
There are so many cozy mystery book authors who can be found in the "M" list. I discovered
Charlotte MacLeod (aka
Alisa Craig) years ago, and I have remained a loyal reader of hers through the years. I am an avid fan of seasonal books, and the first mystery in her Peter Shandy series "Rest You Merry" is a wonderful cozy
Christmas mystery book.
The Roderick Alleyn series written by the very famous
Ngaio Marsh is a classic cozy mystery series. If you get a chance to see the BBC "Inspector Alleyn Mysteries" shows (with Patrick Malahide)....
ENJOY! The cozy mystery book translates exceptionally well to the television and/or movie screen.
Jill McGown writes a
"very British" mystery book series that is really enjoyable reading. When a reader devotes hours to reading a book, it's always a treat to find a really good author who is able to deliver "good reads" every time.
Karen MacInerney
MacInerney writes two series: the Gray Whale Inn Mystery series (for which
she was nominated for an Agatha Best First Novel Award) and she will be
releasing the first book in her Tales of an Urban Werewolf series in 2008. (MacInerney
finished the second Barbara Burnett
Smith's Beading mystery series.)
Jeanne MacKin
aka Anna Maclean... As Mackin, she writes
historical novels. As Maclean, she pens a cozy mystery series that
features Louisa May Alcott, before she became a novelist.
Anna Maclean aka
Jeanne MacKin... Maclean pens a cozy
mystery series that features Louisa May Alcott, before she became a
novelist. As Mackin, she writes historical novels.
Charlotte MacLeod
aka Alisa Craig Several
good cozy series to pick from...
She is one of the main reasons I am such a devoted cozy mystery fan.
Debbie Macomber
Macomber has been recommended to me by several different site readers. She
does NOT write mysteries, but does write the Blossom Street (Knitting)
Series, and also has a number of Holiday Theme books. Her Angelic
Intervention series features three angels who are sent to earth to help
people...
Rett MacPherson
MacPherson lists genealogy as one of her passions, so it shouldn't surprise
you that her series has a genealogist as it's main character.
Mary Jane Maffini
Maffini, a librarian by trade, also (co-)owned a mystery book
shop before becoming a full-time cozy author. She has three series featuring
unusual sleuths... one is a failed romance writer and another is a
professional organizer.
Valerie S. Malmont
What better occupation for your cozy mystery book's main character/sleuth to
be than an author.... of horror.....
Peg Marberg
Marberg writes the Interior Design Mystery Series...
Margaret Maron
A North Carolina judge rules her Deborah Knott series, and her
Sigrid Harald series features a New York City police lieutenant.
Ngaio Marsh
Very British cozy... Her Inspector Alleyn series was the basis of
several made for TV British productions. As a baronet's son, Roderick Alleyn had
to make a career for himself, since he wasn't the first son. Who would have
known he would become such an accomplished detective?!
Evan Marshall
Marshall (president of his literary management firm) was previously a book
editor, who happens to be married to a literary agent. It's no small wonder
that his amateur sleuth (Jane Stuart) happens to be... a literary agent. A
site reader recommended that his books be added to both the site and the cat
theme category. He is also beginning the new Hidden Manhattan Mystery
Series...
Edward Marston
aka Keith Miles and
Conrad Allen....
Several series to pick from. An Agatha Award Winner....
J. Wallis Martin
I absolutely loved both of Martin's first two mystery novels, and (luckily)
just found out about the next two.... I will be reading them very soon....
A Likeness in Stone and The Bird Yard are very well-written
psychological mysteries, with three-dimensional characters. I only wish she
would write more great novels!
Lee Martin aka
Anne Wingate &
Martha G. Webb....
"All three" write a series that is set in Texas, Wingate's has a police chief,
Martin's series features a police detective and Webb writes about a police on
the narcotics squad.
Nancy Martin
Martin's Blackbird Sisters series features three privileged sisters
who, because of a bad turn of events, have to go find jobs for the first time in
their lives.
Rosemary Martin
aka Rosemary Stevens.... As Martin, the
author writes the Murder A-Go-Go mystery series which is set during the
1960s in New York. Her Stevens' series is quite different, set during the
Regency period (1790-1820) in London.
Sarah J. Mason
See
Miss Seeton books, alphabetized under “Miss Emily Seeton”.....This is the
third "part" of the three-author series involving Miss Seeton.
Mason uses the pseudonym Hamilton Crane when writing the Miss Seeton books. She
also has a series that is set in a British village, featuring two
detectives.
Sujata Massey Massey is an
ex-newspaper journalis, with a degree from John Hopkin's. Several of her
works appear on the Agatha Awards pages!
Amanda Matetsky
Main character's name is "Paige Turner!"
Francine Mathews
aka Stephanie Barron…. Mathews writes
two series, one about a police detective in Massachusetts, and the other
about a CIA analyst.
Stefanie Matteson Matteson's mystery series features
an aging star who enjoys a good mystery.
Alex Matthews
Matthews, a psychotherapist, was previously an English teacher, then
journalist. Matthews sets her series in Oak Park, Illinois... very dear to
me since my sister and her family have lived there for many years.
Christine Matthews Imagine collaborating with
Robert J. Randisi! That is exactly what Christine Matthews does while
writing her popular Gil & Claire Hunt Mystery Series...
Susan McBride
McBride is a journalist whose websites says she "always dreamed of making up
stories rather than reporting them." She is the author of the Debutante Dropout
Mystery series which features a woman who fled her own debutante season, much to
the chagrin of her socially up-there mother.
Barbara Taylor McCafferty aka Taylor McCafferty & Tierney McClellan...
McCafferty teams up with her twin Beverly
Taylor Herald when writing the Tatum Twin
mystery series.
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith is a professor of medical law,
with a passion for music. I am a fan of both of his "mystery" series: the
Number One Ladies' Detective Agency and the Isabel Dalhousie (Sunday
Philosophy Club) series. He is also the author of the Professor Doctor
Moritz-Maria Von Igelfeld trilogy, as well as the author of the the 44
Scotland Street goings-on.... both of which I am a fan.
His Number One Ladies' Detective Agency
series is the closest to being a mystery series, although I'm not sure if it
would truly qualify as that... To me, it is more like a delightful work of
fiction which happens to take place in a detective agency. (I have Alexander McCall Smith under both the
"M" and "S" pages, since a viewer of this site thought he should be on the
"M" page...)
Sharyn McCrumb
McCrumb is probably most recognized as the author of the very
successful Appalachian series. She has several other series from which to
pick.
Michael McGarrity
Armed with a masters in clinical social
work, McGarrity has held several very interesting jobs... including deputy
sheriff in Santa Fe county, college instructor, and even investigator for
the Public Defenders Office. His series features a retired police chief, in
where else, but beautiful Santa Fe.
Neil McGaughey
McGaughey's Stokes Moran series is about a mystery book reviewer....
Jill McGown
aka Elizabeth Chaplin..... Very British police procedural...
Chief Inspector Lloyd and Sergeant Judy Hill are some of my all time favorite
mystery characters.
Ralph McInerny aka
Monica Quill....
As McInerny, he writes the Father Dowling series, the (lawyer) Andrew Broom
series, and a Notre Dame series...
G. A. McKevett
The Savannah Reid series.....
Cricket McRae
McRae used to have a soap making company, in which she performed pretty much
all of the duties (from manufacturing to marketing.) With this knowledge
under her belt, it is no small wonder that the first book in her
Home Crafting Cozy Mystery Series is called "Lye in Wait."
Leslie Meier
The Lucy Stone holidays series.....
D. R. Meredith
Meredith's most current series involves a librarian/sleuth who
believes that every librarian should be a mystery reading group member...
Barbara Mertz aka Elizabeth Peters &
Barbara Michaels.....
The Amelia Peabody series is probably her most popular series. Amelia is a
British Egyptologist, as is Mertz.
Annette Meyers (aka
1/2 of Maan Meyers)
Meyers writes a series about Wall Street headhunters, and is
very familiar with that world. She worked in the "brokerage industry," so
she knows how far people are willing to go for money... and for the things
money can buy! She also writes with her husband Martin, using the name "Maan
Meyers."
Maan Meyers
Martin & Annette Meyers are a husband &
wife writing duo who write the Dutchman Historical Mystery Series which has
a very interesting plot time line: Each novel centers around a different
generation of the same family as they make their way from New Amsterdam to
New York.
Barbara Michaels
aka
Elizabeth Peters &
Barbara Mertz....
Michaels has her doctorate in Egyptology, and her series reflects her
interest in all things archaeological...
Keith Miles
aka
Edward Marston &
Conrad Allen..... See Marston above....
Rosalind Miles Historical Fiction.....
Margaret Millar
I have to be honest and say that I have never read a Millar novel, although
I plan to…. A very good friend of mine suggested Millar’s name when I told
her I was going through a phase of wanting to read more novels by “classic”
mystery authors. While researching for some information about Millar I read
that she is known for her surprise endings…. which I happen to enjoy a lot!
Marlys Millhiser
Millhiser holds her Masters in history and taught high school before
deciding to devote her time to writing novels. She writes a series about a
(female) literary agent in Los Angeles.
Camille Minichino
(aka Margaret Grace) Minichino is a
true-life physicist, so who better to write a series about a
physicist/sleuth? As Grace, she is beginning a new series set amidst
dollhouses and miniature settings. Minichino and her niece have been
building dollhouses and furnishing them, and then donating them to school
fundraisers (to give as raffle prizes.)
Miss Emily D. Seeton Miss Seeton is a retired British teacher who "sleuths" whenever there is a
need....... of which there are many! This series of books has been written
by three different authors since Heron Carvic began the series in 1968.
Hampton Charles and then Sarah J. Mason were the next two authors. (Mason
uses the pseudonym Hamilton Crane.)
Gladys Mitchell (aka
Malcolm Torrie)
The wonderful Dame Diana Rigg played British Mrs. Bradley in the PBS shows. I
haven't read any of the Mitchell novels yet..... but am planning to do so
soon. Miriam Grace Monfredo
The Seneca Falls Historical series and the Cain Trilogy.....
Deborah Morgan
Morgan writes a series about an ex-FBI agent who solves
mysteries while buying and then reselling antiques.
Kaye Morgan
Morgan writes the Sudoku Mystery series which features an ex-Hollywood
resident who now creates the Sudoku puzzles for her (current Oregon)
newspaper.
John Mortimer Rumpole
of the Bailey series.....
Fiona Mountain
Mountain received the 2007 Mary Higgins Clark Award for the second novel in
her Natasha Blake Ancestor Detective Mystery Series, which is about a genealogist sleuth who
lives in the Cotswolds.
Patricia Moyes
Very British..... with Scotland Yard Inspector
Henry Tibbett.... very Cozy!
Marcia Muller
Muller has a masters in journalism and has written several California cozy series.
Her San Francisco P. I. Sharon McCone is probably the most recognizable to
cozy readers. She has co-authored several books with her husband, mystery
writer, Bill Pronzini.
Katy Munger aka
Gallagher Gray...
Munger's series is based in North Carolina with an unlicensed private
investigator in her 30s, while Gray's series is about a retired personnel
manager who "sleuths" with his
octogenarian aunt, living in New York.
Shirley Rousseau
Murphy As a devoted lover of cats, Murphy writes the Joe
Grey Cat Mysteries. I have not read any of the books (yet!), but I am
impressed by how much some of the members of a book forum I belong to
absolutely love the series. Murphy has also written books for children, as
well as fantasy novels for both adults and young adults.
Donna Huston Murray The Ginger Barnes
Mystery series set in Philadelphia......
Lynne Murray
Murray writes a series with Josephine Fuller as the full-figured sleuth. I
like her books a lot.
Amy Myers
Historical series set in the 1800s, with a master chef
sleuth.....
Beverle Graves Myers
Myers, a psychiatrist with a love for opera and a background in History, has
been able to combine all three of these fields to pen her mystery series
featuring a (Castrati) opera singer/sleuth...
Tamar Myers
Magdalena Yoder is the owner of a Mennonite Inn in a Pennsylvania-Dutch
locale, and Abigail Timberlake owns the Den of Antiquity antique shop in North Carolina. Both
series are very popular with the cozy crowd.
Tim Myers
(aka
Elizabeth Bright) So far, Myers has three series: Soapmaking,
Candlemaking, and Lighthouse Inns are the themes for these three series. As
Elizabeth Bright, he writes a card-making series....
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