Free/Bargain Cozy Mystery - September 2014

[pendragginp]

Well, I started reading this and I would agree with the comparison to Janet Evanovich who is hilarious, but a cozy mystery writer she is not. This wouldn't be my idea of a cozy mystery, but maybe I'm a dinosaur. But if everything fits into a 'cozy' category, why have the category at all? Just call everything 'mystery' and have everyone sort it out themselves.

And I have no wish to tell other people what to read; that's not my point. I just want a 'cozy' mystery I buy to be a traditional cozy - short on rough language, nudity, sex scenes, unnecessary gore. Like I said, maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I'm a gently saddened one. We're all different. <shrug>

[peachiekene]

Maybe it's me, but I feel like almost any female sleuth novel (as long as it's not super dark) gets thrown into the cozy category.

That said - I certainly don't object to someone reviewing a book and stating that they don't feel a book belongs in a certain category because it is something to consider when purchasing.
That particular review was a bit heavy handed though. There's nothing outright offensive about it, but at the same time I think it could have been phrased better.

I feel that reading the description would have actually helped that reviewer out.

In a world of sex, lies, and iPhones, it’s up to Lucy to find the killer…lest she find herself as the next Fabulous victim!!!

Idk, that particular sentence makes me think "not cozy", but probably light entertainment.

[ATDrake]

Free again from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Death of a Lovable Geek by Maria Hudgins, 2nd in her Dotsy Lamb Travel Mysteries starring a history teacher as the amateur sleuth, originally out from Five Star in 2008.

This is actually not filed under the Amazon cozy categories, but several customer reviews for this and others in the series refer to them as cozies, with one reviewer specifically likening this one to the "good harmless fun" of Agatha Christie stories. YMMV.

(And IIRC, forum moderator dreams read and liked either this or one of the other ones in this same series in the What are we reading? thread over in Reading Recommendations a couple of years back.)

The body of young Froggy Quale lies, covered by a blue tarp, in the pasture behind Castle Dunlaggan in the Scottish Highlands. Froggy was the on-site pollen and spore expert at the nearby archaeological dig and a graduate student who doesn't seem to have had an enemy in the world.

Dotsy Lamb, ancient and medieval history teacher from Virginia, and her friend Lettie are boarding at the castle while Dotsy works at the dig. They and the other guests are cared for in the ancient castle by its owners, William and Maisie Sinclair.

Suspicion for Froggy's murder falls on his roommate, Van Nguyen, a graduate student from America. Dotsy has become fond of both Froggy and Van and is sure Van can't be the killer. When the dig's director dies from poison mushrooms, Dotsy sees connections to the magic mushroom party at the dig and to ownership of castle lands.

This is a suspenseful brainteaser that pits the brains of an American history teacher against the dark secrets of a tragic family history.

[badgoodDeb]

I can vouch for the "nice and clean" and also "pretty good mystery". I liked it!

[kindlekitten]

[QUOTE=cromag;2925725]I checked the reviewer. Nearly all of her reviews were 1 star, with a single 2 star review and one 5 star review. I think I've known people

She probably has a lot of other issues inter acting with adult humans

[ATDrake]

Free from the author('s reprint author publishing collective) via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Magic Mirror: A Parisian Mystery by Michaela Thompson aka Mickey Friedman (SYKM), 1st in her Georgia Lee Maxwell series starring a journalist as the amateur sleuth, originally published by Penguin in 1988 under the Friedman name. This is listed under the cozy category on Amazon and I didn't spot anything saying obviously otherwise under the lower-star customer reviews. YMMV.

Florida transplant Georgia Lee Maxwell doesn't take to Paris at first, despite the fact that she's at least leaving a no-good man and a hated job as a society editor. Now she's a Paris correspondent, thank you very much—a dream come true for any journalist.

There's just a slight down side—she arrives in freezing rain, gets caught in a traffic jam caused by a bomb scare, and hates her apartment; but the real Bonjour is finding herself face down on a museum floor during a robbery. "Killed for a boring story!" she thinks. But as it happens, she isn't the one who dies. Three terrifying masked gunmen shoot the unfortunate security guard.

They could have stolen all the treasures of Monte Cristo's cave, so to speak, but it turns out they've made off with only a mirror. True, it once belonged to the French seer Nostradamus, but it may be the museum's least valuable item.

Does it have some prophetic ability? Does someone know something the gendarmes don't? Here's what Georgia Lee knows: If she finds out first, she's a journalistic hero. If she doesn't, she's dead.