I finally have experienced what some of you Cozy Mystery readers have talked about before! And what’s more, I agree with you!
I have to admit that until this month, I have always been selective with my Cozy Mystery themed books. I only read the themes I was interested in.
Let’s see:
I love British mystery series, so, of course, I tossed the British themes into my grab-bag of “Likes.”
Aha, I have always loved history, so that means I grab-bagged historical mysteries.
Animals? I simply can’t get enough of them! I’ll take Animals to go please, Alex.
Culinary mysteries? While I might not enjoy cooking or baking, I sure do love to eat! I’ll toss those cookies in my grab-bag of mystery themes, also.
How about vacations? Do I love seeing far-away places of interest? Who doesn’t? Throw those mystery books that take place in mysterious locales right into my overnight grab-bag.
Holidays, anyone? Who doesn’t enjoy their favorite holidays, whether the holidays are Thanksgiving, Halloween (paranormals, anyone?), Christmas, or Hanukkah.
Are you getting my drift? There really were very few themes that I absolutely could NOT relate to… until this month!
This month, I tried a new-to-me author who I absolutely knew I was going to enjoy, but who I also knew writes a mystery series based on a theme I positively cannot relate to. I knew that I could overcome this theme, since I had done my homework. I had paid attention to your comments and recommendations, as well as read all of the Amazon reviews.
However, I finally met a theme I simply cannot enjoy. (Since there are very few authors who write this particular theme, I’m going to keep the theme in my bag, as in trash bag!) Every time the author mentioned the totally boring minutiae of this particular theme, I lost interest. Unfortunately for me, the author mentioned this boring theme way more times than she needed. While reading (I should say “trying to read”) the mystery book, every time the author started rambling on (and on, and on) about the theme, she lost me.
I know that in the past I have talked a lot about, let’s say, Monica Ferris and her delightful Needlecraft Mystery Series. I now wonder what those of you who don’t enjoy cross stitching and needle pointing think when I drone on (and on, and on) about how much I enjoy this series.
What about you? Have you ever disliked a mystery series theme enough to make you avoid an author? (Please do not name specific authors. If you happen to forget, I’ll simply have to replace the author’s name with ***** or something just as descriptive.)
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
I would have to say that there are themes I find boring. Cross word puzzle books that go on and on about a particular clue or that have people competing over cross word puzzles. They simply don’t interest me.
Journalistic sleuths tend not to interest me either. Don’t ask me why because I’m not even certain.
Cooking ones, OTOH and Gardening themes? Love them. Tea? Chocolate? Ocean settings? Pets? Love them all.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Maria, that’s interesting that you don’t like journalistic sleuths.
(I had to look up “OTOH”>>> on the other hand, to those of you who are as in the dark as I am…)
Lynn T. says
I wonder if it is so much a “theme” that one finds boring or if it is the skill of the writer making a mystery interesting.
I have found recently that my favorite cozy mystery authors besides being good mystery writers, are good story tellers. You feel like you are being drawn into the story/ mystery and are being taken along on the ride. You don’t know quite where you are going but that is what makes it enjoyable. If you didn’t find the book enjoyable, it was probably due to the theme was a filler that was used instead of skillful writing.
Monica Ferris is one of my favorite authors right now. In fact I am reading A Stitch In Time now. Needlecraft is not an interest of mine. She just writes a good mystery. She is a good storyteller too.
I have been feeling that in some cases, some of the new books that are coming out, that there must be an outline some writers use. Start with a theme-come back home from the big city due to a failed romance-find a body in your shop, home etc that a dense police officer thinks you or your friend did. The other option is that the officer is a dreamboat and sparks start flying. So on and So on. It is a case of fill in the outline. You can plug in different characters and themes for different books and basically they are the same. So much of it is mediocre and lacks surprise and originality.
However, a Theme book doesn’t mean it is a formula book. I guess it depends on the skill of the writer and for me it goes back to story telling ability. It’s finding those good writers that is the key. This site helps as I have found many new authors that I am following now.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Lynn T, you make a wonderful point about the writing and subsequently good story-telling being the difference (s?). Your example of Monica Ferris being one of your favorite authors, despite the fact that you don’t needlework, is really a good one.
You are totally on target saying “the theme was a filler that was used instead of skillful writing.) I thought I could overlook the fact that I didn’t like the theme, but the author pretty much made the theme the entire first chapter – and it wasn’t a short chapter!
RE: “Start with a theme-come back home from the big city due to a failed romance-find a body in your shop, home etc that a dense police officer thinks you or your friend did.” Hey! I read that mystery book! (Or should I say “those mystery books!”)
PS>>>I actually wrote this entry because of a letter you sent to me about how much you enjoyed Charlotte MacLeod. Your letter rang several bells for me!
linda says
Danna, This is exactly what I have in mind when I say by reading the mysteries that have handcrafts as themes when I say I want to now learn how to do these things. The writers have made me so interested in these crafts that I want to try.
Right now I don’t really care for the step by step descriptions of how to knit or how to construct a quilt. But I think once I get really into doing these crafts, I will wish I had paid more attention to the tidbits that some of these writers gave in their books.
In some of these books the writers make the craft so interesting. And the friendliness of those characters throughout these books just make me want to learn more and more as I read the books and stories.
Hopefully I can remember who these writers are so that by the time I can use their tips I’ll know where to find them.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, take a look at the Cozy Mystery theme page when you learn how to knit!
Ann says
I recently picked up a mystery that I couldn’t finish. The first chapter or two was about puppy mills and tossing puppies in the sewer drain. No matter how good the story, hearing about animals being mistreated is not an enjoyable read. And anyway, isn’t that a no-no for a cozy mystery?
Ann
Gail says
Ann, I had the same reaction to that book. I went and hugged my dogs, both rescues.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ann, I’ve noticed more and more Cozy Mystery books with “causes” in them lately. I’m not crazy about this trend AND “Yuck” on that chosen theme!
(I am so behind on most of my favorite authors that I hope this particular book isn’t by one of them. That would be enough for me to drop him/her.)
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
I can’t read those either. I even have to sort of skim the ones where it’s just one pet that gets LOST until I’m sure that it’s going to be rescued!
I can handle some realism with pets and I LOVE Virginia Lanier’s Bloodhound series (they are not cozies and there are some hard chapters in some of the books because they are pretty realistic when it comes to the dogs–they do get sick and one of them is born blind and stuff like that.)
But I will not read about animal or human torture or even tolerate much of a reference to it in my reading–I don’t care if the bad guy gets what is coming or not. I still don’t want to read that stuff!
linda says
I cannot stand that kind of reading either. People, mainly because for a lot of animals and for many people a lot of this stuff isn’t fiction. Some people in real life can be so mean and hateful that I just don’t want to read that stuff in a book that is supposed to be Cozy reading.
Eileen Watkins says
Cozies, by definition, are supposed to avoid emotionally disturbing situations–such as child or animal abuse–as well as graphic violence. The dead puppies should have ruled out that book as any type of “cozy”!
*Susan says
You’re not alone, Danna. As a rule, I’m not fond of historicals, or those that focus on a specific location as the theme. If I’ve never been there I can’t picture it and it spoils the whole book.
I’ve actually just finished a new-to-me mystery in a series based around themed parties. It was recommended by a friend, and I did enjoy another series by this author, but I don’t think I’ll bother with these again.
A question for everyone: Is it the theme that’s turning you off, or something else? Eg: The writing or the characters?
This one had an interesting theme, but the secondary characters came across as more real, and deeper, than the Very shallow heroine.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
*Susan, most of the time I find that if I like one of an author’s mystery series, I usually don’t like the other one.
I have read books before which have secondary characters I would like to follow, but whose main sleuth is a turn-off to me. I do what you did, and don’t bother reading any more. Let’s face it, the main sleuth had better be someone we want to spend time with…
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
I think you’re right in that sometimes it is a theme but USUALLY it’s the characters or lack of plot. That said, I do still avoid certain themes. I’m not big on historicals, but I will pick them up and read a few pages. If the heroine grabs me (Elizabeth Peters!) I’ll keep reading. If not, I move on.
I’m not very good at reading books where I don’t like the characters. Gosh. I am pretty sure I have to spend real life with people I don’t like sometimes. I don’t want to READ about people I don’t like!
linda says
I totaly agree with you on this Maria. I have had to spend way too much time with people that I would have liked to have been friendly with but just couldn’t be. I am not wasting precious reading time on unfriendly people.
Andie says
I have some dislikes in themes by certain authors. Sometimes these are new series from an author I have enjoyed in the past.
I’m not a prude and I don’t mind a certain amount of sexual content as long as it is not too overt and is not gratuitous, that is, has nothing to do with the plot or development of the character. Some authors seem to insert these situations after they have written the story, apparently to make it more titillating and that bit really has nothing to do with the story.
I’m not terribly fond of some of the occult/psychic/magic themed mysteries because they go overboard and use it too much.
I really enjoy the mysteries of Lesley Cookman in which one of the two protagonists has a bit of psychic ability but it is erratic and not a constant theme and is certainly believable.
One of my great aunts had a similar talent, she could tell people where they could find things they had lost and had a “spell” on the day when two of my uncles were wounded on the Lexington during the Coral Sea battle, although the family wasn’t notified until more than a month later. (They survived.) She also was surprisingly accurate at predicting the sex of babies, both humans and horses and she was a water dowser. I’ve always thought a lot of the people who do this are phonies – but aunt Hattie-Anne would just walk back and forth across fields and would simply come to a stop and say, “drill here” and the drill would hit a spring.
I also don’t like cozies that go over the line and describe the specific injuries in too much detail – or have elements of torture. Too much psychological content also turns me off.
I also agree and have written before that it seems to me that some writers become lazy and write the same situations but with different characters and locations but often use the same phrases, so much so that sometimes I feel like I have already read the book and check the copyright page to see when it was written.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Andie, your great Aunt Hattie-Anne must have been a wonderful person to talk to! (Reading about her water dowser abilities made me think of that wonderful 1956 Katherine Hepburn/Burt Lancaster movie The Rainmaker. They don’t make movies like that anymore!)
I still haven’t read my first Lesley Cookman mystery, although it is in my Kindle’s queue – thanks to your recommendation. From what you have said, her Libby Sarjeant Mystery Series has the perfect amount of paranormal abilities.
Gail says
It’s not the theme so much as whether the theme adds to the story or stops it. There are a couple of series exactly in tune with my personal interests but the story stops when the main character engages in the activity and it’s explained in amazing detail. I want to scream, “this is not a how-to; this is a whodunit!!”
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Gail, how-to VS whodunit: Great Point!
*Susan says
So true! The book I referred to earlier: Each chapter is prefaced by a paragraph on “How-to-do-this-yourself”! Aaaarrrgh!
Can we just get ON with things, please?
Regina says
I found Lynne T. comments perfectly reflect my own views about recent mystery stories. Lately I have found it difficult to find a book I can enjoy because it follows the same formula. It appears as if authors and publishers have found a pattern that would sell and are sticking to it. Most unfortunate.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Regina, there’s a reason we all (at least most of us!) go back to authors like Agatha Christie. Sometimes, when I read a currently popular author, I wonder if his/her mystery books will be read ninety years from now, let alone ten!
Petie says
I guess I’m one of those rare types that don’t want to venture into ‘new territory’ as far as hobbies etc that don’t interest me. I know what I like & that’s about all I’ll read. Oh, I’ll try a new author any day but I love the ‘tried & true’ ones that continue to put a smile on my face and a dent in my wallet! And you know what, Danna, I owe it all to you & your ‘lists’ – you are outstanding in leading people to what they are interested in and great authors as well.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Petie, I usually stick to the themes that interest me. But, with that particular book, I decided to take a chance. Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out…
(And, thank you for the very generous words about the site!)
Carol says
I am not a sports fan. I recently read a cozy where the main character was so upset that she couldn’t be a sports reporter but the author handled it so well that I really enjoyed it. Usually, it is not the themes that turn me off but having too many characters to keep straight does!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Carol, you just stated another one of my peeves: too many characters!
MJ says
Carol,
I just finished the second book (just released) in the ‘I want to be a sports writer’ series. It was very good – creative and compelling. There is very little emphasis on sports in this series. In the first book I thought some of the characters (not the main sleuth) were a bit weird, but it comes together much better in the second book.
linda says
MJ, I am an avid sports fan. I love baseball, football and college and highschool basketball. But for some reason I just can’t get into the novels that have sport themes. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?
Carrie says
I totally agree with Lynn T when she said “I wonder if it is so much a “theme” that one finds boring or if it is the skill of the writer making a mystery interesting.”
I’ve read books with themes that at first glance I would never have thought held any interest for me and thoroughly enjoyed them because the skill of the writer made the book interesting and the mystery was well thought out and written. I’ve also read books with themes that I’m very interested in and hated them because they were poorly written or constructed and they quickly became tiresome and irritating to read.
I’ve discovered that, for me, it pays not too be too rigid with my preconceived likes and dislikes, but to at least try a book with a new theme if it has been highly recommended. That does mean that I’ve read a lot of first books and not been interested in reading the rest of the series, but then I’ve also discovered many new favorite authors that way. As an example I tend to avoid anything with a supernatural theme, however, I happily read all Nancy Atherton’s Aunt Dimity books.
As a result I’ve read many books which, in theory, I should have hated with themes like anthropology, needlecraft (I don’t even like sewing on buttons), physic animals, bounty hunters (the only bounty I would admit to liking is covered with chocolate), paranormal, etc. and in each of these categories I’ve found at least one author’s books where I want to read the whole series.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it isn’t the theme that prevents me from enjoying a mystery it’s the author.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Carrie, I looked up “(the only bounty I would admit to liking is covered with chocolate)” and I totally agree with you! (Bounty bars are the British equivalent to Mounds chocolate bars.) Yum, yum, and more yum!
linda says
I like the ship ” Bounty”. I have seen the movie over and over. I toured the ship when it was in the harbor near Tampa Bay, two times. I started collecting sea captains, pirates and light houses after those visits. i have read the book over and over. I have a painting that I bought while visiting the ship. Beautiful!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, with all the reading you do, it’s a wonder you have time to collect lighthouses, sea captains, and pirates! (One of my close Cozy-reading friends collects lighthouses, also, so I know how much fun you must have when you find a new one.)
linda says
Carrie, Sometimes as I am reading the “Aunt Dimity” series, I forget that she is supposed to be somewhat of a ghost. I found myself thinking about a lot of the characters in the “Harry Potter” series were supernatural. I guess we can thank these wonderful writers for making us believe their characters are really real people. Wouldn’t we all really love to have an Aunt Dimity to help us from time to time??
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I agree, it would be great to have an Aunt Dimity or Augusta Goodnight (Mignon F. Ballard) around from time to time.
Brita says
Danna, this is something I have been wondering about for over a year now. The author has been a favorite of mine for years and I love the way she writes. She can make the people alive enough that it makes you wonder what has become of them since. Then, one day when I was actually preparing a holiday we wanted to take, I learned quite by accident that the books were set in the slums of a British city. While I don’t think I’m a snob this was not the scenario I could or wanted to see the characters in. I haven’t touched either of them since. So, yes, it was the theme or rather the setting that made me put the books down.
Thanks for posting this, because I now know I’m not alone in a subjective reaction to a theme or setting.
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
Were the books maybe written before that area was a slum? Or was this a new series that you hadn’t tried by an author you loved?
Confused in Texas
Maria
Brita says
As far as I could figure out the area had not only been a slum during the period the books were set (early 1930th to late 1940th) but that the author herself was born in those slums and consequently knew well just what she was writing about.
Later, beginning in the fifties, the slums were razed down and built over. I don’t think her characters or herself would recognize the area as it is now. And perhaps that’s the trouble. The books give the impression that while the neighbourhood is poor, as it is when workmen don’t bring home huge wages, but that it is also very clean and proud.
linda says
Brita, Some years ago while I was trying to trace my families and my families histories, I found that one of my greatgrandfathers lived in a city just to the east of us. Several old pictures that I found of my grandfather and his family were taken outside of his home. From the pictures, the area looked to be in a very prosperous area of the city and his house was a very nice house. But once I took a small trip to see if I could find the house he lived in I found much to my unpleasant surprise, the area had become a much blighted area. His house was still there but was very much rundown.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Brita, I don’t blame you for wondering about this. It’s odd how the author never let the readers into the fact that the setting is the slum area of a city.
linda says
Brita, Quite often while I am reading I will have so much compassion for the characters in certain books that I often forget that this is a made-up story of made-up people. I guess I can thank the wonderful writer for making me feel that way. I have to keep telling myself over and over “This is a story!!”
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, that’s a sign of a good author >>> when you have to continue telling yourself it’s fiction you are reading…
Karen says
There are two themes that I do not finish. One is about herbs and the second is any drinking ones where they go on about how to make them. They put me to sleep in the second chapter.
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
Oh gosh, I love herbs. But I don’t think I’d like the drinking/drinks one. Unless it was “100 ways to make chocolate milk: Hot, cold, with cream, with milk, with water…”
LOL.
linda says
Maria, How lucky you are that you can enjoy chocolate in any form. In my next life I hope chocolate does not trigger a migraine for me. How I love chocolate. Sometimes I even crave it like people crave water. But even when I do cave in, I know a migraine will soon follow. So either I pass up on the chocolate or suffer!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Karen, you’re lucky to only have two themes to avoid. I have to admit there are many authors who write mysteries in the themes I do like, who put me to sleep by their second chapters.
Donna says
The most important things are the mystery and having likable, interesting characters. Other things such as a theme or location add flavor but are not crucial elements. If the theme is overdone to the point where it slows down the pace of the story, or if there is excessive sexual content or the mystery comes to a halt while the writer goes into too much information around relationships or political content or something that has nothing to do with the mystery, then I tend to toss the book or skip to the end so I can find out whodunit. That’s still the main reason I read mysteries. I’m nosy and I want to know whodunit! 🙂
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Donna, we keep getting back to likable characters and good mysteries. I’m right there with you on that! There are several very popular mystery series that I simply cannot abide, since I dislike the sleuths from the first mysteries in the series. I need to like the sleuth enough to want to spend many, many hours with him/her. I’ll overlook an occasional weak whodunit mystery in an author’s series IF I like the sleuth.
linda says
Danna, Where there are quite a few series type mysteries that have likeable characters, it seems to me that more and more villains in some books have gotten to be so mean that I don’t care if the villain is dead. A lot of times the main sleuth will say just because this person is such a meany is no reason to kill that person. More than one of the suspects will say they weren’t sorry one iota that the villian is dead. But it seems to me that these people are only asking for someone to bump them off!! To my way of thinking, some of these villains in some of these books were lucky they got to live as long as they did!!
linda says
Me too Donna, I also once in awhile want to be surprised, but not fooled, by whodunnit!!
Cathy says
What hinders me from enjoying the theme is when the author quite obviously doesn’t know what they are talking about…but then, on second thought, that can also be very amusing…
Maybe I should be kinder and say when you/I know more about the theme than the author and could give her some pointers….I mean, really, how many of us southern girls would take pink lemonade as our ‘contribution’ to a sewing meeting at someone’s home….even if she was newly arrived from the north, surely they know about brownies or pigs-in-a-blanket!
Oh well, not really a major issue, but made me doubt this author belonged to many sewing groups…..btw, I love pink lemonade, lol
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Cathy, an author really should know both her theme AND her audience. Since most of us at least try mysteries with themes we know, the author ought to know that we are going to know…
PS>>> And I love brownies!
linda says
There is one particular theme that although the storyline is very good, some of the suggestions sort of irk me. The storyline is about a young woman who is a pet setter. While she is out taking care of her pet clients she normally runs into some sort of murder. Which is fine with me. A mystery needs amurder. But quite often the writer will insert some tips on pet care, which is also fine with me. But sometimes she comes across as being the know all to end all person on pet care. Maybe that is just my take, but there it is. Love the series. I will continue to read books in the series. But just because the writer is maybe into a hobby, craft or what have you doesn’t really mean they know it all.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, maybe that is one of the things that make Betsy Devonshire so endearing in the Monica Ferris Needlecraft Mystery Series. Betsy starts out as a complete novice at needlework of any kind.
linda says
Danna, A lot of the series that have knitting as a theme make knitting out to be something that any cave man should be able to pick up and learn easily. Now that I have had the carpal tunnel surgery on both hands I intend to see if that is true!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, now that your hands are ready, you’re going to have to pick up some yarn and knitting needles!
linda says
Cathy, After my first husband died back in 1987 I needed some kind of hobby. A friend of mine knew that I was interested in the American Civil War. He, along with his other family members, had lost track of a greatgrandfather who they knew had died during the war but could not find out what exactly happened to him. So I went to several area libraries and checked out the Civil War rosters until I found the grandfather. He had died during the later parts of 1862 from measles and was buried in the Military cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.
The reason my friend’s family could not find any trace of him was because whoever buried the grandfather didn’t have the correct name on his civil war tombstone.
This happened quite often during that time period. A lot of Northern soldiers couldn’t read nor write. If they were to die and no one around around the man at the time of death knew his actual name, the person recording the name would just guess. But I did find this guy for my friend’s family.
After doing that I got to thinking that if I could find this guy maybe I could find others as well. This all started me on a hobby, interest, whatever you might call it, that lasted almost 17 years. I studied and studied that war. I traced 2 regiments that came out of my city for all that time. I wasn’t really concerned with the battles and the wins or losses at that time. I was just interested in finding out how Americans, North and South, were able to endure during that horrible time.
Except for “Gone With the Wind”, which really was not about the war, I cannot read novels that take place during that time in our history. Most novels distort actual happenings from during that war so much that I can almost say without a doubt that these writers did not, never had, known what really went on during that time. Those writers haven’t a clue as to how Americans survived that war. No way could many of these writers ever have done much research on the war.
Angela says
More often I have the opposite problem, love the theme but can’t stand the story/writing/characters etc. I actually just finished a new first in series book in which the theme, the world of a literary agent, sounded right up my alley (anything to do with the book world I usually like) but I solved the mystery the minute the killer was introduced and even knew why he did it at that moment, and no I am not someone who usually figures out my mysteries that fast, the characters were flat and nothing about the book intrigued me. I almost didn’t finish but I thought it had to come alive at some point! It didn’t.
I will try just about anything at least once. I have actually found a few new interests by reading a themed book on the subject and liking it so much I wanted to learn more. I agree with others who have said ultimately it always comes back to the writing and storytelling itself.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Angela, the writing and storytelling are clearly what keeps us with the themed mysteries we read. But those two factors are clearly different to all of us. There are so many very popular authors (and by that I mean hugely popular) who have many, many fans, who I simply don’t think are good writers. At the same time, I know that there are many, many people who don’t agree with my choices of who the good writers/storytellers are. (That’s apparent because several of the authors I follow are not very popular.)
Sally says
Hi:
I thought I posted several paragraphs on this topic yesterday but they either didn’t go through or weren’t posted. I am rehabing from a knee replacement. I discovered your sight a couple of weeks before the surgery and immediately began collecting books from you summary of the author and the books. I went to used book stores, amazon and special sales. I think I overdid it. I probably bought somewhere around 100 books. I’ve discovered lots of great new authors and rediscovered authors I had read years ago and forgotten.
I wanted to know whether the post went through and if it did, did I mess up somehow. I’m not sure what the rules for posting are? Do I need to register somewhere? Anyway please let me know. I love you site and am finding it very helpful and would like to post from time to time. Sally
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Welcome to the site, Sally! It sounds like your knee replacement surgery went really well.
As you can see, this comment of yours did indeed go through. Whatever you did today was exactly what you need to do in the future. And, we would love to see more of your comments!
However, your posting from yesterday did not go through. I even checked my spam mail box, and I couldn’t find it there, either.
Again, welcome and hope to see more of your comments in the near future.
Penny W says
I am so sick of vampires, ghosts, and writers who have written beyond their capability (e.g. a series which was great until about 2000 and then went downhill, or a series whose theme has been done to death (no pun intended)! Also, as a comment on another earlier post, I think most of the time I put down a book because of the poor writing, whether it be too ‘formulaic’, poor character development, or just bad writing. The themes are often interesting and in some of them, I have learned quite a bit! And I’ve found a to-die-for savory cheesecake recipe courtesy of Diane M. Davidson! Everyone always wants to know where I got it!
PS – what a great blog! Thank you!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
PennyW, it’s difficult to let go of favorite authors, isn’t it?
I give my favorite authors several chances before I finally drop them. When I start thinking that they are just “calling it in”, I still hold out hope that maybe, just maybe this run-of-the mill mystery was due to something bad going on in his/her life that year. But, when the author insists on “calling it in” on three mysteries in one year, two the next, followed by three more the next year, I finally figure out they are “calling it in” to their banks. Retire from writing, already!
linda says
Danna, I hate it when my favorites quit writing, though. I just want them to get their acts back together and write like they did in previous books. I have found that some do and some don’t. maybe some just can’t.
Maybe if they would age some of the main characters in the series, that would help. Some series’ books that I read often have only a few months difference in the time periods of their books. Maybe some should put a year or more in between the storylines. It’s hard to believe that one sleuth could have so many murders in such a short time in their lives.
I know the stories are supposed to be just fiction but it would be nice if some of the stories would be more realistic in the time frames.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I also like it when the authors I follow age their sleuths.
Sally says
Years ago I read half of a theme based book and I hated it. I decided I didn’t do werewolves, zombies, demons, vampires, witches, ghosts and the like. I found this site and based on readers recommendation I read “Brownies and Broomsticks” and liked it. Since then I’ve read Anita Blair, E.J. Copperman and two Judi McCoy’s. I have a Madelyn Alt in a huge pile of waiting to be read.
I love historical mysteries and have some in the waiting to be read pile.
I like Susan Albert Wittig, Maggie Sefton, Monica Ferris, Lucy Lawrence, Dana Stabenow, Nevada Barr. I’ve spent lots of time outdoors in nature, and have hiked just about every chance I got so I like books that have these themes. I once knitted an ugly sweater and very large socks but I like themes based around knitting, crochet, and other crafts. I can really appreciate the craft even if it isn’t for me. I also like Laura Childs New Orleans scrapbook series.
I’ve learned just because one theme based book is way out there and I hated it doesn’t mean the whole category is.
Thanks again for the great site. – Sally
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sally, your list of favorite authors looks like it is as varied as mine. I usually try an author because of what other people have said about him/her, although with some themes, I am more willing to give an author a try without the benefit of other people’s opinions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t…
ginger says
I like theme books. I finished one last week that I really liked but it took forever to find the killer and end it. It kept giving details it had already told me. I did finish it and I liked the series and author. I hope the next is less detailed. Danna I did not get to my niece’s for my big book buying trip. Things came up on both ends and we had to put it off to some time in the fall. I get to go to Barnes and Noble in Mississippi which is 2 hours from home in Louisiana. School starts the 13th of Aug. and reading will be not as much.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ginger, I’m sorry you weren’t able to visit your niece this month. I know you look forward to seeing her.
linda says
Ginger, I have often thought that some writers might switch gears somewhere towards the end of a book and then make someone else the villian? Sometimes it seems as if the clues really do point to someone else earlier in the story. Quite often when the villian is someone other than the most obvious, especially because of the earlier clues, and then the exposed villian just doesn’t add up.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I’ve also wondered about authors who give the obvious villain an alibi, only to make the iron-clad alibi a lie in the last chapter. The sleuth has to spin his/her wheels during the entire mystery novel, only to find out that the culprit was actually the person we all suspected at the very beginning of the mystery.
linda says
Danna, I just finished a book this week that had the person who ended up being the villian have an ironclad allibi, too. The villian had some kind of trap door in the cieling that others didn’t know about. He/she used the trap door to get out so that no one else could say she/he had left her office. kinda hokey to me!! I just think this was another writer who changed the villian towards the end of the book. Don’t know if I will read other books by this writer or not. I might, just to see if other books end this way.
linda says
Ginger, I have found that some writers keep going over and over and over some of the clues in the story. It becomes so repetitious that I swear the books could be about 40 pages shorter. It is as if the writer doesn’t think we are smart enough to remember what the clues were throughout the story.
Just because there is a theme in a story is no reason for the writer to keep harping and harping about the sequence of events. It just gets to be too boring.
Deb says
Handbags, handbags with dogs in them, and shoes are my very unfavorite themes. Also people whose lives seem to be mostly about acquiring things despite them not having any money to speak of (not the criminals, the heroines). My other pet peeve is not a theme, but a style. I always check to see if a book is in the present tense. If so, it goes back on the shelf.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Deb, I take it you wouldn’t enjoy a mystery theme about a box-office actress who carries her Toy Chihuahua from one crime scene to the next…
linda says
Deb, I too cannot stand the mystery series that have some kind of extravagant shopping sprees as the themes. The main sleuth will complain she has no money but then will go out and max out her credit cards for a pair of 300 dollar shoes. I have very little money so Wal Mart is fine for me. Sear’s is a nice store to shop at.
This reminds me of the TV sitcom about two women who are always complaining they are broke. But take notice of the expensive clothes they wear, the costly jewelry they adorn themselves with, the 200 hundred dollar shoes on their feet and then wonder why these women are broke!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, how about sitcom actors who want $200,000. per episode? Seems like they should be curing all sorts of diseases in their spare time!
linda says
Right on Danna!!
linda says
Sorry! Here I am again, cutting down what others want to read! We all have a right to read want we want to read. If people want to read stories about people who are so called shopaholics, then more power to them!!
I read what I want to read and if I don’t want to read something I know I am not going to read that book. Reminds me of when I was in school and had to read some of those books that somebody else thought would be good for me.
linda says
Just an added note. Whenever I find myself spouting off about what I do or don’t want to read, I remind myself of this one particular episode of ” The Waltons.” This episode was set in the time frame just before WW2, when some people were trying to place certain books on a banned reading list. I have always tried to remember this episode whenever I try to state what I can or cannot stand to read. We have the right to read what we want and we must allow others to retain that right as well.
Sorry Danna, I guess I am just windy today. I am in between books! Need to find something good to read today.
Nita R says
I am trying to expand my cozy authors because the 2 I liked Lilian Jackson Braun and M. C. Beaton and every time I asked the librarian about similar authors they gave me names but when I looked at the book and its description I did not like it. So when I found this site it was like Christmas. So I have read Jana Deleon’s Trouble in Mudbug and found I loved it. I usually don’t like ghost or paranormal but this just seemed so different. I have also started reading Laura Childs Tea Shop Mysteries. The first one was really hard to get through because I like tea but I am not into all the different types of tea and that was really hard. Plus she is very descriptive about her surroundings. But about half way through it got alot better and more interesting.
But if I try a new author and there is alot of cussing, sex, descriptive violence then I will put it down.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Nita R, maybe you should tell the librarian about your new discoveries!
Margaret says
I always say I am much too “picky” in picking my cozies. But when I try to read outside my comfort zone I just can not get in to it. I have to like and identify with the characters (at least the sleuth), the setting, the theme or the sleuth’s chosen profession. That is how I pick my reading and when everything fits I tend to really enjoy the story. I even over look small irregularities when I love a book/series. But if I don’t identify with anything in the story I can find many faults with it and put it down.
Right know I am reading a book that fits my criteria and I am enjoying it. The story is well paced, there are two related but unrelated murders and some other sub plots but I don’t think I will continue with the series. I can not identify with the sleuth and can not find any other characters I like. Some things in the the story are too convoluted for my taste. Even tho it is not a bad book and I know others may love it it is just not for me.
Books are like relationships, you either click or you don’t. I don’t think you can force a relationship with a book any more than with a person. When you find the right one you know it (as they say).
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Margaret, I wish I could “overlook small irregularities when I love a book/series.” I can’t, which is why I end up dropping a lot of my favorite authors before I make it to the end of their series.
linda says
Wouldn’t it be interesting if say, whoever put certain books on a Best Seller lists would say exactly why that book is a best seller? Do these people even know!!
MJ says
I don’t have a pet and am not a pet fan. (I know, I know, I’ve just incurred the wrath of all who are posting on this blog!). However, almost ALL of the authors give their sleuths a cat, dog, or bird, which is fine. But, I don’t like it when the ‘theme’ is on animals such as pet walking, pet sitting, etc. The story line then focuses on too many animals! I enjoyed Cynthia Baxter’s two books in the ‘Murder Packs a Suitcase’ series (I’m sorry she has stopped writing these). But I have no interest in reading the ‘Reigning Cats and Dogs’ series (which obviously is a success, because she continues to write this series). I’m not a fan of historical mysteries either, so I don’t waste my time reading them. I prefer current/recent settings and locations. Ghostly themes turn me off, except for a couple of authors who use it in a lighter way and not the main emphasis. Unlike Sally (posted above), I found Brownies and Broomsticks too ‘ghostly’ for my tastes. However, others on this blog have really liked it.
I’m not really interested in most of the crafts in the books I read. If there is a lot of explanation of a particular craft within the story, I skip over those paragraphs – it’s a faster read that way!! Most authors give specific descriptions/directions/recipes for their craft at the end of a chapter or end of the book. I prefer this because the mystery/story is the focus, not the theme. AND, who cares about ‘buttons’? BUT, I have found Kylie Logan’s two books interesting because she writes a good mystery. I’m pleased I decided to read these books with such a weird theme. One has to give credit to an author who is able to carve out a ‘creative/different’ theme in hopes of being noticed amongst the many craft/cooking sameness! Authors probably use a theme as a ‘hook’ to tie a series together involving the same characters.
Danna, I also enjoy Monica Ferris’s Needlecraft series, EXCEPT for the first one. But the first one had to take place for the rest of the series to continue.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
MJ, we’ll overlook your lack of pets!
Now that Kylie Logan has started her Button Box Mystery Series, let’s see if more authors choose to go with the button theme…
Kay says
I often wonder why authors quit writing a particular series and start another one. Jo Dereske comes to mind- no more Miss Zukas books! But I feel sure that the characters sometimes become stale to the authors themselves. I think Ariadne Oliver and her attitude towards her fictional sleuth in Christie’s mysteries probably is a wry commentary by Christie on her own Poirot character. Authors are by their nature creative beings- and I am sure that most of them have lots of characters they want to bring to life on the page- but must return to writing what sells and pays their bills.
I agree that the mysteries where the reader is familiar with the location are especially interesting.
I am interested in almost anything theme-wise and generally love culinary mysteries- but not the long books written by an especially well-known author.
To Fetch a Thief (Spencer Quinn) and How to Moon a Cat (Rebecca Hale) are the latest books I have read- along with a P.G. Wodehouse and an Emilie Loring.
Annette says
I do almost any theme but not into witches or vampires. I have decided the best thing about the kindle is downloading a “sample” it gives a couple of chapters and most of the time you know if you will like it or not. Have I said I really love my kindle!!??
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Annette, I might try downloading samples by authors I want to try. I have recently been trying a lot of new-to-me authors, several books of which I have removed from my Kindle after struggling (with no avail) to get into their mysteries.
(No need to tell us you love your Kindle >>> Who doesn’t?!?)
linda says
With only 4 months until Christmas, I intend to start dropping hints to my daughter and other family members that a Kindle would be a very nice gift for me to receive from that very nice Santa Claus!!
Ginny says
I am new to the “cozy mystery” genre. Before, I read more in the “thriller” scene. What I have done is taken recommendations off this site and gone to the library. I will read the first in a series. If I like the concept I will read the rest. So far some of the ones I have enjoyed are a bit on the paranormal side or pet(dog) or cooking. I did try one that had the concept of natural remedies. This subject is near and dear to my heart. But! I don’t need to be hit over the head with it. I don’t care if the main character had wheat germ pancakes and organic green tea for breakfast etc. The other thing that drives me nuts is thirtysomething protagonists that talk and act like a ten year old girl. These characters are supposed to be adults. So, act like one.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ginny, that’s an interesting jump from thrillers to cozy mystery!
Nancy says
I find that my taste in themes is somewhat “all over the place”. I concur with many who cannot handle animal cruelty. I almost put one book down in a series because of it but chose to persevere. I tend to like any series that takes me to a place I would like to visit with a character with whom I would like to visit. I like books that bring me to antique shops, coffee shops, Alaska and Maine among many other locations. I find that the lesser quality of the writing is noticeable with some authors but if the characters are likeable enough I will stay with the author. I love one author who is not as interesting as some, but the main characters are comical, humble and so imperfect that I love each of the stories. I do get a little tired of the recurring pattern of the amateur sleuth who has two potential suitors and continues to string them along, but I can’t say I have discontinued a series because of it. Most themes are interesting to me whether or not I am interested in the hobby or profession but I have grown tired of one series that focuses too much on a character who is retired and who spends all his time fishing. I love the nautical theme but don’t care much for the fishing part. I love the quaint English village which is presented so very well by one of my favorite authors, Martha Grimes as well as by M. C. Beaton. I can better relate to the more mature characters, but am amazed that I can relate to and enjoy characters who are so much younger than I.
MJ says
Nancy, you bring up another subject that I was also thinking about. What if we really like the characters, but the author is no longer writing good stories? I’ve read all 25+ of one author’s series. The last two were VERY poorly written mysteries/stories. The book from last year was so convoluted and complex, I didn’t understand ‘what happened’ when I finished it!! This years’ ‘installment’ was equally bad, however not as complex. It’s like the author needed to finish the story, but had to find someone as the ‘killer’. The criminal was never even in the story until the last chapter and the reason(s) for committing the murders made no sense whatsoever. Even the main sleuth admitted she couldn’t come up with the rational as to why the deaths occurred (that indicates a lack of imagination/creativity on the author’s part). It even took me over a week to read it (I usually read a quick paced book in two days). I have found that often an author might write a ‘lousy’ book in a long series, but two of them in a row is one too many.
BUT, BUT, BUT I like the main characters. In this last book the author isolated just two of the main characters by setting the story in a distant location. Since there are several interesting/fun characters in this series, this made the story far less enjoyable. I finally decided I will no longer continue to read this series. Hopefully this author will decide that it (the series) has finally run out of steam! OR, that she has run out of imaginative/creative ideas for the stories.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
MJ, I give my favorite authors a few times to prove they can still deliver the goods. The first book I have to force myself to continue reading until the end, is a sign that the hill is going down. I then give them at least one more try. If I find myself putting off reading (finding other things to do than read)I force myself to continue reading, but if that second book seems just as bad as the first, I don’t usually finish it. It’s “*****YUCK” time for me, and I retire that author from my list of favorite authors. (I have to say, though, a lot of the times I drop an author only to see that other people continue to love that author.)
linda says
Sometimes I wonder if some of the poor writing is because of the deadline that some publishers give to writers? I have often said that most of my favorite writers just don’t write fast enough for me, I love their books so much. I am trying to give some of these writers the benfit of doubt here.
Just maybe there might be outside circumstances where a writer has to rush to get a book finished?
It seems to me that in a few “Murder, She Wrote” Tv episodes Jessica kept having her writing interrupted by outside influences. Just maybe this might happen in real life !!??
Danna - cozy mystery list says
You’re probably right, Linda, but I still drop the author.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Nancy, a problem I have with two potential suitors being strung along is, the two suitors would appear to be major losers to me. I’m assuming that they both know about each other, either that, or the sleuth with the two strung-along suitors is simply a phenomenal liar. If a friend of mine did that to two men, I’d probably question why I liked her as a friend. (Color me judgmental!)
Nancy says
Danna, I agree with you about the problem with the lying. I do like this character and she is not really lying to anyone but her failure to make a choice does not make her a very nice person. This is an author that I really like and it is disappointing that she feels the need to have this type of triangle move a story that is otherwise very good. She has carried this love triangle into a few of the books and I hope it gets resolved soon because it is gettting a little old.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Nancy, one of my friend’s dated two men, not telling either about each other. One of the men was what I would call a “bad boy” (although he was a middle-aged man) and the other was a really nice man. Of course, she preferred the “bad boy” but he refused to commit. I always thought it was terrible that she would continue to see the “bad boy” while stringing the other man along.
She maintained that she didn’t lie to either of them, but there was no way she was going to settle down with the nice man, and there was also no way the “bad boy” was going to settle down with her.
linda says
Danna, I absolutely hate it when the main sleuth supposedly has more than one, two or three suitors. Some sleuths have different girl/boy friend almost every other chapter, or it seems like it anyway. The writer makes this sleuth appear to be oversexed or just plain unbelieveable.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, maybe I was just not a very popular girl, but I don’t ever remember a time in my life when I had three suitors at one time. (And, hopefully, my boyfriends didn’t have two or three girlfriends at the same time they were dating me!)
linda says
When I was in my teens if a teenage girl had more than one boyfriend she was given a very unflattering name, not unlike the name that Sophia would give Dorothy in the “Golden Girls” from time to time.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I don’t know what Sophia would call Dorothy, but I certainly can remember what she called Blanche!
linda says
I could swear Sofia’s daughter’s name was Dorothy, but maybe it was Blanche. But Blanche does sound more like it. Must be having my own ” Golden Girl” moment. Wasn’t there a Dorothy?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, you’re right about Dorothy being Sofia’s daughter. I just remember what she used to call Blanche >>> usually right after Blanche finished dressing for a date.
linda says
And another thing, how many guys are going to stay with a woman who can’t decide which guy the woman really wants. I would think most red blood American men would think, “Hey there are plenty more where she comes from!!”
Danna - cozy mystery list says
I’m happily married, Linda, but trying to remember way back when I dated, I wouldn’t have stayed with some man who was constantly teeter-tottering between me and some other woman.
Regina says
As a senior retired reader, I find that I am concentrating more on mysteries that have “senior sleuths”. Also I enjoy books with teachers preferably higher ed as chief characters. I can take pets or leave them but I like Rita Mae Brown “Sneaky Pie” series. British police novels with a likeable leading detective twicks my appetite. Please no young heroine with romantic problems and employment dilemmas. If a travel mystery can detail information about other places, I am for it.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Regina, lucky for you, there are a whole lot of “senior sleuths” in our Cozy Mystery books today!
Kay says
Regina- I am with you there; I like learning new things and I like learning about unfamiliar places.
linda says
Regina, If you do like the “senior citizen” variety of reading then maybe Riley Adams’ series “A Memphis BBQ Mystery” series would be a good one for you to try. This has sure become a best favorite series for me! Just don’t read the series hungry!! The description of the menue will drive you to put the book down and go get some BBQ!!
Julia says
I think when it comes to themes I am probably just contrary by nature. I admit I do pick and choose my books somewhat on the basis of theme, but if the plot sounds intriguing or if the location or time period is removed from the everyday, I am usually willing to give the author at least a one-book chance to hook me. What I have trouble stomaching is the trending mentioned in so many of the other posts. I might like a book about an embroidery shop or a paranormal pussycat, but I resent it if I walk into a bookstore and I can’t find anything BUT those types of books just because some publishing houses have determined this is the latest and greatest trend in mysteries. I like variety; sometimes I’m in the mood for an historical mystery, sometimes I want a comic one, sometimes I want romantic suspense. What I really don’t want is for all my options in new books to be whittled down to the flavor of the month because a publisher thinks if one is good, ten is fabulous.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Julia, I SOOOO agree with you! I wonder if it’s the publishing houses that determine the themes WE want to read. So many times it seems like one author will come up with a great one-of-a-kind theme, and the next thing you know, there are all sorts of authors writing about that very same theme.
linda says
Going into a book store and having that store seeming to have that one topic of books on display everywhere to me is like going into a clothing store only being able to pick from a few clothing items of only a few styles. Either we buy what the new styles trends are or we either go naked or wear last years fashions whether we want to or not!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I guess I’ll spend more time reading Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie wearing fashions from ten years ago.
linda says
That’s what I will do Danna. I’ll just wear my out of date clothes. If I were to go naked most people would die laughing at me!!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I just stopped reading a Cozy Mystery by an author who wasn’t doing a bad job with the book, I just found myself wondering why I wasn’t reading a book by Charlotte MacLeod or Patricia Moyes instead. Too little reading time to waste it on an author who might be good, but who just doesn’t have a sleuth I want to spend any time with.
linda says
Julia, I tend to pick up books that have quilts as a theme mainly because of Earlene Fowler’s Benni Harper series. From reading this series I have gotten it into my head that any series that has quilting as a theme should be as good as this series is. I feel the same way with a few of the knitting series. This isn’t always how it comes to be though.
I have found some other very good series that have quilting as a theme but I have also found some very terrible books with knitting as a theme.
I suppose just because a person is a good knitter doesn’t neccesarliy make him/her a good writer.
Andie says
I am reading the last of the series by Lesley Cookman (Libby Sarjeant Murder Mysteries) and have been totally charmed by them.
The characters are believable and have plenty of quirks and faults so they seem more like real people than most characters found in mysteries. There are plenty of funny moments but these are not what I consider “comic” mysteries.
Another thing I like is that the two main characters do not usually put themselves in peril (something I object to in many mysteries), although there have been a couple of instances where they were briefly in a sticky situation but were swiftly rescued.
Almost every mystery has a twist at the end that I did not see coming in spite of a couple of hints that when I went back and checked, I should have caught but the hints were so skillfully woven into the dialog that I missed them.
The “psychic” bits are downplayed and in several of the stories have little to do with the main story but actually with peripheral stories that turn out to be interwoven with the main plot at the end.
If you like twisty plots, with a bunch of very likeable characters, I think you will enjoy these…
Liz says
I’ll chime in here…I find it cheesy when writers use someone else’s literary invention (Sherlock Holmes for example) or a real person as the sleuth. I just picked up one series entry new to me and was appalled at the poor writing. Then I read that the author’s agent suggested the MC! So the whole thing is a manufactured gimmick.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Liz, I’m not too crazy when authors continue another author’s books, either. If I want to read a Sherlock Holmes mystery, Sir Conan Doyle is the author I’ll read.
Julia says
Sometimes I really prefer the ‘spin-off’ better than the original. I am not a fan of Sherlock Holmes, for example (well, the books anyway – I love the BBC series!). But I really enjoyed reading Carole Nelson Douglas’ Irene Adler mysteries, and Laurie R King’s Mary Russell mysteries. And I don’t care for Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, but I like what Jill Paton Walsh has done with the characters.
I think sometimes authors get trapped by what they think the fans want, or what their publishers tell them the fans want, and they can’t explore unchartered territory with a character the way that a new author is able to with the same character.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Julia, this is a really interesting comment. I’ll have to think about this >>> I wouldn’t have thought authors who use popular characters other authors created would be able to actually surpass the authors who made the original characters so popular. As I said, this is an interesting idea!
Pam says
I am sooo excited just found your site. I adore everything you have written and can’t believe you love cross stitching and needlework murder mystery books and that a series has been written with this theme, I am amazed. Just ordered Monica Ferris’ book. I thought I was the only person who had to read a series in order too!! I wonder if any books are written with a theme of jigsaw puzzles I have found jigsaws with a murder theme. Thank you for this site I am from Cheshire in the uk so am wondering if any other Brits use this site. Love and kindness pam
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Welcome to the Cozy Mystery site, Pam. As you mentioned, I really enjoy cross stitching and needlework, which is why I now need reading glasses! (I’m sure all of that high-numbered Aida ruined my eyes. >>> Well, I’m almost sure!) I also do some very basic crocheting and knitting. As a matter of fact, I will be starting on an afghan for my daughter very soon. I finally amassed all of the yarn, now I just have to get myself in gear!
If there are any jigsaw puzzle mystery themed books, I’d love to hear about them! The closest I can think of would be the Sudoku and Cross Word Puzzle themes.
I think you’ll find there are many of us who absolutely insist on reading our series in chronological order. We’re all sort of obsessive/compulsive about that!
Vanda says
I would like to add a new author to your list. His name is Jeffery Allen. He has one book out now and another due in Sept. The title of his first book is Stay at Home Dead, it was a quick and fun read. His second book is titled Popped Off due some time in Sept.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Vanda, for telling us about Jeffery Allen’s Stay at Home Dead.
linda says
Danna, What would cause me to put a book down!! This is a very interesting topic. The first thing would be if the “f” word is used wwwaaayyyy too often in the first few pages. I don’t like it, I hate hearing people use the word. I do not want to read the word in a story over and over and over. Yes, more and more people, from the very young to the very old, are swearing like this. I know several people who cannot utter any kind of full sentence without using this word, and others, over and over. What gets me is when some of these people will correct their young children when these kids use that language. Where do these people think the kids learned this language was okay to use?? Enough of that!! I will and have put down books that have the “F” word as a theme.
Another thing, when reading a book with a theme running along side the mystery, I will put down the book if the so called mystery is second to the theme. Sometimes it is as if the writer is bragging about all he/she knows about the theme.
I do enjoy some little tidbits about the themes from time to time but I want a mystery in my mystery books.
As I have said many times before I don’t care at all for a step by step of the sexual encounters of any of the characters in my mysteries. What is so mysterious about sex?
I just this week finished reading two books written by Riley Adams. This writers’ books, A Memphis BBQ Mystery, are, of course set in Memphis, Tenneessee on Beale Street. Our main sleuth, Lulu, is a woman of the older variety, who natually runs a BBQ resturant. I want to grow up to be just like Lulu!!
Along with Lulu are such characters as her 2 sons, a daughter-in-law, a set of twin granddaughters, a group of ladies who are docents at Graceland as well as a group of 80 year old former Blues musicians and singers and other area residents.
The theme, BBQ, is mixed so well in the stories that I swear my mouth can actually taste the sauce. Elvis, the Blues and Memphis are truly well represented in these books. But the mystery is the main object of each of the 2 books I have read. In the first book I sort of figured out who our villian was early on. But the villian in the second book was a surprise to me because I thought by reading about this character in the first book, this character was going to be recurring in future books. I love it when the villian is a surprise to me!!
But , yes I have continued on reading books in series, even by some of my favorites in hopes they will get better. Then when the story doesn’t get better, I want to kick myself for spending any kind of time on badly written, or boring storylines.
I hope, I hope, I hope, there will be many more books for this series by this writer. This series is just exactly want I want from a Cozy Murder Mystery.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I agree about superfluous profanity. I mean, really? Is the author’s vocabulary so limited that he/she needs to use profanity to get his/her point across?
Your story about people who correct their little ones for using the very same words they use on a regular basis reminds me of one of my pet peeves: Parents who hit their children to get them to stop crying. When I see that in stores I simply cringe!!!
linda says
Danna, After I finished reading the John Grisham book that I mentioned earlier today I started to read a very popular book from a cat whodunnit series. I thought I would go ahead and try to read at least one book from this series to see if maybe I could learn to like it. But when the author had the cat cussing I gave up almost right away.
I have had several cats in my life time and I think sometimes one of my cats could have been a cusser. My son-in-law would tease my cats horribly. None of my cats ever cottoned to my son-in-law. None of my cats, though, ever gave any thought to much else but wanting a comfy place to sleep and some cat food in his/her bowl when it was supper time. Sometimes a good belly rub was needed.
But, hey that’s just me. I need to quit being so negative about what people read. It would be a very dull world if we all read the same thing all the time.
This particular author sells a lot of books from this series so someone must be reading the books. I like the books with animals as a side kick but I still just don’t want them telling me the story. Years ago I tried reading “Watership Down” and just couldn’t finish reading it.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I know exactly who the author is. At first, I read the books in that series. After a few of them though, I got tired of all the animal swearing. It was one thing to overcome the animals “talking” to each other, the other was quite another thing.
marion says
I’m with you, Linda. I think I’d find cursing animals rather ridiculous as well as offensive. I watched an animated version of ‘Watership Down’ a couple of times when I was in college. So gruesome…….. Never could face the book.
linda says
By the way Danna, I am going to go to a knitting class at the YW this fall. Hope I can do this craft. The series” books all make this craft seem so easy. We’ll see!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, your Ohio weather is certainly cold enough to make the knitting of afghans a necessity.
marion says
Linda, I hope you enjoy knitting. I make mufflers for my church’s ‘Share’ closet with just simple knitting and purl stitches. Nothing fancy. Good TV and ‘listening to old radio show and foreign language CDs’ work. You may feel all thumbs for a while but it will come together, I bet. A delightful book is ‘No Idle Hands: A Social History of Knitting.’ I’m pretty sure that is the title. It’s so much fun. I discovered it in college and my copy is one of my favorite comfort reads. If knitting doesn’t work out for you, try crocheting. Different process, and some prefer one to the other. I can do the rudimentaries of both knitting and crocheting and both have their advantages. I find the ‘Stitch and B****’series and Maggie Riggetti’s Knitting in Plain English and also her Crocheting in Plain English books to be the most helpful manuals I have come across. The ‘S and B’ knitting books are the most helpful books, if you can just get past the title. Apparently, the clubs are often called ‘S and B’ and there is no cursing in the text. I think maybe the author was trying to be ‘clever’in her selection of titles. If you have any trouble finding the books, let me know and I’ll double check the titles and authors. I knitted a little in high school and college and then quit until after my mother died. We had lived together for most of my life and I was horribly lonesome for her. The first winter was terrible with long, dark, evenings and too much time to think. Reading and watching TV did not do the trick and I didn’t have a computer yet. Well, I set out to re-teach myself to knit mostly from memory and with one book that wasn’t awfully good. I was just fiddling, not really knowing what I was doing. WOW, did it fill the purpose. I would start working and look up and like an HOUR had passed and I was covered with sweat from concentrating! I did learn to knit that way although it helped when I got some good manuals. After almost 9 years, I’m still at it. It didn’t fill the void completely and I still miss her a lot but it passed the time and that was half the battle. I have been getting counseling for about 18 months now and feel a lot better. I trust you will learn to knit a lot more easily and efficiently! I hope you will keep me posted. Good luck and lots of love. Marion
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Marion, your crocheting and knitting skills sound like they are comparable to mine. I don’t do anything fancy, but I enjoy doing both.
I’m sorry to hear about your mother, but it sounds like you are getting help with the pain. I know how awful some voids are. I’m glad your yarn-work helped you get through a very difficult time.
marion says
Danna, thank you for your sweet words. Support from you and other friends does help very much. Cross-stitch is my first love. I learned to do that when I was in college and have done it in varying degrees for more than 30 years now. I sometimes do plastic canvas needlepoint as well.
linda c says
Marion, I did finally buy a Singer sewing machine this past month. I didn’t get an expensive one mainly because I have a bad habit of going overboard whenever I try something new. I did join the YWCA a few months ago. This group offers a knitting class several times throughout the year. The next set of classes will be in January, just after the New Year.
I did have my carpal tunnel surgery and both of my hands still hurt some. But I am hoping that the more I use my hands the more they will heal.
As with the sewing machine and with learning to knit I want to be able to learn to make some of those crafts that I see other women, who seem to be just like me!! make and sell at craft shows. I don’t want to sell any, just make gifts for friends and family.
I want to be able to make an afghan and then I want to learn to make a quilt. Millions of people do this stuff all over the world. With enough patience maybe I can do this stuff too.
Anne says
There are a few authors, one particular, who use the word “grin” to convey any positive emotion. With the Kindle you can actually count how many times a word is used and in one small book the word “grin” came up 81 times. Doesn’t anyone just smile or look pleased? I picture a bunch of grinning people bumping around like zombies! If I even see the word now I break out in a sweat and throw the book across the room – or just delete if it’s on my kindle.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Anne, I must not read your grinning author. I am guessing that if I had read her/his books, I wouldn’t have been grinning, either.
Anne says
Fortunately the Janie Austin series I just started makes up for having to nix the grinning authors!!
marion says
As time goes on, I find that I seem more and more unpredictable about my reading tastes. If it makes sense, I am picky but also widely varying in my tastes. Sometimes what will irritate or depress me at one point will seem more appealing at another time. Depends on my mood at the time I suppose. One thing that does bug me is if a writer seems to have trouble getting to the point of what I consider the point of a mystery novel-the puzzle. I can enjoy many themes (depending on my mood and mental set at the time) but sometimes I come across an author or particular novel which seems to be bound and determined to be silly, or tragic, or hung up on some subject or point of view or………………. instead of the puzzle. I couldn’t tell you objectively at what point I cross the line but I know when it happens. Sometimes I change my mind generally or save an author or book for a particular occasion but often not. I’m afraid, for me, it has ruined many books or authors that ‘oooooooooooh I WANT to like this book or author but this ….. just drives me crazy’. Sometimes I seem to obsess about it but I TRY to tell myself to just let it go and stop wasting time when there are so many authors and novels to try put. You all can probably tell that I am rather emotional about my reading. Does this make sense?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Marion, as I get older, I become less patient with authors who don’t “deliver the goods” in a timely fashion. I hate to think how few authors I will follow in twenty or thirty years!
marion says
I’m with you on this one. This is when I’m glad I’m a fairly slow mystery reader-3-or 4 days if I’m really hooked, or 5 to 7 days more typically. Maybe I can hope for a steady stream of authors if I don’t go too fast! lol