Laura just posted a comment (Thank you, Laura!) for my last entry that reminds me a lot of what I am doing:
"Danna: It's already on your Christmas cozy list, but I just finished Emilie Richards, "Let There Be Suspects" and really enjoyed it. I have to read my Christmas books now, because I usually don't have time when the holidays roll around!"
Isn't that the truth! With all of the hustle and bustle associated with the time of year we are approaching, I have to admit that I do the same thing. Whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa (and there are probably more I'm not listing…) we are quickly nearing a time when family, memories, and/or activities may put our mystery book reading on the back burner.
I just started my new holiday mystery book and am really enjoying it. (Just started it… as in page 35… really just starting it!) You may think that it is a Thanksgiving mystery book, but I'm with Laura>>> It's the first of the Special Christmas Pennyfoot Mystery Series: No Clue at the Inn by Kate Kingsbury.
I decided to take a (very short) break from my current favorite mystery book authors and try someone new (to me) and I do believe that Kate Kingsbury was a very good choice to get me started on my holiday mystery book reading.
I know that I have said MANY, MANY times before that I never start a series in the middle, but this time I took a chance since I thought the Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series had actually been "wrapped up" (Do they say "that's a wrap" only for movies?!?) I hoped that I would be able to start the Special Pennyfoot Hotel mystery series (or should that be Pennyfoot Country Club mystery series?) at book 13, which as it has turned out, is book #1 of a "new" Pennyfoot Mystery Series… thus the "Special" >>>
I have been very pleased with what Kingsbury (aka Rebecca Kent and Doreen Roberts) does at the beginning of the book. She has gives the reader an introduction (of sorts) to the characters… supplying who they are and what roles they played in the "regular" Pennyfoot mystery books. But, be forewarned… there will be "spoilers" for those of you who plan on reading the "regular" series any time soon…
Lucky for me, when I finally start reading the series from its beginning, my memory, being what it is, won't serve me well… and while the characters may seem familiar to me, that will only be "vaguely familiar">>> Even if I start reading the Pennyfoot Hotel "regular" books next year at this same time!
I just finished my most recent Halloween mystery book by a rather new author (to me, that is!) >>> I read Death of a Trickster and must say that it is definitely a Halloween Cozy… small New England town, amateur sleuth, everybody-knows-everybody feeling, eccentric personalities with hidden personal secrets, and to top it off, the most wonderful feeling of autumn/fall that you could possibly find in a book… I felt like autumn was actually one of the characters during the first half (or so) of the book…
As I read Death of a Trickster (which is written by Kate Borden – aka Kate Grilley) I was struck by Borden's similarity with two other Cozy mystery book authors who I follow… Leslie Meier and Jill Churchill. All three of them have strong, female main characters who have children… These children are actually written into their plots. The children aren't just backdrops in their novels, they are woven into the novels' story lines. There are times when the main characters/sleuths have to find someone to watch their offspring, times when their offspring disappoint them, times when their offspring are actually like >>> children!
For some reason, Jill Churchill's Jane Jeffrey mystery series, Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone series, and Kate Borden's Peggy Jean Turner mystery series just seem to have the same Cozy feeling strewn throughout the book. I don't know how else to describe it.
Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone series is set during major holidays of the year, while Jill Churchill really doesn't "focus" on holidays… although she has several Cozies that are set during Christmas. Borden, I'm not quite sure of… She has only written three Cozies in this particular series, two of which are holiday-themed… Death of a Trickster and Death of a Turkey (Thanksgiving theme cozy mystery.) I guess we will find out if Borden will become an exclusively holiday-themed mystery author when her next Peggy Jean Turner mystery is published!
I love the ease of cell phones! Let me state that before I continue with this rant… I love having almost an unlimited amount of long-distance time. I love having access to all sorts of places when I am at all sorts of places.
BUT>>>>
I do not dial my cell phone (or even hold it!!!) while I'm driving. I grew up not being able to make phone calls while on the road – so it is simply a habit I don't plan to acquire. When my children were young, whenever we were in the car tooting around, we found fun things to do. The "We Sing" tapes were permanently left in the car. When we weren't singing along with the Wee Sing gang, we played games: rhyming (à la mat-cat-rat), Is it bigger than a breadbox?, simple math, I Spy, the alphabet-finding game, ETC. Which brings me to my next point…
I remember the first time I was aware that some cars actually have television sets installed in them. What?!? Yep, that's right! That was my initial response, and I am still wondering WHAT?!?
More and more, I am noticing something that rivals the television and DVD hook-ups in cars>>> Parents on their cell phones with their little tykes in the car!!! Are the parents lives so busy that the only time they can find to make appointments or catch up with family/friends is while they are in their cars with their tots?
Hopefully, when these same cell-phoning parents' children are twelve years old, the parents can look back fondly and remember what their friends/family had to say during all of those car rides with their children! As Harry Chapin would say: The cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon…
A while ago, I was caught off guard – not a lot, but just enough…
Are there "Indian Summers" in England? I am not being facetious about this>>> I would really like to know!
I started reading a new Cozy mystery series, which is set in Great Britain, and I was a little surprised to find the "Indian Summer" description for a beautiful autumn day. For some reason, I had always thought this description only applies to North America's crisp autumn days.
When I read about the beautiful "Indian summer" weather in this British Cozy, I thought about something a site reader from England had written to me. She said that she was quite bothered by non-British authors who set their mystery book series in England and then include things they (the non-English authors) think should be included – stereotypical things – which sound totally wrong to "real" Brits. Of course, since they are stereotypical things that she wrote me about, the rest of us might not know that these things happen "only in the movies." (I wish I could remember some of the examples she used!)
So, with this in mind, is there such a thing as a British "Indian Summer" day, mate? (I know, I know!!!)
One of the things I like about living in a "young" city like San Antonio is that the streets are planned on a grid. Boston streets are not! One of our tour guides said that the reason for this is that they just paved over cattle trails and foot paths from years ago. If it was good enough for the cows, then by golly, it was good enough for cars!
Thank goodness for GPSs! (Global Positioning Systems)
As I mentioned in my previous entry, my daughter rented a "Zip Car" two different days. YOW!!! You cannot imagine how many times the GPS's "woman" had to say "Recalculating" for us! I counted at least three times when a one-way street simply stopped and became another street (with a different name) going the opposite one-way direction. Good grief! And for two directionally-deficient gals, this caused a lot of… frustration (and laughter!)
Another difference I noticed between Boston/Cambridge roads and San Antonio's >>> Apparently they lack white paint out there to delineate lanes. I noticed (many times!) where two lanes became one lane and then it went back to two lanes… with absolutely no notice!
My San Antonio taxes are also going for such "niceties" as protected left turn lights. But I guess that they don't really need those protected left turn lights in the left lanes because drivers wouldn't know if there was a left lane for the left-turn-only arrow >>> since they seem to lack the white painted lines.
I don't know how they do it! No wonder most people rely on the public transit system! I know I would!!!
I just watched a new show that I am following: The Good Wife. >>> Love it!
As if The Good Wife's regular cast isn't (to use the word from the title) "Good" enough!!! They brought in one of my very favorite actresses this past week: Martha Plimpton. I have always thought that she would have been the absolutely best actress to portray Stephanie Plum, the main sleuthing character of the wildly successful Janet Evanovich mystery book series.
The premise of the show is something we have witnessed all too often… An elected official is "found out" by the media, and as he apologizes for cheating (that's a rather mild term for what this husband did) on his wife and children, the wife stands with him at the podium, with a Mona Lisa look on her face… You get the drift, no doubt… (***I have always thought that a cheating spouse not only cheats on their partner, but also on the children. The time he/she spends with his/her partner in the cheat, is time that he/she could have spent with his/her children… Now, should I get off of my shoebox?!?)
Julianna Margulies is excellent as the wife, Chris Noth is able to actually make me (almost!!!) like the cheating husband, I love Christine Barnaski in anything she is in, and the list of actors goes on and on.
If you haven't already seen an episode of The Good Wife… It's on CBS on Tuesday nights. Try it… You just might like it!
The following mystery books will be released in November 2009:
David Baldacci: True Blue (This will be a Stand Alone…) (Actually Oct. 27…)
Lorna Barrett (aka L. L. Bartlett): Bookplate Special (This will be the 3rd in the Booktown Mystery Series…)
Simon Brett: The Poisoning in the Pub (This will be the 10th in the Fethering Mystery Series…)
Emily Brightwell: Mrs. Jeffries and the Yuletide Weddings (This will be the 26th in the Mrs. Jeffries Victorian Mystery Series…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery novel…)
Cleo Coyle (aka Alice Kimberly): Holiday Grind (This will be the 8th in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery novel…)
Clive Cussler & Justin Scott: The Wrecker (This will be the 2nd in the Isaac Bell Mystery Series…)
James D. Doss: The Widow's Revenge (This will be the 14th in the Charlie Moon Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)
Carole Nelson Douglas: Vampire Sunrise (This will be the 3rd in the Delilah Street: Paranormal Investigator Mystery Series…)
Christopher Fowler: Bryant & May on the Loose (This will be the 7th in the Peculiar Crimes Mystery Series…)
Sue Grafton: U is for Undertow (This will be the 21 in the Kinsey Millhone Mystery Series…)
Charlaine Harris: Grave Secret (This will be the 4th in the Harper Connelly Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: The Fourth Bill Slider Omnibus (This will contain the novels Gone Tomorrow & Dear Departed…)
Ellen Hart: The Mirror and the Mask (This will the the 17th in the Jane Lawless Mystery Series…)
Sue Henry: The End of the Road (This will be the 4th in the Maxie & Stretch Mystery Series…)
Reginald Hill: Midnight Fugue (This will be the 24th in the Dalziel and Pascoe Mystery Series…)
Susan Kandel: Dial H for Hitchcock (This will be the 5th in the Cece Caruso Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)
Diana Killian: Dial Om for Murder (This will be the 2nd in the Mantra for Murder Mystery Series…)
Kate Kingsbury (aka Rebecca Kent): Decked with Folly (This will be the 17th in the Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery Series…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery novel…)
Paul Magrs: Hell's Belles (This will be the 4th in the Brenda & Effie Mystery Series…)
John Mortimer: A Rumpole Christmas (A Collection of Five Rumpole Holiday Stories…) (This is a Christmas theme mystery book…) (Actually Oct. 29…)
James Patterson: I, Alex Cross (This will be the 16th in the Alex Cross Mystery Series…)
J. D. Robb: Kindred in Death (This will be the 30th in the Eve Dallas Mystery Series…)
Peter Tremayne: The Council of the Cursed (This will be the 19th in the Sister Fidelma Mystery Series…) (Actually Oct. 27…)
Elaine Viets: The Fashion Hound Murders (This will be the 5th in the Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper Mystery Series…)
Joseph Wambaugh: Hollywood Moon (This will be the 3rd in the Hollywood Station Mystery Series…)
♦To go back to the Cozy Mystery Book New Releases page click here♦
