Cozy Mysteries discussion

Here we go, I've included some cozy mysteries which will be published only in digital format and some historical mysteries (excuse any mistake):

Murder for Christmas (Mordecai Tremaine #2)
Francis Duncan

Back to the Fajitas (Meera Patel #4) (ebook only)
Leena Clover

Fourth Victim (Writers Retreat Mystery #4)
Kathi Daley

A Secret in the Pumpkin Patch (Danger Cove Farmers' Market Mystery #3)
Gin Jones

The Secret, Book & Scone Society (Miracle Springs, North Carolina #1)
Ellery Adams

The Skeleton Paints a Picture (Family Skeleton Mystery #4)
Leigh Perry

Familiar Motives (Witch's Cat Mystery #3)
Delia James

Homicide for the Holiday (Viv and Charlie Mystery #2)
Cheryl Honigford

Secrets and Pies (A Callie's Kitchen Mystery #3)
Jenny Kales

Death on Tap (Sloan Krause Mystery Series #1)
Ellie Alexander

How the Finch Stole Christmas! (Meg Langslow Mystery #22)
Donna Andrews

The Witches’ Tree (Agatha Raisin Mystery #28)
M.C. Beaton

Crazy Like a Fox (Sister Jane Foxhunting Mystery #10)
Rita Mae Brown

Death of the Kona Man (Aloha Lagoon Mysteries #9)
Catherine Bruns

Murder on the Toy Town Express (Vintage Toyshop Mystery #2)
Barbara Early

Murder in an English Village (Beryl and Edwina Mystery #1) (Historical mystery)
Jessica Ellicott

Blackberry Burial (A Berry Basket Mystery #2)
Sharon Farrow

Ghost on the Case (Bailey Ruth #8)
Carolyn Hart

Fixing to Die (Southern Ladies Mystery #4)
Miranda James

Death, Taxes, and a Shotgun Wedding (Tara Holloway Mystery #12)
Diane Kelly

Slay Bells Ring (Caprice De Luca Mystery #7)
Karen Rose Smith

A Room With a Brew (Brewing Trouble Mystery #3)
Joyce Tremel

Nine Lessons (Josephine Tey Mystery #7) (Historical mystery)
Nicola Upson

Thread the Halls (Mainely Needlepoint #6)
Lea Wait

Best-Laid Plants (Potting Shed Mystery #6)
Marty Wingate

Gia and the Forgotten Island (Gia Santella #2)
Kristi Belcamino

Murder Over Mochas (Java Jive #5)
Caroline Fardig

Bones to Pick (Brie Hooker #1)
Linda Lovely

Deck the Halls With Fudge (Candy-Coated #5)
Nancy Coco

Death Comes to the Fair (Kurland St. Mary Mystery #4)
Catherine Lloyd

Cremains of the Day (A Tallie Graver Mystery #1)
Misty Simon

Ring in the Year With Murder (An Otter Lake Mystery #4)
Auralee Wallace

The Quiche and the Dead (Pie Town Mystery #1)
Kirsten Weiss

Death Overdue (A Haunted Library Mystery #1)
Allison Brook

A Hunt in Winter (Joe Swallow #3) (Historical mystery)
Conor Brady

Twelve Slays of Christmas (A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery #1)
Jacqueline Frost

Birthday Cake and Bodies (Peridale Cafe Mystery #9) (ebook only)
Agatha Frost

Murder at Midnight (Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery #7)
Kathi Daley

A Cajun Christmas Killing (Cajun Country Mystery #3)
Ellen Byron

Death in St. Petersburg (Lady Emily #12) (Historical mystery)
Tasha Alexander

Someone’s Mad at the Hatter (Missy DuBois Mystery #3)
Sandra Bretting

Mrs. Jeffries and the Three Wise Women (Mrs. Jeffries #36)
Emily Brightwell

Knit to Kill (Black Sheep Knitting Mystery #9)
Anne Canadeo

Gin and Panic (Discreet Retrieval Agency #3) (Historical mystery)
Maia Chance

16 Millimeters (A Maizie Albright Star Detective Mystery #2)
Larissa Reinhart

7 this month!

6 myself 😉

5 for me

Hi! Wanted to let you know that A CAJUN CHRISTMAS KILLING, the third book in my Cajun Country Mystery series, will also be published in October. Thanks!A Cajun Christmas Killing

I thought I had included it 😔

Some books were mising, sorry.

Right for mr. I miss some when I ended up in the hospital for a broken hip and leg. I am behind in my reviews as I am still recovering.
Betty Louise

My second Maizie Albright Star Detective mystery, 16 MILLIMETERS, releases October 17th, too! Thanks!

Thank you for this wonderful list, Marisa!

Ellery wrote: "Thank you for this wonderful list, Marisa!"

Glad to see you here and on the list. Another series? I am way behind on my reading.

Ellery wrote: "Thank you for this wonderful list, Marisa!"

I'm also glad to see you here. I love your books. I loved the Supper Club books and the Books by the Bay Mysteries, The Charmed Pie Shoppe series. Now it's time to get into your other series. Thank you for the hours and hours of pleasureable reading time and to looking forward to your next book.

Thanks, Friends. Yes, it has been crazy for all of us cozy writers who were merrily chugging along with our careers at Penguin Random House, only to find out that we were suddenly unwanted. I was one of the lucky ones because I saw the writing on the wall early on and jumped ship to Kensington with a new series in hopes of coaxing them into picking up my other series. Unfortunately, they only wanted the Book Retreat series. So for now, I have one old and one new (kind of reminds me of the song we used to sing in Girl Scouts - "make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold").

Cozy readers are the most supportive readers in the world, though, and they'll roll with the changes and continue to champion their favorite authors. I am so thankful for the readers I know. Cheers and happy reading!

I had a feeling Penguin and another publisher are, to put it nicely, difficult to authors.

I had an amazing editor there. Sadly, many editors were also fired. There was a major cleaning of house there, but I'm not sure why. I know many publishers are doing away with mass market. They're not making money for them (so they say). So put your authors in trade paperback, but don't get rid of them all. Cozy mysteries might not be on par with a Grisham or James Patterson novel when it comes to sales, but they form the bread and butter mid-list level sales that most companies live on. I don't get it. Guess that's why I'm an author and not a CEO. LOL!

Interesting reading your post, Ellery.

It's all about the mighty buck.

That is disappointing to hear Ellery. A lot of my favorite cozies over the years have been Penguin books. I am sad for you and all the other cozy authors that have been displaced by this unexpected change.

Thanks, Heidi. I am really pleased to say that many of my wonderfully talented writer friends have found new homes for their work with Kensington, St. Martin's, and Crooked Lane. I am hoping the rest with self-publish and continue to be successful. This has happened with our companies and other genres, and I may be biased, but I feel like most of the cozy writers will land on their feet because the readers will support them regardless of where they go. We really have the best, most loyal readers in the world!

Good to hear Ellery. I wish the best of luck to everyone!

Good to "see" you here, Ellery, and I echo many others in saying how much I've loved your books. The "house cleaning" at Penguin was truly a shame. Glad you've found another home and hope maybe they'll rethink picking up your other series.

Thanks so much, Melodie. I'll have to wait to get the rights back, but I can then self-publish those other series. Right now, I have my hands full with two series and the re-release and new installment in the Supper Club series. I promised readers they'd have a new one in 2018 and I have to make sure that happens. Happy reading, everyone and I hope you get as many mini challenge books off your list as possible!

Ellery, that is such good news. A new book in the Supper Club series. That was the first series of yours that I read and I just love it. The characters are great and they deal with a problem that a lot of us deal with at one time or another or most of our lives. Then throw in solving a murder and it's even better.

Thanks, Paula. I think I've been on every diet known to man - LOL! My most recent try was the raw-egg diet. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease since writing that first supper club and that's given me lots of fun new food issues (not!). But I've found that there are so many challenges I can put into a book that will strike a chord with others facing similar challenges. That's how reading unites us. It's why I love the reading community so much! Anyway, the amazingly talented Rosemary Stevens is coauthoring the supper club book with me as I don't have the time to write 3 books next year, and if you haven't tried her Beau Brummell series (Death on a Silver Tray is #1), you should. I fell in love with this series before I ever started writing the Supper Clubs.

Thank you for the recommendation, Ellery. I will give Rosemary's book a try. I was so overweight that I had surgery and I'm happy to say that I have kept the weight off for over 5 years now. It's not only the challenges of losing the weight over the many years but the meanness you have to put up with. The looks you get when you eat anything. I think thats why I love the series so much. I've been through it all and then some but I didn't have the support system.

Some people can be terribly quick to judge others. There's usually something wrong with them, though, not you! Congratulations on keeping the weight off. It's never easy. I'm a stress eater, myself, and it's not like this world isn't stressful. Have a wonderful October and thanks for chatting with me. (hugs)

Ellery,
What is the status of the Hope Street Church and Antiques & Collectibles series? I see co-authors on recent entries in each series. Are you involved in the plotting orvwriting. I read the first book in each series became a fan of both. Keep up the great writing. I know about auto-immune issues as a I have a severe case of psoriasis.

Great question, Gary. I approve the book bible, which includes an outline of the plot and character development and also have a say in the cover and title. For now, both of those series will continue as long as the authors are willing to work on them. The Supper Club series is also being rereleased in February with a new installment in March. My poor readers have been waiting for that one for about 6 years! Have a wonderful week and happy reading!

Ellery wrote: "Great question, Gary. I approve the book bible, which includes an outline of the plot and character development and also have a say in the cover and title. For now, both of those series will contin..."

Thanks for the reply. I need to fill in some holes in your series so I can get back to reading them.

6 years...not so bad...how long has it been since George RR Martin released book 5 of Song of Fire and Ice? Book 6 is still some time in the future...

I am still waiting for Martin's latest too. Not sure I like all the changed HBO came up with for his series, but I can see why they had to!

I used the read the Robert Jordan books and when he died before finishing them, it was terrible. That sounds so selfish and of course, I felt for his family, but I was so invested in those characters and worried that I wouldn't know how their story ended.

But at least the series was completed by the wonderous Brandon Sanderson. I read the first 3 books years ago and reread them in 2015. Finally read/finished book 4 last year. I am bogged down in book 5 at the moment.

I need to reread them in one go. I've forgotten far two many details, but it remains one of my favorite series. If you like Jordan, you'd like Tad Williams and his Dragonbone Chair series. Excellent.

Ellery wrote: "I need to reread them in one go. I've forgotten far two many details, but it remains one of my favorite series. If you like Jordan, you'd like Tad Williams and his Dragonbone Chair series. Excellent."

I recently picked up the first book in that series when it was on sale recently.
Lots of good fantasy...If you haven't read the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz, I highly recommend it. Best to read in publication order.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll add it to Mount TBR!

Ellery wrote: "I need to reread them in one go. I've forgotten far two many details, but it remains one of my favorite series. If you like Jordan, you'd like Tad Williams and his Dragonbone Chair series. Excellent."

I read the first Dragonbone Chair book for another group's quarterly read, and really liked it, even though it was quite long.
The Dragonbone Chair

Ellery wrote: "Great question, Gary. I approve the book bible, which includes an outline of the plot and character development and also have a say in the cover and title. For now, both of those series will contin..."

I have read the first three of the Hope Street Church series and really loved them!

Thank you, Beverly!