Cozy Mystery Corner

[lyric39]

Lets start a cozy mystery corner where we can swap our favorite curl up on the couch reads.
I'll start with a few that I've just read, can't wait to see what you'll add.
Chapter and Hearse Lorna Barret
Busy Body M.C Beaton
Deadly Greeting (a Card making mystery) Elizabeth Bright
Fatally Frosted Jessica Beck
M.C.Beaton Death of a Celebrity

[teadonkey]

I am having so much trouble finding the second Hammish MacBeth book. Where do you find yours?

Also - I like Jennie Bentley's Do-It-Yourself series. The fourth book just came out, can't wait to read it.

[SeaBookGuy]

I'm listening to Bookplate Special, the second Lorna Barrett "Booktown" mystery, on audio at present. I had mixed feelings about the first one, and so far that continues. Wendy-the-Sheriff has to be (one of) the most horrible law enforcement characters I've run across - including Melvin Yoder in Tamar Myers' "Pennsylvania Dutch" series!

I've all-but-given-up-on Mary Daheim's "Bed & Breakfast" series, which I used to like a lot; they're set in my neighborhood!

Some other series that still hold my interest:

Alice Kimberly's "Haunted Bookshop" (R. I. shop owner and ghost of P.I. with romantic angle)

Emilie Richards' "Ministry is Murder" (wife of Unitarian minister in Ohio as sleuth)

Blaize Clement's "Pet Sitter" (former cop, now pet sitter, near Sarasota, Florida)

Aimee Thurlo's "Sister Agatha" (nun in New Mexico convent)

[phenomshel]

Oh y'all, don't even get me started! My nickname among some other friends is "Queen of Cozy Evilness" Evilness because I keep enabling their TBR piles!

I love Jennie Bentley's DIY series too.
Julie Hyzy's White House Chef series is wonderful, as is her new Manor House series.
Sheila Connolly's Orchard series is another favorite here.
Cleo Coyle's coffeehouse mysteries (she is also Alice Kimberly)
A relatively new series I've enjoyed is the Ski Diva mysteries by Wendy Clinch.
Mary Stanton's (aka Claudia Bishop) Beaufort & Co. series is also great.
Christy Evans' Georgiana Neverall is similar to Jennie Bentley's series I find, with a plumber instead of DIY.
Another newer one, Lila Dare, writes a series about a Southern Beauty Shop which I enjoy.
Elizabeth Lynn Casey's Southern Sewing series is a hoot!

And some classics:

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity series are wonderful.
I know some people are sick of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen series, because of the love triangle thing, but I still really enjoy them.
Monica Ferris's Needlework series, set in Minnesota is a long time favorite of mine.
And then there's all three Laura Childs series, ( but good luck finding them in ebook! )

Somewhere, buried in the Reading Recommendations thread, is my old(er) calibre catalog of cozies. I should probably do another one and post it; as I've added I don't even know how many authors since then.

[Darqref]

Have you updated your cozy excel file recently?

My biggest problem with your list is that I'm looking for stuff for my mom ... who uses audio books. Way freaking too many of the books on your list have never been made into audio books, and fewer are in our local library. Wah!

[Donnageddon]

How is "cozy mystery" defined. Is it just mysteries solved by ladies whilst drinking tea?

[phenomshel]

LOL, Donna;
The best definition I ever found is here: http://cozy-mystery.com/Definition-o...y-Mystery.html

[phenomshel]

Ah, here's the thread with the older list:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95564

[teadonkey]

As far as one that I couldn't finish, I had troube with the books about Aurora Teagarden. I couldn't even finish the first one, I'm sad to say. I am such a big time tea person, I wanted to like it so much. But I couldn't connect with the character!

I've never heard of Sister Agatha! I might have to look into that, it sounds interesting. Also, so does Haunted Bookshop.

Y'know I've been wanting to read Sheila Connoly's Orchard series, but I was never sure what to think! I'll look into it. Also, my library has the first coffeehouse mystery by Cleo Coyle - It's on my to-check-out list! And the Southern Sewing series is on my to-buy list!

As to what a cozy is - my theory is that a cozy mystery is anything that's a mystery but ISN'T a thriller, as well. For example, Agatha Christie mysteries are about murders, and the Hercule Poirot ones have a real detective, BUT they aren't necessarily thrillers? A lot of modern cozies have some kind of theme like a craft or hobby, but I wouldn't consider that in the definition.

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

LOL, Donna;
The best definition I ever found is here: http://cozy-mystery.com/Definition-o...y-Mystery.html

Thanks Shel! I've wondered what you women have been talking about.

[SeaBookGuy]

I might read the first Cleo Coyle, too, as it's so highly touted a series.

I had read Jill Churchill's "Jane Jeffry" series, but that went so far downhill as to be below sea level!

[lilac_jive]

I loved the Cleo Coyle series, I think I've read them all now. I also recently read "Fundraising the Dead" by Sheila Connoly, which is the first in her museum mysteries. Kate Carlisle has a great series about a bookbinder, a nice combo of murder mystery and a little bit of chick lit.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Thanks Shel! I've wondered what you women have been talking about.

No problem! Glad I could be of help.

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I might read the first Cleo Coyle, too, as it's so highly touted a series.

I had read Jill Churchill's "Jane Jeffry" series, but that went so far downhill as to be below sea level!

My mother loved the Jane Jeffry series. I read all of them until about the last five or six I think - they're ok but not my favorite. I'm sorry to hear they're not good anymore.

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

I loved the Cleo Coyle series, I think I've read them all now. I also recently read "Fundraising the Dead" by Sheila Connoly, which is the first in her museum mysteries. Kate Carlisle has a great series about a bookbinder, a nice combo of murder mystery and a little bit of chick lit.

Loved, loved, loved the Fundraising series, especially the "backstory" of it that someone here at MR told me, about the tie in between Sheila Connolly doing research for that book and Robert Wittman's "Priceless" .
Also adore the Kate Carlisle series.

If anyone's interested, Cleo Coyle headlines a blog called Mystery Lover's Kitchen. It's Cleo, Julie Hyzy, Sheila Connolly, Krista Davis, Wendy Lyn Watson, Riley Adams, M.J. Maffini, and Avery Aames. Plus assorted guests.

I haven't seen Krista, Wendy, Riley, or M.J. mentioned here, so I'll give a heads up on their series.

Krista writes the Domestic Diva series. I've only read the first one, The Diva Runs Out of Thyme, but I enjoyed it. They're about two ladies who have opposite domestic philosophies. One is Martha Stewart Living and the other one is , well, me. LOL.

Wendy Lyn Watson has a special place in my heart, because she lives in Texas, and her series is set there, too. She writes a series about an ice cream shop owner in Dalliance, Texas. Highly enjoyable and lots of "Texas flavor".

Rylie Adams has a brand new series out - it features Memphis, Tennessee and BBQ. Now how can you go wrong with that combination? The first book's title is Delicious and Suspicious.

M.J. Maffini, in addition to being a sweetheart of a person (She's on my Facebook and I belong to a Yahoo group with her), writes three series. No, I don't know how she keeps up. The most "active" of the series is her Charlotte Adams series, featuring a professional organizer. But she also writes the Camilla MacPhee series, about a lawyer who specializes in victims of violent crimes, and the Fiona Silk series about "A failed romance writer with no sex life" who lives in Quebec, Canada.

OH, and I guess it might help if I gave y'all the link: http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/

[SeaBookGuy]

I haven't mentioned the "Ghost Dusters" series by Wendy Roberts (there are three books), featuring a Seattle crime scene clean up company, whose owner often sees/hears/talks with the deceased (unless a suicide).

"What's that yukky puddle!"

"Ma'am ... that'd be you."

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I haven't mentioned the "Ghost Dusters" series by Wendy Roberts (there are three books), featuring a Seattle crime scene clean up company, whose owner often sees/hears/talks with the deceased (unless a suicide).

"What's that yukky puddle!"

"Ma'am ... that'd be you."

Oh, GOOD one.. I love this series, and on a related note, there's the Casey Daniels one about Pepper Martin, a tour guide for a cemetery who sees/talks to ghosts.