The first book of the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series (by Alexander McCall Smith) proves to be a very good start for this series about Precious Ramotswe. I listened to the audio book version (narrated by Lisette Lecat) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The novel focuses on Precious solving several little mysteries rather than just one main mystery being solved, as most cozy mystery books do.  (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...)

Also included in the "S" list of mysteries are Rex Stout and Dorothy L. Sayers. Both Stout and Sayers are mystery authors who are considered staples of the genre. The "S" list of cozy mystery book authors isn't complete without them! 

Arlene Sachitano    Sachitano worked in the world of high tech industries, but is now enjoying the world of quilting. What better sleuths to have than a quilt shop owner and a high tech supervisor?

Medora Sale  (aka Caroline Roe)    Roe holds her Ph. D. in Medieval Studies, so it is no small wonder that she writes the Isaac from Girona Mystery Series, which features a blind doctor in Spain during the mid 1300s. As Sale she writes the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries Mystery Series which features a Canadian police detective.

Cyndy Salzmann Salzmann writes the Friday Afternoon Club Mystery Series which features a group of stay-at-home mothers who are good friends, and great sleuths! (Salzmann bases her novels on her Christian faith.)

Cindy Sample Sample has her degree in History, and was at one time the CEO of a mortgage company. She writes the Laurel McKay Mystery Series, which features a newly divorced, single soccer mom in California.

Lawrence Sanders    Sanders wrote the Archibald McNally Mystery Series, among MANY other best sellers... (Not Cozy) (On the Mystery Writers of America Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time)

Eve K. Sandstrom   aka JoAnna Carl... Her more recent novels have been written as Joanna Carl. I love how this ex-journalist came up with that pseudonym...  Apparently, when her editor asked her to come up with a "new name" for herself, she blended her three children's middle names: Jo, Anna, and.... Carl!

C. J. Sansom   Sansom, a lawyer with both his BA and PhD in History, writes the historical Matthew Shardlake Mystery Series. While these are not Cozy, the person who recommended that he be added to the site said his mysteries are amazing.

Ian Sansom   Sansom writes the Mobile Library Mystery Series which features a librarian (who happens to be a vegetarian) of a mobile library in Northern Ireland. The series is supposed to be very funny...

Susan Santangelo    Santangelo, previously a copy editor and freelance journalist, writes the Baby Boomer Mystery Series. The series features Carol and Jim Andrews, recently retired boomers who happen to sleuth.

Walter Satterthwait   Satterthwait has two mystery series and several stand alone novels that are based on historical mysteries. He can be found on the Agatha Award page.

Mary Saums   Saums has a degree in Commercial Music, and has been able to incorporate her musical background by writing the Willi Taft Mystery Series about a backup singer in Nashville. Her newer series is about two 60s something, widowed best friends...

Corinne Holt Sawyer   Two California widow sleuths and a retirement community with lots of "goings on" to investigate...

Dorothy L. Sayers    The wonderful Lord Peter Wimsey series, which of course, includes the wonderful  Harriet Vane. (On the Crime Writers' Association Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time) (On the Mystery Writers of America Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time)

Maria E. Schneider   Some of you may recognize Maria's name from the comments she has posted on the blog... which have been great additions. She has written three mystery novels, and I believe is in the process of writing more...

Aileen Schumacher   Schumacher is a Civil Engineer who writes a mystery series, set in Texas,  that features an engineer...

Christina Schwartz   Not Mysteries....

Mark Schweizer   Schweizer writes the Liturgical Mystery Series which features a small town police chief who also happens to be the choir director and organist at his Episcopalian church...

Sandra Scoppettone  aka Jack Early... Two series to pick from, the more recent one is set in 1940s New York...

Jack S. Scott   Very British....

Michele Scott   Scott writes two mystery series: the Wine Lover's Mystery Series and the Horse Lover's Mystery Series...

Willard Scott    Scott, the weatherman of a national morning show, known for his very cheerful personality, writes the Stanley Waters Mystery Series -with Bill Crider.

Lisa Scottoline     Scottoline, previously a trial lawyer, is a New York Time’s bestselling author. She is the author of the Rosato and Associates Mystery series, and is (also) currently writing bestsellers that are stand-alones.

Margaret Searles   An ex-teacher, Margaret Searles writes the Mrs. Millet & Mrs. Hark Mystery Series, which features two senior sleuths.

Secrets of Mary's Bookshop  This series is published by Guideposts, and will have sixteen books in it. (Guideposts is a Christian publishing company.) The Secrets of Mary's Bookshop mystery books are written by different authors, but they all follow Mary Fisher. Mary has just moved back to Ivy Bay. Mary has retired, and now owns Mary's Mystery Bookshop in this quaint Cape Cod village.

Kate Sedley    Sedley writes the Roger the Chapman Mystery Series. I had to look up the word "chapman"... It's a peddler! The series is set in medieval England...

Maggie Sefton   Sefton's first series is the Knitting Mystery Series, which takes place in the House of Lambspun. Sefton also writes the Kate Doyle Mystery Series, which features a realtor in Colorado. Her Molly Malone Mystery Series is set in Washington, D.C., and features the daughter of a senator who is also the widow of a congressman.

Dianne Setterfield    Setterfield became a bestselling author when The Thirteenth Tale (her first novel) was published. She has been compared to the likes of Charlotte Brontë and Daphne du Maurier... classic/gothic mystery...

Sarah R. Shaber   Shaber is a Duke University history graduate with a passion for writing.... and mysteries! She writes the historical Louise Pearlie Mystery Series which has, as its sleuth, a woman who works for the Office of Strategic Services (the organization before the CIA) in Washington, DC during the 1940s. Shaber also writes the Professor Simon Shaw Mystery Series which is set in North Carolina, and features a professor of history.

Laurence Shames   aka Gary Troup.....  As Shames, he writes a series set in Key West.

Sarah Shankman    Pick between a singer/songwriter series or a crime reporter series...

Dell Shannon    aka Leslie Egan, Elizabeth Linington, & Anne Blaisdell.....   A lot of series to choose from...

Deborah Sharp   Armed with her Ph.D. in Journalism, Sharp decided to leave the life of reporting (USA Today, among others) to write funny mysteries set in the south (Florida.)

Catherine Shaw   Shaw writes the historical Vanessa Duncan Cambridge Mystery Series which features a teacher/sleuth...

Jana Lynn Shellman   Shellman is an ex-paralegal who currently is writing a mystery featuring a psychic paralegal. Shellman's series is the Poppy Hannah Mystery Series.

Connie Shelton   Shelton writes the Charlie Parker series.  Charlie is a CPA who solves crimes when she's not too busy filing income tax returns! Shelton also writes the Samantha Sweet Mystery Series which features, as its sleuth, the owner of a pastry shop in New Mexico.

Paige Shelton   Shelton, a journalism major in college, worked in advertising before writing the Farmers' Market Mystery Series, which features the owner of a farm who makes jams and preserves... when she's not solving crimes! Shelton also writes the Country Cooking School Mystery Series (a ghost paranormal mystery series)...

Beth Sherman    Sherman is the author of the Jersey Shore Mystery Series which features a New Jersey ghostwriter...

Steve Sherman    It sounds to me like Steve Sherman comes from the exact setting he uses in his series... He writes the New England Cozy Mystery Series! (Sherman is also the author of country-roads guides, as well...)

John Sherwood   Celia Grant is Sherwood's main character in this series set in London.  Celia happens to be a botanist...

Sharon Short   Short writes the Stain-Busting Mystery Series, which I just discovered. I have yet to read them, but plan to, since I enjoy humor with my mysteries.

Celestine Sibley     Sibley's series is set in Atlanta, Georgia and features a woman journalist.

Roz Siegel   Siegel, previously a senior editor at Simon & Schuster, Crown, and The Literary Guild, is the author of the Emily's Place Mystery Series. The sleuth in this series owns a shoe store in Manhattan which is a meeting place of sorts to all who love designer shoes. Unfortunately stilettos are very sharp...

Georges Simenon    If you have seen (and liked) the Maigret television series, you will like these books.  I loved the Maigret shows (and plan to do a blog on them in the near future.)

Clea Simon   Simon graduated Harvard with a degree in English and American Language and Literature. Her published works are both in fiction and non-fiction. She writes the Theda Krakow Mystery Series which features "Musetta," both her fictitious and "real life" cat. And, Simon also pens the Dulcie Schwartz Mystery Series which features a deceased cat who helps his owner solve crimes. Simon's latest mystery series is called the Pru  Marlowe, Pet Noir Mystery Series - which features an animal behaviorist/psychic.

Dorothy Simpson    Police Inspector Luke Thanet series, set in  England.....

Nicola Slade   Slade writes the Harriet Quigley Mystery Series which follows Harriet and Canon Sam Hathaway - her cousin who is a clergyman at historic Winchester Cathedral. Slade also writes the Charlotte Richmond Investigates Mystery Series - which is an historical Cozy Mystery...

Joanna Campbell Slan   Slan's Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery Series will be sure to please all of the cozy mystery readers with a passion for scrapbooking. (She has published several non-fiction scrapbooking books as well.) Slan also writes the Jane Eyre Chronicles Mystery Series, which features Charlotte Brontë's Jane, wife of Edward Rochester and young mother, in mid 1800s England. Slan started writing as Lila Dare on the fourth of that series' mysteries. As Dare, she  writes the Southern Beauty Shop Mystery Series. The series features five sleuths of all ages who happen to be beauticians in the same Georgia beauty shop.

Susan Sleeman Sleeman has her Bachelor's degree in Psychology, post graduate work in both Accounting and Project Management. She writes the Garden Gate Mystery Series and is an advocate for Christian mystery novels.

Patricia Smiley   With titles like " False Profits, Cover Your Assets, and Short Change, can this series' sleuth be anything but a financial adviser?

Susan Smily    Smily writes the Ariel Quigley mystery series with Honora Finkelstein. Smily is an ex-teacher, who has been involved in creating educational materials. The Smily/Finkelstein series is unusual in that each mystery novel has a recipe book that features the recipes described/used in the novel. 

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 No. 1 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 No.1 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.

Barbara Burnett Smith    Purple Sage series & a Beading series...

Cynthia Smith   Smith writes the Emma Rhodes Mystery Series, which takes place in England. Emma is a private investigator for the very wealthy. As a matter of fact, she prefers the label "Private Resolver". Emma charges $20,000 per case, but guarantees the job will be done in two weeks.

Earl H. Smith   Smith, an ex professor and Dean at a college in Maine, has written a humorous murder mystery that is set in a small town in Maine.

Julie Smith   Rebecca Schwartz, Skip Langdon, & Paul McDonald series...

Beth Solheim   Solheim writes the Sadie Witt Mystery Series which is a paranormal mystery series. Both Sadie and Belly LaGossa (Sadie's dog) are able to see the dead...

Walter Sorrells (aka Ruth Birmingham & Lynn Abercrombie) Sorrells is an Edgar Award winning author who writes suspense novels for both adults and young adults. He is an expert in the martial arts and is a bladesmith of modern swords.

Suzy Spencer   True Crime..... 

Julia Spencer-Fleming    Spencer-Fleming, and ex-lawyer, writes a series set in the Adirondacks which features an Episcopal priest. Some of Spencer-Fleming's work can be found on the Agatha Award pages.

Robert Spiller   Spiller has taught math at the college level, all the way down to the elementary school level. It is no wonder that his Bonnie Pinkwater Mystery Series features a math teacher/sleuth...

Patricia Sprinkle    Sprinkle has two established series,: the Sheila Travis Mystery series set in Georgia, and the MacLaren Yarbrough Thoroughly Southern Mystery series. She is currently starting a new Family Tree Genealogy Mystery series which her readers are sure to enjoy.

Elizabeth Daniels Squire   Squire, previously a reporter, created the Peaches Dann Mystery Series which revolves around an absent-minded "mature" sleuth.

Dorothy St. James   St. James has her BS in Wildlife Biology and her Master's in Public Administration & Urban Planning. St. James writes the White House Gardener Mystery Series which features, as its sleuth, a gardener at the White House.

Morgan St. James & Phyllice Bradner   These sister novelists write the Silver Sisters Mystery series which features two "curvy" sister sleuths. With names like Goldie Silver and Godiva Olivia Dubois, how can they not be a zany duo?!?

Dana Stabenow Stabenow writes two series that are set in Alaska. The first book in the Kate Shugak series won an Edgar.

Veronica Stallwood   Stallwood lives near Oxford, so what better place to set her series featuring an historical novelist?

J. B. Stanley (aka Jennifer Stanley, Ellery Adams, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington)   With a Master's in English Literature, it is no wonder that Stanley decided to write novels. She has two cozy mystery series... One is the Collectible Mystery Series - which features a reporter who solves mysteries in and out of antique shows. The other is her Supper Club Mystery Series which features a "retired" English Literature Professor (James Henry) who gets together with four friends ("The Flab Five") to sup and solve crimes! Stanley also writes the Hope Street Church Mystery Series as Jennifer Stanley. And, as Ellery Adams she writes the Books by the Bay Mystery Series and the Charmed Pie Shop Mystery Series. As 1/2 of Lucy Arlington (co written with Sylvia May) she writes the A Novel Idea Mystery Series.

Jennifer Stanley   (aka J. B. Stanley, Ellery Adams, & 1/2 of Lucy Arlington)   Stanley has her Master's in English Literature and writes the Hope Street Church Mystery Series, which features a repairwoman of office machines in Richmond, Virginia. After being away from the church for many years, she decides to join a church bible study group, which turns out to be full of willing sleuth-helpers. As J. B. Stanley she writes two cozy mystery series: the Collectible Mystery Series and the Supper Club Mystery Series. And, as Ellery Adams she writes the Books by the Bay Mystery Series and the Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery Series.  As 1/2 of Lucy Arlington (co written with Sylvia May) she writes the A Novel Idea Mystery Series.

Mary Stanton (aka Claudia Bishop) Bishop's very popular Hemlock Falls Mystery Series was a great beginning, and was followed by her popular Casebook of Dr. McKenzie Mystery Series. What a treat to find out that in 2008 Stanton/Bishop began the paranormal Beaufort & Company Mystery Series!

Wendy Corsi Staub   Not Cozy.  Staub is a New York Times Best Selling author, and is known for her psychological mysteries... mystery/thrillers.

Debbie Steever    Steever writes Stand Alone mysteries. "Family Secrets or Lies" features two brothers who return to their hometown when their single father dies and leaves them a journal. "Dead at 30" tells about a group of 30 year old women at their high school reunion, one of them ends up dead (at 30!) and one of them is a suspect...

Rosemary Stevens   aka Rosemary Martin…As Stevens, the author writes a mystery series which takes place during the Regency period (1790-1820) in London. Her Martin’s series is quite different, with a name like Murder A-Go-Go, it could only take place during the 1960s in a very groovy New York.

Fran Stewart   Stewart writes the Biscuit McKee & Marmalade Series which features a librarian and her tabby cat in Georgia...

Stories from Hope Haven Series  This is a series of NON mystery books from Guideposts. Hope Haven is a series which is set in the fictional Haven Hospital. The series features four nurses and their patients...

Rex Stout    The classic Nero Wolfe series, starring Nero Wolfe, detective extraordinaire.... Wolfe doesn't even need to leave his apartment in order to solve crimes. Of course, with his assistant Archie Goodwin doing all of the detective legwork, Nero has plenty of time to tend his orchids! (On the Mystery Writers of America Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time)

Sarah Strohmeyer    Strohmeyer writes the Bubbles series, which features a hair dresser/sleuth with a penchant for gossip.

Diane A. S. Stuckart  (aka Ali Brandon) Stuckart writes the Leonardo da Vinci Historical Mystery Series. The series features Dino, da Vinci's apprentice, and is set in the late 1400s. As Brandon she writes the paranormal Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series.

Jennifer Sturman    Sturman's series involves an investment banker/sleuth.... Sturman also writes a mystery series for young adults.

Winona Sullivan    Sullivan's series features a nun with a devotion to solving crimes....

Ann Summerville   Summerville writes the Lowenna Mystery Series which takes place in a quaint, British coastal village. She also writes Stand Alone Cozy Mysteries that feature British sleuths as far from home as Texas!

Denise Swanson    Swanson's main character is a school psychologist who lives in Illinois. She writes the Scumble River Mystery Series, which features a school psychologist as its sleuth. Swanson also pens the Devereaux's Dime Store Mystery Series, which has, as its sleuth, the owner of a five-and-dime store in Missouri.

Leann Sweeney    Sweeney's main character, Abby Rose, is a private investigator living in Houston in the Yellow Rose Mystery Series. Sweeney is also the author of the Cats in Trouble Mystery Series...

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