Here is the list of new releases for June 10 to June 16! I only have one release for this week, but it is a pretty big one!
Agatha Frost: Lemon Drizzle and Loathing (32nd in the Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV
Here is the list of new releases for June 10 to June 16! I only have one release for this week, but it is a pretty big one!
Agatha Frost: Lemon Drizzle and Loathing (32nd in the Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Series)
Here is the list of new releases for May 27 to June 9!
Lynn Cahoon: Olive You to Death (16th in the Tourist Trap Mysteries)
Eva Gates (aka Vicki Delany): The Stranger in the Library (11th in the Lighthouse Library Mysteries)
Jenn McKinlay (aka Josie Belle & Lucy Lawrence): Fondant Fumble (16th in the Cupcake Mysteries)
Jacqueline Winspear: The Comfort of Ghosts (18th in the Maisie Dobbs Mysteries)
May is almost over, so it’s time to discuss our favorite Cozies that we read this month!
If you read a Cozy mystery this month and want to recommend it to the rest of us, be sure to post it here! For this month, I read the first entry of Rita Mae Brown’s (and Sneaky Pie’s!) Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series. For the reasons I want to recommend it, be sure to check out the blog entry!
So, what have you been reading that you can recommend in April? Please be sure to tell us why you liked these Cozies so much. I know we’re all always on the lookout for more particularly good Cozy Mystery authors! (If you have a lot of Cozies you think are great, please post the ones you like the most at the top of the list.)
As always, please do not tell us about the Cozy Mysteries you did not like.
What really good Cozy Mystery did you read May 2024 that you want the rest of us to know about, and why did you enjoy it?
Bailee Abbott (aka Kathryn Long): Paint by Murder Mystery Series (first entry A Brush with Murder)
Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries Mystery Series
Rita Mae Brown (and Sneaky Pie): Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series
Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Mystery Series AND Hercule Poirot Mystery Series
Ellen Crosby: Sophie Medina Mystery Series
Peggy Ehrhart: Knit & Nibble Mystery Series
Lauren Elliott: Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery Series
Amanda Flower (aka Isabella Alan): Farm to Table Mystery Series
Martha Grimes: Richard Jury Mystery Series
Miranda James (aka Dean James, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Honor Hartman): Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series
Andrea Penrose: Lady Arianna Regency Mystery Series
Frank Anthony Polito: Domestic Partens in Crime (first entry Renovated to Death)
Mindy Quigley: Deep Dish Mystery Series (first entry Six Feet Deep Dish)
Linda Reilly: Grilled Cheese Mystery Series
Ashley Weaver: Electra McDonnell Mystery Series
I will list the authors and series that have been recommended, but I urge you to read the comments below so you can see the reasons other Cozy Mystery readers thought these were their best reads of the month.
♦To access more Cozy Mystery Books Recommendations, click on this link♦
P.S. I usually don’t comment on your recommendations since they speak for themselves.
Today I’ll be continuing my long-running series on the first book of popular Cozy Mystery series, most of which have been recommended by site visitors. Today, I’ll be revisiting one of the foundation series for modern Cozies, the Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series by Rita Mae Brown. As always, I will be specifically discussing the first book in the series – in this case, Wish You Were Here.
Sometimes, the books that I write about in this series are mostly or entirely new to me – I have read a blurb or two, or I might have read an entry in the series years ago and barely remember it beyond knowing that I own it still. Other times, these entries are returns to a series that I have read multiple entries to over a number of years – and that is the case this time.
It’s only natural that this series has been recommended many times over the years I have been running the site, as it is either the foundation of many modern Cozy trends or at least a relatively early example of them. It’s also a very long-running series – this first entry in the series came out in 1990, Rita Mae Brown is still putting these out on a mostly annual basis, with the most recent entry coming out earlier this year.
Ostensibly, the sleuth of this mystery is Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen, the post-mistress of small town Crozet, Virginia, not far from Charlottesville. Harry stumbles across a mystery when she notices a series of postcards, all of them of tombstones and cemeteries with “Wish you were here” computer printed as the only message.
However, Harry’s pets, Mrs. Murphy, her tiger cat, and Tee Tucker, her Welsh Corgi, steal both the scenes and the investigation more often than not. Though Harry isn’t able to communicate with animals, the two pets are quite conversing amongst themselves, and more than willing to take a proactive role in the investigation.
As is sometimes the case, Crozet, Virginia, is a very real place. I’m not sure how accurate Rita Mae Brown’s Crozet is, but it certainly seems like a very lovely and picturesque small southern town – well, except for the unusually high murder rate for such a small community, which I assume is a highly fictional detail!
I will say, for my more “clean” Cozy enthusiasts, there is some swearing, both from human and animal characters. This and a few references that would be considered politically incorrect today both strongly remind the reader that this was written in the ’90s. Neither element bothers me, but I know either could be an issue for some readers.
That said, I’m quite comfortable in suggesting Wish You Were Here as a foundation of modern Cozies, particularly in the “detective animal” subgenre – by all accounts a modern classic.
As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.