAT WHO COOKBOOK, the most scrumptious recipes ever!

      Reply

15. Linda says

    August 29, 2012 at 11:39 am

    My three (make that four) favorites are Mary Hggins Clark, Joanne Fluke , Brandilynn Collins and Linda Hall. Oh yes and Lorna Barret’s Booktown series and can’t forget Miranda James’ Cat in the Stacks series. This is like eating potato chips. I can’t just read three!

    Reply

16. linda says

    September 1, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    Thank goodness there are so many really good writers for us to enjoy. No matter what the theme or topic is I would say anyone who enjoys reading can find several good authors and storytellers.

    Reply

17. Donna says

    October 17, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    This question got me to thinking about my three favorite books from ONE author, as a way to recommend cozies to newbies. I blogged about the subject a while back and thought you might enjoy posing the question to cozy-mystery blog readers for their recommendations. My three are Agatha Christie mysteries featuring village themes: Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, Sleeping Murder, and The Moving Finger.
    http://www./2012/09/coziest-christies-ever.html

    Reply

18. Suzi says

    December 16, 2013 at 8:11 am

    Veronica Heley (my mother would have loved Diana–ha ha)
    Emily Brightwell
    Monica Ferris
    GM Malliet (the map, the cast of characters, the dishy Vicar)

    Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      December 18, 2013 at 10:35 am

      It took me a while, but I finally just added your favorite mystery authors, Suzi.

      Reply

19. Donna says

    January 19, 2014 at 8:56 pm

    I guess my three favorite cozy authors are

    Victoria Holt. I started reading her when I was bored one summer and grabbed a Reader’s Digest book off the shelf in our living room. It was the secret woman. Today I can proudly say I have read and own every book Victoria Holt wrote. She’s my all time favorite.

    Then it would be Laura Child’s both the tea shop and scrapbook mysteries.
    And third: Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson series.

    This was fun. Thanks for the query.

    Reply

    • Julia says

      January 21, 2014 at 8:15 am

      Oh, I loved “The Secret Woman”! They have started putting Victoria Holt’s on Kindle and I keep looking for that one (and “The Jusa Kiss”), but no luck so far. On the bright side, they added “The Shivering Sands” a few months back (another favorite, and my paperback copy was starting to disintegrate), so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

      Reply

      • Donna Mc says

        January 21, 2014 at 12:27 pm

        I love Victoria Holt’s books! The Shivering Sands is at the very top of my list of all-time-forever-favorite books. I first read it around age 12, and still remember how eerie and suspenseful it was – and then found it years later, and it was still as good as I remembered. Really glad to hear that it’s on kindle now so I can read it again!

        Reply

      • Danna - cozy mystery list says

        January 21, 2014 at 3:14 pm

        Julia and Donna Mc, all of this talk about Victoria Holt has me craving one of her mysteries! I remember reading them years ago, when I visited my grandmother. We would go to her local library and stock up on large print mysteries. I’m not sure which of us read the novels first, but both of us made it through several of Holt’s mysteries during each of my visits.

        Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      January 21, 2014 at 3:00 pm

      Donna, I am going to go add your three favorite Cozy Mystery authors to the list right now!

      Reply

20. Donna says

    January 19, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    Oh darn I forget to add that if I could sneak in a four hit would be Lorna Barrett’s bookshop series.

    Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      January 21, 2014 at 3:05 pm

      Ok, Donna, just this once!

      Reply

21. Diane says

    June 19, 2014 at 11:30 am

    1. Joanne Fluke
    2. Ann B. Ross
    3. Lillian Jackson Braun
    Leslie Meier, Ann George, Phillip Gulley, Janet Evanovich, Lori Copeland, Jan Karon, stop me now!!!

    Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      June 19, 2014 at 2:24 pm

      Diane, aha! It’s pretty difficult to whittle it down to three, isn’t it?

      Reply

22. Holly H says

    July 27, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    Do you have a category Mysteries w/Foreign Languages in them? I was recommended Louise Penny because I was a French major in college and found them interesting; they are set in Quebec.

    Reply

    • Danna - cozy mystery list says

      July 28, 2018 at 6:49 am

      Holly, I’ll consider that one! It might be an interesting category, though I’m not sure how many series would qualify. Individual books might be more common, but those are harder to track down and verify.

      Reply