Cozy Mysteries

Anyone have a favorite cozy mystery writer?

Tamar Myers is lots of goofy fun --- she does a PennDutch Inn series and another one that, I believe, centers around an antique dealer.

Dig a little deeper in the list of LT groups, and you'll find a cozy-specific group and message board with other suggestions, too.

Try Mary Jane Maffini. She has three series Camilla MacPhee, Fiona Silk and Charlotte Adams. Her web site is http://www.maryjanemaffini.ca/

Here is the cozy mystery group on LT in case you are interested.

I would have to say Agatha Christie is my favorite cozy writer, though I have also heard things about M.C. Beaton and Ngaio Marsh. I haven't read their books yet but I intend to! :D

Donna Andrews and her Meg Langslowe series is my favorite. So funny!

I love M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series. He's a cop in the Scottish highlands. Delightful series.

I love the Cleo Coyle Coffeehouse Mystery Series. She has a new one out Espresso Shot which I want to read soon.

I also love Laura Childs Tea Shop Mystery Series too. This one is set in Charleston, SC and it really makes you want to go visit her tea shop (too bad it's fictional).

Dick Francis and Dorothy Gilman are my favorites. Good research and likeable characters.

By far and away my favorite cozy series is Aunt Dimity by Nancy Atherton. The first one in particular is a modern-day fairy tale for grown-ups spanning the US and a little English village. I also enjoy the Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun (that explores what a reporter and two cats can do with suddenly inherited unlimited wealth) and the series set among the Boston Brahmin by Charlotte Macleod (starting with The Family Vault).

Mandy Dyer mysteries by Dolores Johnson are lots of fun...who'da thunk you could use a dry-cleaning shop as a setting? First one in the series is Taken to the Cleaners.

I love the Coffee Shop Mysteries by Cleo Coyle and the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs. Also Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors ever. I'm really looking forward to trying out the Hamish series by Beaton and the Aunt Dimity series by Atherton after reading this thread.

I just found Amanda Quick's Arcane Society mysteries and they are indeed very cosy fireside mysteries. There's humor as well as secrets of the mysterious society members interested in researching all things alchemical and psychical. The first book, Second Sight was quite gripping, with a good host of characters who harbor sufficient motives to be the murderer, and I was kept guessing till the end of the book

Try Louise Penny as well. Her series, set in the provence of Quebec features interesting characters
and good police work. Cozy's at their best!

I think I have to agree with cmbohn that the Meg Langslowe series by Donna Andrews is my favourite author. I liked the early Aunt Dimity books but I find the main character, whose name escapes me) is getting very tiresome. I also liked the early Max and Annie books by Carol Hart. I like ongoing series as the regular characters seem like old friends. I've also been reading some pet sitters books set in Florida that I enjoyed

I'm a big fan of Donna Andrews too .. I so enjoy her Meg Langslow series. That is one zany family

Hi,
I hope you won't think this a stupid request but does anyone have a nice, concise description of what constitutes a "cozy". I know this is bound to be subjective, but as much as I love Dick Francis, his books have never struck me in any way as cozy - I don't mean in any way to offend this poster but it does make me curious.
Thanks!

According to Mystery Ink which defines types of mysteries a Cozy is:

The lightest style of mystery, one without blood and gore, although they almost always involve a nice, "civilized" murder. The sleuth is nearly always a "reluctant" amateur. The protagonist will never be the criminal. Murders generally take place close to home.

Notable cozy writers include Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.

http://www.mysteryinkonline.com/2004/10/what_are_the_di.html

Agree, fun as Dick Francis' stories are they aren't cozy, frequently featuring gore. and while hte reluctant amateur often fits, and I don't think has ever been the criminal, there is quite a a bit of violence in most of them.

The Cozy Tag Page has a long list.

I like Janet Evanovich, james Patterson and right now I'm reading Stephen J. cannell's On The Grind. rather than try to explain it, here is the video book trailer http://www.onthegrindbook.com/

Most of the 'themed' mysteries are considered cozys. All the ones that the chef solves the mystery, or the antique shop owner or the lady the owns the country inn. You know the Murder, she wrote type of mystery.

Some authors of enjoyable cozy mysteries not previously mentioned:

Dianne Day and her Fremont Jones series
Rhys Bowen with three great series.
Charles Finch, two books that are great throw-backs to Agatha Christie September Society and Beautiful Blue Death

I am not a fan of the themed mysteries. I like cozies, but I find that some of the themed ones are just lame. Maybe that's just me, but I get tired of that really fast. I was in a cozy group over on Good Reads and left the group when it became an avenue for writers to plug their own mysteries which were all variations on a theme - baskets, candles, hair styling, etc.

Just my view! I like Donna Andrews, Dorothy Gilman, the Miss Seeton series, and oldies like Patricia Wentworth.

I also like the haunted bookshop series by Alice Kimberly (who is Cleo Coyle, who writes the coffee shop mysteries).

I enjoyed Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen cozies ... and would drool over her description of baked cookies. She included recipes for some of the baked goods mentioned in the stories. I tried out a few and they were pretty good.

Now I'm somewhat addicted to the Commissario Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon . It's odd that the touchstones aren't working for her name.

I've just found a new favorite: Ann Granger. She has a newer series, the Lizzie Martin mystery series, which has 2 books so far and I enjoyed them both! The Companion (no touchstone) and A Mortal Curiosity. Granger has written several others, though, that I intend to try out. :o)

I've been re-reading Simon Brett's Fethering mysteries - very easy/cosy - retired civil servant and her slightly unorthodox neighbour solve local crimes in a seaside town on English south coast.

Someone similar, though this time set in Edinburgh, is Joyce Holms with her Fizz and Buchanan novels and I'm pretty sure that the first in the series, Payment Deferred has just been published in the US.

Hazel Holt writes a cozy series about Shelia Malory and her sleuthing in an English village. The most recent (16th) title is Mrs. Malory and a Time to Die. Her books are published in paperback only which helps the pocketbook.

I like Simon Brett's Mrs. Pargeter series myself. And I just finished Withering Heights by Dorothy Cannell. I can't believe I didn't mention her earlier. I love her books! The first in the Ellie Haskell series is The Thin Woman.

>23 cmbohn:. cmbohn, I'm with you! The recent spate of dog-, cat-, chef-, innkeeper-, petsitter-, bookstore-themed cozies (where the detective is a single woman (usually in her mid-thirties) who has an interesting job, eccentric friends, a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the hot detective, and keeps poking her nose into murders that happen on her doorstep) has kind of kept me away from mysteries lately. But I did just pick up Three Bags Full which is of all things, a murder mystery where the sheep are the detectives. I know it sounds a bit theme-y, but it's really not, and the sheep are great.

I admit, that one had me intrigued as well.

>29 cmbohn: Mrs. Pargeter is wonderful!

>30 ninjapenguin:. ninjapenguin, I agree with you about the current formula fad, although I do read those I feel are well written, and those with a fair modicum of wit.

Thanks for suggesting Three Bags Full, it does sound intriguing. I doubt I'll find it in the local used book stores, but I will add it to my wish list!

One of the most original of the cozy "detectives" is Donna Andrew's Turing Hopper - an artificial intelligence personality in a huge database, who has been programmed so much as a human she believes she is becoming sentient. When she suspects foul play, she enlists the help of humans (her "Archie Goodwins", as she at one point muses). Parts of the books bring up aspects of Big Brother that are really scary, and parts seem sometimes a little far-fetched, but I really enjoyed the series. I like her quirky sense of humour, like making the office jerk lose at solitaire for thousands of games in a row.....

>33 eclecticitee:

Oh I remember Turing. The ongoing joke about the recipies was amusing.

In that vein (computers), I also enjoy Susan Holtzer's Anneke Haagen books, starting with Something to Kill For. They're a little outdated now, since she's a computer programmer and they were written in the late 90s - all the computer-specific stuff seems quite ancient now. But the stories themselves hold up well.

I was introduced to the series through The Wedding Game, which features an almost "virtual" murder - none of the suspects ever met the victim in person (just online), and the method was mail-bomb, do-able at a distance.

I've just discovered the Three Pines series by Louise Penny which are set in Quebec. They seem to be half cozy, half police procedural. They are set in a idyllic village outside Montreal and include residents who appear in all four books. The dead bodies bring back the homicide team, but it is set over several years - so it's not quite Midsummer Murders. The police have their own internal problems so it isn't quite a cozy but not entirely police procedural. I thoroughly enjoyed them and would recommend them all. The first is called Still life.

M.C Beaton's Agatha Raisin series is a must for anyone looking for a "fun" murder mystery :0) Start with The Quiche of Death

I absolutely second the enthusiasm by Cimorene for Louise Penny and her detective, Armand Gamache. I'm enjoying them greatly. And while each of them has been charming, I do think you get a much better sense of the characters and atmosphere if you begin with the first in the series - Still Life

Just working on my first Hamish McBeth by M.C. Beaton ... as usual, I'm reading out of order. This one is Death of A Scriptwriter but it is highly comfortable and enjoyable. Oh, boy...another series to start tracking down at my used bookhaunts!

Earlene Fowler's delightful 'Bennie Harper' series might be considered 'cozy' .'Bennie' is 'an ex-cowgirl, quilter, folk-art expert,
who's in charge of a folk-art museum. Her best friend owns a bookstore with a coffee shop downstairs, and her eventual husband is a police detective.
BTW the first two title in the series: "Fool's Puzzle" & "Irish Chain".

Agatha Christie without a doubt. I could spend a lifetime years reading her books then start all over again. I never remember who dunnit, how or why, but the journey is always a delight. Right now, I've got about five of them on my iPod. Whenever I don't know what I'm in the mood to listen to, Hercule Poroit or Miss Marple becomes comfort for for the ears, eyes, and mind.

Vivien, I have the same feeling. Maybe, for me, it's because Agatha Christie was my first grown-up mystery read and I have many fond memories of first discovering her books. And Ioften forget who-dunnit as well, or more often why-who-dunnit.

I like Charlotte McCloud a lot, althoug she can get rather fey. The Family Vault is the first of her Sarah Kelling mysteries and she had a couple of others as well.

I second two mentioned above: the Inspector Gamache Three Pines series by Louise Penny, and the Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman.

Lee Martin's Deb Ralston mysteries, set in Fort Worth, are a kind of fusion of cozy with police procedural, as the protagonist is a police detective with a rather complicated home life (kids, grandkids, pets, husband, church). They ought to appeal to fans of each subgenre. Highly recommended.

I love Charles Finch's two books and had fun with a couple Joan Hess books.

44 - Too bad she is writing any more.

I love a couple that have already been mentioned.

The Hamish MacBeth series by M. C. Beaton set in the Scottish Highlands with a quirky Constable set in his ways; and the Aunt Dimity series by Nancy Atherton set in good old England with just a bit of ghostly fun thrown in.

Also, I really like the Lara McClintock archaeological mysteries by Lyn Hamilton. Lara is a Canadian antiques dealer who gets involved in globe-trotting, page-turning mysteries that take her to places like Tuscany and Rome in The Etruscan Chimera or Bangkok in The Thai Amulet.

"Too Many Women" (and a lot of Rex Stoutʻs others) might qualify as a "cozy".

The murders are violent, but happen "off stage". (And the ostensible cause of death turns out to have been faked; a second murder is a near-cone of the first -- also violent, but faking a different kind of violence.

The narrator and protagonist, Archie, employee of Nero Wolfe, takes a job as a "personnel expert", in order to investigate the many possible employees and executives who are possible suspects. The narration never gets to far away from what everyday working life is like.

Takes place about 1946. Ethnically and in other ways very different from the NYC of today, and yet surprisingly recognizable, although a little condescending about the position of women in society.

I just finished Dyer Consequences, which I didn't realize was the 5th in the series. They are by Maggie Sefton and are set around a yarn shop in Colorado.

I would say that if you like most cozy mysteries, like the yarn/knitting idea, you might like these. I have to admit that I didn't enjoy it. I did finish it, but the characters were really flat. The yarn shop aspect didn't bug me, but I think if I had read the first 4 in the series and they were all revolving around that one spot that I would start to find them boring.

Not a hearty recommendation, but I realize that they would appeal to certain readers.

I have to admit, I'm also pretty amused by the uber-librarian in the Miss Zukas mysteries by Jo Dereske. She is super-organized, super-knowledgeable, and is completely the stereotype. But in a funny way.

Speaking as a retired cataloguer, Miss Zukas shows us all up as incompetent and useless specimens of the profession! I'd rather be considered as more like the librarian in the Smirnoff adverts of many years ago - even though I have been known to keep a pencil stashed behind my ear in the days when I had long hair and coiled up, and my glasses half way down my nose.

hi, if you like those you'II love John Connolly, and I'm not just saying that cause he's a fellow Irish :)
Cath

>51 cimorene:

Oh, come on, I see Miss Zukas as a hilarious send-up of the stereotype. Akin to Nancy Pearl's librarian action figure. I love her. And she's so exaggerated no one could possibly expect a real librarian to be like her.

Elaine Vietz- Dead End Job Mysteries - Lots of fun!

>53 timepiece:
Sorry - English irony. Didn't intend to be taken seriously. Of course Miss Zukas is a send up.

>55 cimorene:

Yeah, once I re-read your comment I got it, but I didn't want to go back and edit my post.

The Miss Zukas mysteries Iʻve read: not the best or the worst ever (About a "B-"). I disagree with many of the comments

She is certainly not a character whom I would call unbelievable or "too good to be true" on the basis of my many decades of library employment.

I found her to be a very sad character, which is why I stopped reading the series.

I'm very fond of Charlaine Harris's Aurora Teagarden series (the first is Real Murders. Set in small town Georgia, they feature a tiny but feisty librarian (but they're not themed) and a large supporting cast of small town eccentrics.

Drat these touchstones anyway!

Any reviews/opinions on the Jade Del Cameron series? Have seen some on sale locally and wondered....

I've read the first one, Mark of the Lion, and was so impressed I went back and bought the next 4 in the series! Jade is a feisty heroine and the author does a really good job getting you into the location. I recommend them!

Thanks, dulcibelle! Have been hoarding spending money for vacation and intend to hit bookstores...

Resurrecting this thread to chat about Digging Up Otis, which I believe has the funniest introductory chapters I've ever read in a cozy--a snort-out-loud play-by-play of trying to get a cat into a shower and a no-longer-18-year-old body into one's underwear.

Whether the mystery holds up to the comedy is yet to be seen, but we're off to a rip-roaring start.

Anyone else familiar with author T. Dawn Richard or this series?

I have just recently discovered the works of Ellery Adams. I am currently reading her Book Retreat Mysteries and absolutely adore them. If you haven't already read them I definitely recommend giving them a try. Talk about a good book to escape into.

On another not, my mom recommended that I start on a series by Anne George when I am finished. She used to read them all of the time and said she thinks I will love them.

I know that some of you are probably well aware of both of these authors but I just found out with the Ellery Adams series, that cozy mysteries are the ones I love. I would stumble across them before and loved them but just thought they were like other regular mystery books. Good to know better now:)

The Max Tudor series by G.M. Malliet. I really enjoy these books plus they come with a map and list of characters (all books should have these!).