Cozy Mysteries: Plucky Heroine Moves Home and Finds Body

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

I was looking through the books on sale at Audible and I do not want books that:

• Keep me on the edge of my seat.
• Make me bite my nails.
• Are “unputdownable”.
• Are absolutely gripping.
• Are twisty thrillers keeping me guessing to the end.

Ugh. I don’t want reading fiction to be work. 

I second this 100%. The world has me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails and keeping me guessing to the end and it is exhausting. I read to relax. I want a book to feel like spending time with a good friend, sharing amusing stories of zany adventures. 

[sugarbaker design]

On 5/13/2022 at 6:15 PM, Mabinogia said:

I second this 100%. The world has me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails and keeping me guessing to the end and it is exhausting. I read to relax. I want a book to feel like spending time with a good friend, sharing amusing stories of zany adventures. 

Right!  I'm reading The Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delaney on my commute to and fro to work.  There's a murder, a bookstore (with the obligatory bookstore cat), a clever heroine, a kooky cast of characters and lots of Sherlockiana.  Just what the doctor (Watson!) ordered.

[Irlandesa]

On 5/13/2022 at 11:49 AM, BlackberryJam said:

I was looking through the books on sale at Audible and I do not want books that:

• Keep me on the edge of my seat.
• Make me bite my nails.
• Are “unputdownable”.
• Are absolutely gripping.
• Are twisty thrillers keeping me guessing to the end.

Ugh. I don’t want reading fiction to be work

As I get older, I have the hardest time getting to the point with books where I feel compelled to prioritize finishing it as opposed to watching a TV show.

So if I think a book can be described as "unputdownable" I can put up with anything else.

That said, I don't trust a bookseller trying to describe a book as "unputdownable."

[Ceindreadh]

39 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

As I get older, I have the hardest time getting to the point with books where I feel compelled to prioritize finishing it as opposed to watching a TV show.

So if I think a book can be described as "unputdownable" I can put up with anything else.

That said, I don't trust a bookseller trying to describe a book as "unputdownable."

Some books should not be put down, they should be hurled with great force. (misquote, I know)

[GaT]

16 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Right!  I'm reading The Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delaney on my commute to and fro to work.  There's a murder, a bookstore (with the obligatory bookstore cat), a clever heroine, a kooky cast of characters and lots of Sherlockiana.  Just what the doctor (Watson!) ordered.

I like this series, it's a fun read.

[blackwing]

I finished Batter Off Dead by Maddie Day, the latest in the Country Store mysteries set in a small town in Southern Indiana.  As always, this is a particularly fun series.  I like that this is the 10th book in the series but it still doesn't feel old.  

On 5/16/2022 at 8:01 AM, sugarbaker design said:

Right!  I'm reading The Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delaney on my commute to and fro to work.  There's a murder, a bookstore (with the obligatory bookstore cat), a clever heroine, a kooky cast of characters and lots of Sherlockiana.  Just what the doctor (Watson!) ordered.

This is a great series.  I highly recommend anything by Vicki Delany.  I particularly like her Klondike series, set during the Gold Rush in Alaska, and her Year Round Christmas series.  The Klondike series is long concluded, and it looks like she might be done with the Christmas one, there hasn't been one for several years.

In addition to her Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries, she has two newer series that she seems to be focusing on right now.  One is the Tea by the Sea series, a woman moves to Cape Cod and runs a tea room.  The other the Catskill Summer Resort series, which is set in the Catskills in the 50s.  

[GaT]

9 hours ago, blackwing said:

The other the Catskill Summer Resort series, which is set in the Catskills in the 50s.  

I really wanted to like this one, & I just didn't. I read the first one, & I was done. I don't know what it was that hit me the wrong way, but nope.

[blackwing]

On 5/18/2022 at 10:59 PM, GaT said:

I really wanted to like this one, & I just didn't. I read the first one, & I was done. I don't know what it was that hit me the wrong way, but nope.

I haven't read this one yet, because to me (and not knowing anything at all about the series other than what I read on the back cover, this could possibly be unfair to Delany) it just seems like she absolutely loves "Dirty Dancing" and might have been trying to capture that vibe.  I don't really have an interest in DD or the Catskills or a series set in the 50s, so it hasn't been on my "must read" list.

Edited May 25, 2022 by blackwing

[BlackberryJam]

On 5/18/2022 at 2:25 PM, blackwing said:

 The other the Catskill Summer Resort series, which is set in the Catskills in the 50s.  

I would have liked this if it had a Dirty Dancing feel, but it was so bland.

[BlackberryJam]

So...I listened to Murder with Fried Chicken and Waffles by A.L. Herbert. The narration was good, but the book felt...off. You know that off you feel when a male writer is writing female POV and it's how men think women think, which has little in common with how women actually think? Well, it's not only a man writing a female POV, but it's also a white man writing a Black woman POV. 

I didn't realize that until I went to goodreads to see what other people thought. 

AVOID THIS BOOK.

[Grrarrggh]

On 7/9/2022 at 10:49 PM, BlackberryJam said:

I didn't realize that until I went to goodreads to see what other people thought. 

I've gotten in the habit of reading all of goodreads 1 and 2 star reviews first. It really does help. 

[blackwing]

I finished a few cozies recently.

The Burning Pages by Paige Shelton.  The latest in the Scottish Bookshop mysteries which features an American living in Scotland and working in a bookshop.  I really like this series.  In the earlier books, the woman would hear voices in her head of famous authors quoting from their work, these voices would always come at an opportune time and help her think about the mystery or problem.  So it seemed like she had some kind of supernatural powers.  Later, it was clarified that the voices are just expressions of her subconscious.

Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer.  Jane Wunderley returns in book 2 of this series set in the 1920s.  Jane is an American widow who was vacationing in Egypt with her aunt when she helped to solve a murder.  In book 2, she is now visiting her aunt at the house of her aunt's baby daddy in England, when a murder occurs.

Danger on the Atlantic by Erica Ruth Neubauer.  In book 3, Jane is travelling on an ocean liner from England to New York and is assisting in an investigation to uncover a German spy.  The early cruise ship setting is very appealing!

Murder is No Picnic by Amy Pershing.  This is the third book in a series about a woman who lives in Cape Cod and is some kind of online food critic.  

Castle Deadly, Castle Deep by Veronica Bond.  The main character is an actress who has taken a job at a castle located in the western suburbs of Chicago.  The castle conducts murder mystery dinner shows, when someone actually gets murdered.  This is the second book in the series and it is incredibly fun and original.  So many cozies seem very interchangeable, but the character's profession and the setting in a castle (complete with spooky cellars and secret passages!) makes this one stand out.

[sugarbaker design]

On 7/15/2022 at 5:34 PM, Grrarrggh said:

I've gotten in the habit of reading all of goodreads 1 and 2 star reviews first. It really does help. 

An honest question:  How can you trust the opinions of people you don't know?  I've been a reader of this thread for years, and only consider the opinions of a few (the posters who share the same favorite authors) and disregard the majority (the posters who enjoy authors I can't abide).

[Grrarrggh]

1 hour ago, sugarbaker design said:

An honest question:  How can you trust the opinions of people you don't know?  I've been a reader of this thread for years, and only consider the opinions of a few (the posters who share the same favorite authors) and disregard the majority (the posters who enjoy authors I can't abide).

With Goodreads I started reading reviews of books that I either absolutely adore or can't stand and whenever I found another person who agreed with me at least 85% of the time I'd 'friend' them so their reviews always come up at the top (if they accepted the request which they often do). It's turned out in the years since that if they like or don't like a book I'll often feel the same. I also don't depend on what authors people like, as there are so few whose entire oeuvre I either love or hate. Ones that I love occasionally turn out a turd and ones I hate will pull a miracle from who knows where. Next I'll actually read a number of the top reviews for those who hated it and those who loved it. Often I can quickly tell that the reviewer is either complaining about something that I know rarely bothers me, such as the story is told from multiple character POVs or there's not enough action and vice versa. Last, but definitely not least, if I'm not sure I get the book at the library. No harm no foul, no wasted money. Though it can be hard to wait since I've become an audiobook addict. I'll be happy to be Goodreads friends if you want :)

[GaT]

On 7/15/2022 at 2:34 PM, Grrarrggh said:

I've gotten in the habit of reading all of goodreads 1 and 2 star reviews first. It really does help. 

That's what I do on Amazon, I just assume anything 5 star is a fake review.

[Irlandesa]

10 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

An honest question:  How can you trust the opinions of people you don't know?  I've been a reader of this thread for years, and only consider the opinions of a few (the posters who share the same favorite authors) and disregard the majority (the posters who enjoy authors I can't abide).

2 hours ago, GaT said:

That's what I do on Amazon, I just assume anything 5 star is a fake review.

I think with Goodreads it's hard as there's apparently pressure, especially among authors, to leave 5 star reviews.  It's kind of like customer service reps getting punished if they get anything less than a 5 start review.

But I think 1 star reviews are often just as problematic as the 5 star reviews.  It's pretty rare when a book is truly that awful.  I find that a person leaving a 1 star review is often offended by some aspect of the book or about something the author did that has nothing to do with the actual book.  I find the 2-4 star reviews eliminate the people who love everything the author has done, the genre or can't handle leaving anything less than 5 stars and it eliminates those who have petty complaints. 

[DearEvette]

Yeah it takes a little bit of time to curate your friends list on Goodreads, but it can lead to a lot of good book discoveries and you find some people who can write some really great reviews, regardless of the ratings.

One thing you can do, if a person has not made their profile private is to look at their basic stats  it tells how many reviews they've written (not just the ratings they've made) so for instance, I have 2158 ratings but have written 1711 reviews.  I tend to pay attention to people with a fairly high review (not just rating) count.  Also it gives the person's average rating.  So if someone has a really high or really low average rating, I tend to give their reviews less weight.  My average across the 2158 is a 3.60.

The other way to meet like minded folks on GR is that there are also discussion groups.  So if you like Cozy mysteries, you can find a group that does cozies.  A lot of the groups have monthly reads voted on by the membership, buddy reads, monthly challenges, one of my groups has a monthly read where the mod randomly selects a member and each person picks a book off that member's shelf and reads it and discusses it.

As far as 1-stars -- I admit I have a fair number of them.  But, I also tend to do a fairly comprehensive review of my 1-stars -- almost as if I need people to really understand why I hated it so much.  LOL.

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, DearEvette said:

As far as 1-stars -- I admit I have a fair number of them.  But, I also tend to do a fairly comprehensive review of my 1-stars -- almost as if I need people to really understand why I hated it so much.  LOL.

Right.  I don't totally discount 1s or 5s but I think both of those ratings have a higher percentage of issues overall than perhaps the middle ratings.

[sugarbaker design]

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder, a cozy by Valerie Burns, got an excellent review in this Sunday's NY Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/books/review/new-crime-fiction.html

Edited August 28, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[BlackberryJam]

On 8/25/2022 at 9:02 AM, sugarbaker design said:

An honest question:  How can you trust the opinions of people you don't know?  I've been a reader of this thread for years, and only consider the opinions of a few (the posters who share the same favorite authors) and disregard the majority (the posters who enjoy authors I can't abide).

For me, it’s not a matter of trusting someone’s opinions as being open to what different people have to say and willing to give things a shot.

I don’t expect every single book I read to be Fitzgerald quality, but if I read a review and it seems genuine and points out things I like, I’m going to give that book a shot. If I read a detailed negative review and I find those same things annoying or offensive, I’m going to not give that book a shot.

Reviews are like window shopping. They get me in the door. Doesn’t mean I’m going to want the final product.

Not sure these are cozy, but I’ve been listening to the Widow’s Island mysteries by Kendra Elliot. Kindle Unlimited Listen and Read for Free, and they are about that quality. About 3 hours each, which means I don’t have to invest too deeply.

Does anyone read the Miss Fortune mysteries by Jana DeLeon? CIA operative hiding in a small Louisiana town and she connects with two senior citizen women. It gets a bit madcap, but they were fun for the…first…6? Books. I’ve stopped reading them and wonder if they’ve improved.

Anyone know if there will be more Flavia DeLuce books? I really enjoyed those. 

[Jalyn]

As of January of 2019, he has finished the 10 book deal with The Golden Tresses of the Dead and does not know that he will create more. The author is over 80 years old, so I would think it becomes less and less likely over the years.

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2019/01/25/to-alan-bradley-flavia-is-very-much-real.html

[sugarbaker design]

Over the weekend I stopped at my local library, itching for a cozy after reading a particularly hefty, rather brutal historical mystery.  Checked out the mystery section, I could barely find a cozy.  When I was checking out my non-cozy (a William Monk novel by Anne Perry) I asked the librarian about the lack of cozies.  She plainly told me "Oh, they're in the paperback section".  To which, I, a patron of this branch for over 25 years, responded "There's a paperback section???"  In my defense, it is in a separate room, separated from the rest of the library.  The paperback section held a treasure trove of cozies.  Best thing was cozies are so easy to find, just look for a colorful spine.  Many authors I never heard of, some authors sounded familiar.  I checked out this thread for suggestions, and picked up Clammed Up by Barbara Ross and The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton.  Starting with Clammed Up, looking forward to it.

Edited September 22, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[flaviafan]

You will love Barbara Ross...  

[blackwing]

7 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Many authors I never heard of, some authors sounded familiar.  I checked out this thread for suggestions, and picked up Clammed Up by Barbara Ross and The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton.  Starting with Clammed Up, looking forward to it.

5 hours ago, flaviafan said:

You will love Barbara Ross...  

I've thought about reading this series, I love clams and the idea of a series set in Maine and featuring clams sounds great!  I'm hungry now.

Finished two cozies recently.

Murder Spills the Tea by Vicki Delany.  This is the third book in a series about a tea shop owner in Cape Cod.  Her grandmother runs the bed and breakfast next door.  In this entry, her restaurant has been selected to participate in a reality cooking show competition to find the best bakers in America.  There's some jerk personalities involved.  One guy is clearly supposed to be a stand-in for Gordon Ramsey.  There's jealousy from the competition, and then someone dies.  This series is a lot of fun, I'm intrigued now by the idea of a Darjeeling-poached chicken salad sandwich.

A Killing in Costumes by Zac Bissonette.  First in a series.  The protagonists are a divorced couple.  They were both huge soap opera stars twenty years ago and married to each other.  Then both of them determined that they were each gay, came out publicly, got divorced, and their careers tanked.  He went to Vegas to play in a lounge act.  She became a financial advisor.  Now they have come back to Palm Springs and run a shop that sells Hollywood memorabilia.  They are competing with some other company to acquire the costume and movie props and memorabilia collection owned by a 90 year old former Hollywood star.  A murder occurs.

I was disappointed with this one, the book jacket makes it sound a lot more fun and interesting than it really is.  I think part of my issue is my skepticism that people are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a telephone that featured in an episode of "Murder She Wrote" that marked the first TV appearance of a young Brad Pitt as Bar Patron #2 (not a real example, but stuff like this is mentioned constantly).

There's a lot of name dropping of real-life stars and movies and TV shows in this book.  The mystery itself wasn't that interesting.  The main characters aren't compelling.  The woman spends most of the book mourning her dead wife.  The man spends most of the book flirting with the first gay police detective in Palm Springs.

This is the rare cozy where I read the first book and decide that I have zero interest in reading the next one.

[sugarbaker design]

14 hours ago, blackwing said:

This is the rare cozy where I read the first book and decide that I have zero interest in reading the next one.

The author was interviewed on Alexia Gordon's The Cozy Corner.  He admitted he wasn't a fan of mysteries, nevermind cozies.  His publisher recommended he re-work his original manuscript into a cozy.  He seemed more like an opportunist than a cozy writer.

[BlackberryJam]

Well, I’m taking that one off my list. 

Just listened to The Art Whisperer by Charlotte Elkins. It’s fine. Third in the series. Audible Plus catalog FTW!

I’ve listed to a lot of the Fethering Mysteries by Simon Brett. I feel like he cuts and pastes paragraphs from old books into new ones, but they are nice. I enjoy Carole and Jude.

Have I mentioned the Cherringham Mysteries by Michael Costello? They are about 2.5 hours each and read by Neil Dudgeon.

I’ve been spending a LOT of time driving lately, or doing things around the house and having an audiobook on is nice, but I want them not to be high tension.

Edited September 24, 2022 by BlackberryJam

[sugarbaker design]

On 9/24/2022 at 4:02 PM, BlackberryJam said:

I've listed to a lot of the Fethering Mysteries by Simon Brett. I feel like he cuts and pastes paragraphs from old books into new ones, but they are nice. I enjoy Carole and Jude.

Brett has 5 series with over 60 novels, copying and pasting is bound to happen.  I'm a fan of Brett's, there's always a dash of cynicism in his cozys.  I've read the Mrs. Pargeters and I'm halfway thru the Charles Paris books.  After Charles comes the Fetherings.

[blackwing]

On 9/23/2022 at 7:57 AM, sugarbaker design said:

The author was interviewed on Alexia Gordon's The Cozy Corner.  He admitted he wasn't a fan of mysteries, nevermind cozies.  His publisher recommended he re-work his original manuscript into a cozy.  He seemed more like an opportunist than a cozy writer.

Makes perfect sense.  To me, the whole point of the book seemed to be for him to gush about movie memorabilia.  He clearly loves the subject and wanted to write about it.  And along the way it did feel like he was forced to build some semblance of story around it.  How can you write a mystery book and not even like mysteries?

[sugarbaker design]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a cozy, but I did just finish Marple:  Twelve New Mysteries, an anthology of Miss Marple stories written by contemporary female writers.  I'm a big fan of Miss Marple, whether she appears in a novel or a short story, so I picked this one up with cautious optimism.  Most of the writers have captured the essence of Miss Marple and are largely faithful to the original, with references to previous novels and short stories, some even employing familiar characters such as Raymond West, Dolly Bantry and Sir Henry Clithering.  I particularly enjoyed the stories of Lucy Foley, Val McDermid, Natalie Haynes, Kate Mosse, Leigh Bardugo and Naomi Alderman.  They managed to capture the quiet intelligence of JM, while providing a wholly satisfying mystery.  I also enjoyed stories by Dreda Say Mitchell and Karen McManus, but in both their Miss Marple stories, the divine Miss M. took a backseat to another aspiring detective.  I felt these two writers were looking at an opportunity for a mystery series of their own rather than an homage to Miss Marple.  Among the awful were stories by Alyssa Cole, Ruth Ware, Elly Griffiths and Jean Kwok.  The less said the better.

I also read Clammed Up by Barbara Ross, a cozy set on an island in Maine.  The first three quarters of this novel was so good, it had all of my favorite ingredients for a cozy:  clever amateur detective, a fast-paced plot, a sense of humor and plenty of suspects.  It did, however, devolve into a predictable mess which included a reasonably smart heroine going into an abandoned house, where there had been a gruesome murder, located on an island with no cell service, during a storm with no weapons.  Why?  Just on the strength of the first three quarters of this book, I will give the second book in the series a chance.

[blackwing]

On 10/5/2022 at 9:59 AM, sugarbaker design said:

I also read Clammed Up by Barbara Ross, a cozy set on an island in Maine.  The first three quarters of this novel was so good, it had all of my favorite ingredients for a cozy:  clever amateur detective, a fast-paced plot, a sense of humor and plenty of suspects.  It did, however, devolve into a predictable mess which included a reasonably smart heroine going into an abandoned house, where there had been a gruesome murder, located on an island with no cell service, during a storm with no weapons.  Why?  Just on the strength of the first three quarters of this book, I will give the second book in the series a chance.

Clammed Up is on my "waiting to be read" list, good to hear more good things about it.

I finished the latest in Daryl Wood Gerber's long running Cookbook Nook Mysteries, Simmering with Resentment.  I think this is book #11.  The main character finally is getting married.  Along the way, she is trying to solve a bombing at her fiance's restaurant and a murder.  As usual, this series delivers.  I like the characters.  However, the ending was very similar to many other cozies where the plucky heroine finds herself alone with the killer.  This time, it's because she didn't lock the door.  You'd think that after 10 or so (?) times of finding herself alone with the killer (always with about 20 pages to go in the book!) that she would start carrying pepper spray everywhere!

[Snow Apple]

Has anyone read Death by Bubble Tea by Jennifer Chow? I'm only on the first chapter and it seems to have a lot of unnecessary details. Like too many words just to say she's picking up her paycheck. I'm going to give it a few more chapters and hope it improves.

[blackwing]

6 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Has anyone read Death by Bubble Tea by Jennifer Chow? I'm only on the first chapter and it seems to have a lot of unnecessary details. Like too many words just to say she's picking up her paycheck. I'm going to give it a few more chapters and hope it improves.

Yes!  I just finished it and was coming here to post about it.  I really enjoyed it, give it a chance.  I liked her descriptions of people as dim sum.  I actually appreciated that she used the English transcriptions of Cantonese words and phrases throughout her book, and I liked that the character distinguishes her food from a competing stand's Taiwanese food.

If there is a failing, it's that I think some of the suspects don't have much of a distinguishable personality.  All of the roommates and the victim's sister were kind of interchangeable to me.

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

Yes!  I just finished it and was coming here to post about it.  I really enjoyed it, give it a chance.  I liked her descriptions of people as dim sum.  I actually appreciated that she used the English transcriptions of Cantonese words and phrases throughout her book, and I liked that the character distinguishes her food from a competing stand's Taiwanese food.

If there is a failing, it's that I think some of the suspects don't have much of a distinguishable personality.  All of the roommates and the victim's sister were kind of interchangeable to me.

Good to hear. I'll continue. I really love descriptions of food especially food I'm familiar with.

[BlackberryJam]

Calypso, Corpses and Cooking by Raquel V. Reyes. I wanted to like it more than I did. I feel like with about 20 more sentences, the books could be so much better. There are recurring characters that are just cardboard cutouts, like the husband. The main character just decides she needs a "squad" to help her plan a gala, and everyone agrees and it all comes together. Ugh. Just too many characters without any of them being memorable. And the killer was obvious.

I want to encourage the writer because I like the main character, but really adding in a defining personality sentences sentences would help so much. Something to make them come off the page.

[blackwing]

I finished two books recently.

Murder on the Poet's Walk by Ellery Adams.  The latest in the Book Retreat series, featuring a woman who runs a resort which is literary-themed.  This time around, there is a gathering of poets who are competing in a contest sponsored by a greeting card company to win a writing contract to design greeting cards.  Bodies are discovered, clutching poems and posed like characters from poems.  This series is always fun, and this entry is no exception.  

Cheddar off Dead by Korina Moss.  This is the first in a new Cheese Shop series.  One of the very first cozy series I ever read was the Cheese Shop mysteries by Avery Aames (Daryl Wood Gerber).  I picked this book up because, well, cheese!  The woman in this series runs a cheese shop in Sonoma Valley.  There is an unsavory character is killed, the main character accused of the murder, a handsome detective, a friendly neighbor, a supporting cast of friends/employees, a punny title (which has probably been used several times before) etc.  All the tickmarks of a typical cozy.  Not much new here but it was still very enjoyable and I loved the talk of cheese.  There is already a second book in this series and I am looking forward to the further adventures.

[sugarbaker design]

21 hours ago, blackwing said:

Murder on the Poet's Walk by Ellery Adams.  The latest in the Book Retreat series, featuring a woman who runs a resort which is literary-themed.  This time around, there is a gathering of poets who are competing in a contest sponsored by a greeting card company to win a writing contract to design greeting cards.  Bodies are discovered, clutching poems and posed like characters from poems.  This series is always fun, and this entry is no exception.  

I just picked up a used copy of the first one in the series Murder in the Mystery Suite!

[blackwing]

On 10/5/2022 at 9:59 AM, sugarbaker design said:

I also read Clammed Up by Barbara Ross, a cozy set on an island in Maine.  The first three quarters of this novel was so good, it had all of my favorite ingredients for a cozy:  clever amateur detective, a fast-paced plot, a sense of humor and plenty of suspects.  It did, however, devolve into a predictable mess which included a reasonably smart heroine going into an abandoned house, where there had been a gruesome murder, located on an island with no cell service, during a storm with no weapons.  Why?  Just on the strength of the first three quarters of this book, I will give the second book in the series a chance.

I forgot to list Clammed Up in my previous post.   I really enjoyed it... the Maine setting, the descriptions of the clambake, my mouth was watering just thinking about it.  I want to eat that clam chowder. 

As you mentioned, the heroine suffered from the same disease that 95% of cozy heroines suffer from.  Cozyitis - a sudden onset of loss of reason, despite having the brainpower to solve a murder that the official law enforcement figure hasn't been able to solve.  Symptoms are wandering into an abandoned or isolated location alone, without telling anyone (including said law enforcement figure).  Often accompanied by the failure to remember to bring cell phone or flashlight.  Most often occurs when only 20 pages are left in the book.  Chances of suffering increase exponentially when wearing inappropriate footwear, especially high heels.

Will definitely continue the series, curious to see how things develop with the business.

Has anyone ever tried making any of the recipes found at the back of these books?  I always xerox the ones that sound tasty but then have never ever made any of them.  Too lazy.

[blackwing]

I finished Boiled Over, the second book in the Maine Clambake series by Barbara Ross.  Good story, same enjoyable setting.  But too much time spent on the main character's love life.  Usually in cozies we find the heroine trying to decide between "Hunky Cop" or "Childhood Friend who was always Just a Friend, until possibly now".  But here, she is fully with the guy she ended up with at the end of the last book, and has been for months.  And yet, still, pages and pages of her fretting over whether she is happy, or really happy, or making a bad decision, or unable to tell him how she really feels.  Way way way too much time spent on her feelings.

I really hope this doesn't keep dragging on throughout the series, because it was truly irritating.

[thosme]

I like Rhys Bowen.  She had written quite a few historical series.  Because I mainly buy the less expensive books to read on my Kindle I haven't read her Constable Evans mysteries because they never seem to be discounted but I started with Her Royal Spyness series which about a young woman who is 34th in line for the throne.  It takes place when David is the heir to the throne.  I also read her Mary Murphy books and many of her stand-alones.  I loved In Fairleigh Field set during WWII.  A new to me series I started is by Alice Castle (Beth Haldane mystery.)  One of the things about the book that appeals to me is her use of British words that I  look up although usually can tell their meaning through the context.

[thosme]

Oh I forgot.  There is an internet site named "Stop you're killing me" that has a lot of information about different types of mysteries, what new books are being published, comparable authors and other information.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, thosme said:

Oh I forgot.  There is an internet site named "Stop you're killing me" that has a lot of information about different types of mysteries, what new books are being published, comparable authors and other information.

I get their newsletter all the time.

[blackwing]

3 hours ago, thosme said:

Oh I forgot.  There is an internet site named "Stop you're killing me" that has a lot of information about different types of mysteries, what new books are being published, comparable authors and other information.

Thanks, I'll check this out.  For cozy specific, I have been using the Cozy Mystery Blog.  https://cozy-mystery.com/blog/  It seems to be run by a sole woman so sometimes it doesn't include everything, she seems to rely on input and feedback from readers.

[Mittengirl]

Are there any modern (set in the current day-ish) cozy mysteries with a male protagonist?

[sugarbaker design]

17 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Are there any modern (set in the current day-ish) cozy mysteries with a male protagonist?

I'm only aware of one cozy series with a male protagonist.  One of Simon Brett's many series is the one featuring Charles Paris, an alcoholic actor who always finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation, it might be too cynical and downbeat to be considered a cozy, but I enjoy them.  

[DearEvette]

Off the top of my head I can only think of three:

- David Handler's Berger & Mitry series (recommend, I love Mitch and Des)

- G.M. Maillet's Max Tudor series

- Peter Mayle's Sam Levitt series  (do not recommend the mystery is very thin)

[blackwing]

17 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Are there any modern (set in the current day-ish) cozy mysteries with a male protagonist?

I am always on the lookout for more cozies with male protagonists!

There was a three book series called the Stay at Home Dad series by Jeffrey Allen.  This series was among the first cozy series I ever read.  These were hilarious, I wish he had written more.  I believe he has some other series featuring male protagonists but haven't checked them out.

Jeffrey Cohen (also known as EJ Copperman) had a three book series called the Double Feature mysteries about a guy who owned a movie theater.  The first book is called "Some Like it Hot Buttered".  These are also very funny.  And he does have a few other series with male protagonists.

I quite enjoyed The Gourmet Detective series by Peter King.  There are eight books in this series, it features a chef who turned into something of a food detective.  His clients ask him to do things like find a rare ingredient, or deduce the secret recipe of a rival restaurant.  Each book features a different kind of cuisine, and the food descriptions are great.

I'm currently reading the second book in the Jake Cantrell mysteries by Robert Mrazek.  He's a security guard at a small college in upstate New York.  The first book is called "Dead Man's Bridge".

[Mittengirl]

On 12/30/2022 at 1:26 PM, blackwing said:

I am always on the lookout for more cozies with male protagonists!

There was a three book series called the Stay at Home Dad series by Jeffrey Allen.  This series was among the first cozy series I ever read.  These were hilarious, I wish he had written more.  I believe he has some other series featuring male protagonists but haven't checked them out.

Jeffrey Cohen (also known as EJ Copperman) had a three book series called the Double Feature mysteries about a guy who owned a movie theater.  The first book is called "Some Like it Hot Buttered".  These are also very funny.  And he does have a few other series with male protagonists.

I quite enjoyed The Gourmet Detective series by Peter King.  There are eight books in this series, it features a chef who turned into something of a food detective.  His clients ask him to do things like find a rare ingredient, or deduce the secret recipe of a rival restaurant.  Each book features a different kind of cuisine, and the food descriptions are great.

I'm currently reading the second book in the Jake Cantrell mysteries by Robert Mrazek.  He's a security guard at a small college in upstate New York.  The first book is called "Dead Man's Bridge".

Thank you!  I was able to get the Jeffrey Allen series from my library’s Libby and Hoopla had the Gourmet Detective series.   That should keep me busy for a while.

[Melgaypet]

On 12/29/2022 at 5:17 PM, Mittengirl said:

Are there any modern (set in the current day-ish) cozy mysteries with a male protagonist?

I read a series set in the modern day with an English vicar named Tom Christmas as the protagonist. I'm blanking on the author, but the titles were all from "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Twelve Drummers Drumming, Eleven Pipers Piping, etc. I don't think the series got past Ten Lords A-Leaping, though. They were pleasant, and not as twee as the Christmas theme makes it sound. I especially remember the parts where the vicar's housekeeper would write hilarious letters to her mother about the goings-on.

[blackwing]

I finished Dead and Gondola, the first book in the Christie Bookshop mysteries.  Ellie Christie and her sister Meg run their family's bookstore in a small Colorado ski town.  

From Goodreads:

Quote

When a mysterious bookshop visitor dies under murderous circumstances, the Christie sisters and their cat Agatha call on all they’ve learned about solving mysteries from their favorite novelist in this new series debut.

Ellie Christie is thrilled to begin a new chapter. She’s recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their friendly bookshop cat, Agatha. Perched in a Swiss-style hamlet accessible by ski gondola and a twisty mountain road, the Book Chalet is a famed bibliophile destination known for its maze of shelves and relaxing reading lounge with cozy fireside seats and panoramic views. At least, until trouble blows in with a wintery whiteout. A man is found dead on the gondola, and a rockslide throws the town into lockdown—no one in, no one out.

He was a mysterious stranger who visited the bookshop. At the time, his only blunders were disrupting a book club and leaving behind a first-edition Agatha Christie novel, written under a pseudonym. However, once revealed, the man’s identity shocks the town. Many residents knew of him. Quite a few had reason to want him dead. Others hide secrets. The police gather suspects, but when they narrow in on the sisters’ close friends, the Christies have to act.

Although the only Agatha in their family tree is their cat, Ellie and Meg know a lot about mysteries, and they’re not about to let the situation snowball out of control. The Christie sisters must summon their inner Miss Marples and trek through a blizzard of clues before the killer turns the page to their final chapter.

I saw this book at B&N and was enticed by the simple but fun-looking cover, complete with a drawing of a mountain and gondola.  Seemed like a perfect winter read.

I'd say this series is off to a slow start.  With new series there is always the issue of trying to keep track of all of the characters, but in this case, I'd say not only were there too many characters, but not enough of them had a distinct personality. 

My biggest issue with the book is that I don't think the author did enough to keep me interested.  The ambience of the town and the little tidbits about Agatha Christie were interesting, but midway through the book I found myself a bit bored.  And it seemed like the author might have been bored as well, because with about 20 pages left, it's almost as if she threw a dart and whoever it landed on would be the killer, and that's how she wrote the ending.  For me at least, the identity of the killer came completely out of left field.

Still, I would give book 2 in this series a chance, hopefully it will improve.

[abbyzenn]

Just discovered this thread (I've only looked at TV stuff).  Glad to see someone mentioned Rhys Bowen.  I love her Royal Spyness series - so much so I've bought the last couple of books because I knew it would take a long time to get them at the library.  I've read a couple of her Molly Murphy series which takes place in New York in early 1900s but I think they're just okay.  Tried reading one of her Constable Evans but couldn't finish it.

I also like the Krista Davis Domestic Diva series - they take place in Alexandria Va.  Easy reading and the author includes a bunch of recipes at the end of the book because the main character does alot of cooking.

Also recommend the Ellen Crosby Wine country mysteries which take place around Middleburg Va.  The main character owns her family winery.