Top Ten Tuesday: Cozy Mystery Series I Want to Read

August 18, 2026 By Leave a Comment

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

All of these cozy mystery series sound excellent to me. If you’ve read any of them to the end of the final book, which one would you recommend starting first?

1. Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1) by Agatha Christie

 

2. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, #1) by Alexander McCall Smith

 

3. Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1) by Charlaine Harris

 

4. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (Vera Wong, #1) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

 

5. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) by Alan Bradley

 

6. Fatal Fixer-Upper (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery, #1) by Jennie Bentley

 

7. Knit One, Kill Two (A Knitting Mystery, #1) by Maggie Sefton

 

8. The Chocolate Cat Caper (A Chocoholic Mystery, #1) by JoAnna Carl

 

9. A Peach of a Murder (Fresh-Baked Mystery #1) by Livia J. Washburn

 

10. Metro Girl (Alex Barnaby, #1) by Janet Evanovich

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: ,

Balancing the Woofs by Tara Choate

August 5, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Balancing the Woofs by Tara Choate
A Canine Accounting Caper #3
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Irene Lisner feels like her life is finally on track. Her sister Angie has moved hundreds of miles away. Her mother, Jennifer, appears to have followed Angie, so is rarely around. Goose, the new dog, is fun, and energetic, and the two are about to start agility training. Her MS symptoms look to be easing up. Work feels smooth, with no big cases on the horizon. She even has a boyfriend. It’s all too good to be true.
When she is assigned to help another department with a standard audit—the a non-standard review sends things into a downward spiral.

An unmarked plane crashes in the desert. A creature escapes from its burning wreckage, a byproduct of experiments in biological and chemical warfare—a cat.

As the multi-eyed feline mutant known as Kiki roams the Mojave Desert, terrorizing the crumbling town of Calpacia at its border, some seek to capture her. Gun-for-hire Salvadore Shaw, disgraced former Soviet Petrov and his group of mercenaries, and a professor and his chimpanzee assistant commence a vicious race to intercept Kiki’s rampage.

Who will survive the savagery of the Mojave Cat? Not many, if any.

Change is the only constant thing about life.

Irene’s relationship with her body is of my favorite aspects of this series. Like many other invisible illnesses, multiple sclerosis can grow worse or better with time. Seeing how the protagonist dealt with her symptoms and the uncertainty of how she’d feel a few days, weeks, or months in the future made everything else about her life feel more urgent. This isn’t a topic I see covered enough in fiction, so I was once again thrilled to find in this universe.

I did find myself wishing that Irene’s new dog, Goose, was given more time to shine. The previous books in this highlighted her relationship with a different pet of hers, and I was hoping for more canine-inspired conflict and humor than I found here. My fingers are crossed that any sequels in the works will include this as I’ve truly come to appreciate Irene as a character.

The ending was immensely satisfying, especially as it related to the many personal problems Irene was struggling with while she worked on this case. I liked the way she began to reorganize her life to better suit her limitations and am so curious to see how this works out for her in the future. While I don’t know if Ms. Choate has any personal experience with chronic illness and would certainly never ask her to divulge such personal information, I was impressed with how true to life these scenes felt to me as someone who has a disability. Everything from measuring out energy carefully on bad days to figuring out how to make sustainable changes for the sake of one’s health was beautifully described here, and I must tip my cap to the author for revealing a little bit of what goes on behind the scenes for some folks.

Balancing the Woofs was a gentle and heartwarming read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Death in Little Puddlebury by B.L. Bandy

July 29, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Death in Little Puddlebury by B.L. Bandy
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

Harriet Harbottle came to Little Puddlebury for peace, quiet, and perhaps the chance to write the sort of cozy mysteries she once edited for London’s famed publishing house, Wetherby & Finch.

Instead, she finds a corpse.

At the village spring fete, Harriet purchases a battered Edwardian ledger from a table of unwanted books. Hidden inside is a forgotten will tied to the grand manor house of Swincombe Hollow. The document threatens to overturn generations of inheritance and expose secrets the village has long preferred buried.

Before Harriet can learn more, the village solicitor is found dead in his office. The police call it an unfortunate accident. Harriet is not convinced.

With the help of her loyal Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Bramble, an endlessly gossiping neighbor named Gladys, and a foul-tempered stray cat who despises rain, Harriet begins untangling the history of Swincombe Hollow and the people desperate to keep its past concealed.

But in Little Puddlebury, old money hides sharp teeth behind polished smiles. And someone is willing to kill to keep a dead woman’s final wishes
from coming to light.

Harriet Harbottle is a retired book editor having moved into a cottage left to her by her aunt in a village named…you guessed it…Little Puddlebury. This is the perfect English cozy in a little English village. Not the stuffy type of village, but definitely the “let me put the kettle on dear” type. Puddlebury is a place where everything is everyone’s business. In fact, Harriet finds they sometimes know what she is going to do before she does it.

This is a well-written, quick 170+ pages. The characters are quite visible, and a few have their own personalities. I did find it a bit slow now and then but not enough to stop me reading it. What did keep me reading it was Harriet’s delightful bit of sarcasm and humor and her wonderful King Spaniel named Bramble.

This is Book 1 in the series, and it looks as if Book 2 is already published. I’ll have to see what Harriet and Bramble get into next.

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The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson

July 10, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Historical, Cozy Mystery
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Look who’s back in hot water! The highly anticipated new novel in The Tea Ladies cosy crime series, a runaway bestseller of the year. Available for pre-order now!

Welcome back to Zig Zag Lane in the heart of Sydney’s rag-trade district, where our intrepid tea ladies, Hazel, Betty and Irene, have their work cut out. Solving a murder, kidnapping and arson case, and outwitting an arch criminal, earned them the respect of a local police officer. Now he needs their assistance to help solve a plot that threatens national security.

As if that’s not enough, Irene gets a coded message directing her to the spoils of a bank robbery, which sends the tea ladies on a treasure hunt with an unexpected outcome.

There’s also trouble brewing within the walls of Empire Fashionwear, where an interloper threatens not just Hazel’s job but the very role of tea lady. It’s up to Hazel to convince her friends to abandon their trolleys and take action to save their livelihoods – before it’s too late.

Hazel and her fellow Tea Ladies are back for another rollicking adventure. It’s 1966 in Sydney, Australia and the world is moving along at a fast pace. The Sydney Opera house is being built to much political posturing and arguments, the fashion warehouses are changing their designs with the new short skirt craze gripping the world, and the Tea Ladies are banding together to save their livelihoods as a new Café-Bar machine threatens their very jobs. Can Hazel and her friends successfully navigate everything while still sharing the best cuppa around?

I really enjoyed this historical cosy mystery story. Hazel and her fellow tea ladies all came across to me as well rounded and deeply empathetic characters, even Irene who was absolutely somewhat out of the usual mould for a well-aged working class woman. I definitely think readers who haven’t read the first book in this series can easily pick this story up by itself. The characters are all well explained and this book is quite separate from the first. The strong relationships between the ladies doesn’t need too much explanation and their solid friendship and history is easily understood.

I thought it was quite a well written book. Not necessarily a mystery in the usual sense as there were at least three or four main sub-plots all threaded together and unwinding at their own pace. Many of these were very neatly tied up by the end of the book but I did feel a few of these plots didn’t have a final conclusion as yet – Pixie and her new line in particular I feel will likely show up in the next book for a bit more action. I really enjoyed the slower pace of the mysteries and the quite cosy feel the story as a whole had. I feel readers who like historical based novels – or just a slower plot in general should absolutely find this an excellent book.

That said, I absolutely found the mysteries to be well plotted and quite entertaining. A lot seems to be happening in this book and so while I don’t feel it’s action-orientated or fast moving, the author really has crammed a lot into the space of this one book. I am very eager for the next in the series and hope there are many more to come. I also found it quite refreshing that Hazel and her friends are not young woman – and really aren’t even middle-aged as such but more a little older than that, while still being completely fit and healthy and certainly of a working age with all the wisdom and patience that comes from having been around the block a time or two before.

Fun and interesting, with complicated and layered characters this is an excellent book and one I can strongly recommend.

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Cynthia Peabody’s Big Fat Fake Funeral by Lynne Marshall

June 30, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Cynthia Peabody’s Big Fat Fake Funeral by Lynne Marshall
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Murder: √. Witness: Unreliable. Body: Missing.

Can Cynthia Peabody crack the case?

Book Two: Absentminded Witness

Everything is tickety-boo at The Green Meadows retirement village until Cynthia’s neighbor and dear friend accidentally witnesses a murder. In shock he can’t remember a thing. With the help of the hunky security guard and a sharp young detective, Cynthia works to piece together the details behind the nefarious plot before the cold-blooded assassin hits his next mark. She’ll do whatever it takes to protect her best friend and find out who and what is behind the murder.

Thursday Murder Club meets Cynthia Peabody!

Anything is possible with the right team of people.

Just as I mentioned in my review of The Extraordinary Dreams of Cynthia Peabody, Cynthia remained as fascinating as ever this second time around. Her personality shone through the plot brightly, and both her flaws and her strengths made her feel three-dimensional and relatable. I was especially pleased to see that her stubborn streak remained as this isn’t a flaw I see written for as many female protagonists as I’d like to. There’s something to be said for pushing back against gender stereotypes and writing all sorts of different characters, after all!

One of my favorite things about this book was how it explored the way senior citizens are sometimes mistreated by younger generations. For example, Cynthia had a few incidents where other adults behaved in a condescending manner with her because she was in her 70s and had recently had life threatening health problems. The audacity of these characters to assume that her age and disability status meant that she should be spoken to as if she were a small child was both infuriating and an excellent catalyst for certain plot twists later on. This isn’t something I see acknowledged very often, especially in cozy mysteries, so it was refreshing to find here.

The ending was what ultimately convinced me to give this a five-star read. Ms. Marshall’s willingness to play around with the tropes of the genres she writes had already grabbed my attention, and seeing how far off the path she was willing to tread only increased my admiration of her writing style. It takes courage to take this many risks with one’s storylines, and it paid off beautifully here. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

This is the second instalment in a series, but it can be read as a standalone work.

Cynthia Peabody’s Big Fat Fake Funeral was full of surprises that made me wish this tale would never end.

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Movie Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures

June 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Title: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Writers: Olivia Newman and John Whittington
Director: Olivia Newman
Starring: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, and Colm Meaney
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars (6 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

A widow who works at a local aquarium finds joy again when she forms an unlikely bond with a giant Pacific octopus and a wayward young man who comes to town in search of family. Together, they uncover a mystery that will lead them to a life-changing discovery and restore their sense of wonder.

Loneliness is a heavy burden to carry.

Some of the best scenes were the ones that explored how quickly news can spread in a small town and what happens when gossip doesn’t match what actually occurred. It rang true to life in my experience, and I enjoyed watching the characters react to the stories that were either being spread about them or that they were spreading about their friends and neighbors. Some of them liked this process far more than others did, and my opinions of all of them shifted for the better or the worse depending on how they handled this topic.

I did find the character development flat, especially when it came to the protagonists. Even given the tragic backstories of certain characters, I struggled to connect to them due to the limited amount of information that was shared about them outside of the painful events they were processing. As much as I wanted to give this one a higher rating, I wasn’t able to do so thanks to this issue.

The magical realism was handled nicely. While the vast majority of the storyline was rooted in realistic conflicts and events, there were a few moments that were slightly outside of the realm of possibility in our world. These scenes were handled so sensitivity and creatively that I could easily imagine them really occurring which is exactly what I love to see in this sub-genre. The ordinary experiences of the characters in the vast majority of their lives only made those rare deviations from the norm all the more spectacular.

Remarkably Bright Creatures made me smile.

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Death by Coconut by Susie Black

May 25, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Death by Coconut by Susie Black
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Obnoxious Mystique Swimwear sales rep Simon Posnick was universally despised by competitors and customers alike. So the question wasn’t who wanted the lying, cheating scoundrel dead. The question was who didn’t. Mariel Levine, Laurie’s Fashions’ swimsuit buyer and Holly Schlivnik’s career mentor, is wrongly arrested for murdering Posnick by impaling him with the jagged edge of a coconut shell at the base of his skull. The wisecracking, irreverent President of Mermaid Swimwear jumps into action to uncover the real killer. But the treacherous trail holds more dangerous human predators than the alligators and black pythons in the Everglades. Everything turns out differently than amateur sleuth Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a vengeful killer.

He might have been a jerk, but he still didn’t deserve to die.

I was pleased by the character development that has happened since Death By Sample Size introduced Holly Schlivnik to the world. She has matured in all sorts of wonderful ways since I first met her, and her experiences solving the previous mysteries have clearly played a part in her personal growth. This made me want to go back and catch up on the titles in this seriesI haven’t read yet to discover more details about how that all occurred.

While the beginning and ending were fairly fast paced, I did find the middle portion’s pacing to be slower and sometimes uneven in certain places. This lead to my interest in the plot wavering for a while due to the reduced number of events that were leading the protagonist to the truth. If not for that issue, I would have given this a full five-star rating as everything else about it was memorable and entertaining.

The romantic subplot was woven into this tale beautifully. I especially appreciated how Holly balanced the role she played in trying to find the murderer with her attention to her private life. She’s a character I’ve grown attached to and was rooting for as she tried to make time for work, romance, and a lot of sleuthing along the way. My fingers are crossed we’ll get even more details about her personal life in the future.

This is the seventh instalment in the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, but it can be read as a standalone work as well.

Death by Coconut kept me guessing until the end.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Heritage Mountain by Karen Black

May 20, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Heritage Mountain by Karen Black
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, Cozy Mystery, Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In a world where the mystical and the actual coexist, adventure, romance, and a touch of mystery unfold. Set in the majestic Adirondack mountains, when Marco Cason leads an expedition to explore the history of the mountain wilderness, he doesn’t know his colleagues are guardians of the fae.

Searching for clues about ancient societies that inhabited the Adirondacks centuries before, the team delves into legends, navigates ancient maps, and learns that folklore about magical clans is based on facts. When a pixie introduces herself to Maria, the expedition takes a different path. The guardians realize the mountain is filled with mystical clans whose homes are under attack. Negligent use of dynamite, illegal mining, and disregard for nature and the environment has destroyed much of their habitat. It has also cost lives.

Faced with the truth about the existence of magical beings, Marco is forced to reevaluate everything he believed. Still, he becomes a central force when he battles beside the fae to save Heritage Mountain as elves, stargazers, and goliaths fill the pages and the explorers unite with the supernatural creatures to save the mountain from invaders whose greed is destroying their territory.

Themes of friendship, conservation, love, and acceptance flourish, as well as a heavy dose of karma.

The mountains are full of possibilities.

Romance and fantasy are often combined into the same plot, so I wasn’t too surprised to see that happen here. While the latter definitely took up more space, the occasional romantic moments scattered here and there provided additional depth to the characters and gave them some tender experiences interspersed among more serious and sometimes even dangerous ones. I think using this form of love sparingly but purposefully was a great decision for this universe.

The slow pacing and repetition made it difficult for my interest level to remain high even though I was quite curious about this book when I requested it. While I did feel as though I had a good understanding of who everyone was in the large cast of characters, introducing so many of them meant that the protagonists needed to repeat their reasons for being on Heritage mountain and, in some cases, their abilities to see or communicate with mystical beings over and over again. Unfortunately, this only slowed down the storyline even more and made it harder for me to remain highly invested in what was happening.

There was plenty of attention paid to the world building which made this a satisfying read in that regard. I wasn’t aware this was part of a series when I began the first chapter, but it worked pretty well as a standalone piece given the explanations of what seemed to be the most important events of past books. It was especially interesting to me to find out what the various types of magical beings thought of each other and how they organized their societies in order to remain hidden in a world filled with nosy and sometimes destructive humans.

Heritage Mountain was filled with wonder.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Murder in the Locked Library by Ellery Adams

April 30, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Murder in the Locked Library by Ellery Adams
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Contemporary
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

Welcome to Storyton Hall, Virginia, where book lovers travel from near and far to enjoy the singular comforts of the Agatha Christie Tea Room, where they can discuss the merits of their favorite authors no matter how deadly the topic . . .

With her twins, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, back in school, Jane Steward can finally focus on her work again—managing Storyton Hall, and breaking ground on the resort’s latest attraction: a luxurious, relaxing spa named in honor of Walt Whitman. But when the earth is dug up to start laying the spa’s foundation, something else comes to the surface—a collection of unusual bones and the ragged remnants of a very old book. The attendees of the Rare Book Conference are eager to assist Jane with this unexpected historical mystery—until a visitor meets an untimely end in the Henry James Library. As the questions—and suspects—start stacking up, Jane will have to uncover a killer before more unhappy endings ensue . . .

To begin with, I love this Ellery Adams series, Book Retreat Mystery. This special weekend at Storyton Hall involves rare books and everything associated with them. One attendee is the book doctor and can bring many ill-treated books back to good health. Another attendee knows how to make paper, while others are collectors. They are all interesting, and they all have their quirks.

Although I think Ellery Adams writes good plots, I must say that Storyton Hall itself, full of much history and mention of so many recognizable books, is so fascinating that I’m lost in it every time. However, with Jane’s young children, there is always some humor and definitely some talk about good food too. Maybe a better way to explain it is that while these stories are definitely for biblionuts, oops bibliophiles, every part of Storyton Hall and its characters steep you in bookish things. I wish I could go there. No, wish I could live there.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Storm Stayed by Yvonne Rediger

March 3, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Storm Stayed by Yvonne Rediger
Publisher: Brown Wolf Publishing
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Review by Snowdrop

Welcome back to Musgrave Landing. Accessible by ferry across the Samsum Narrows, this island village is home to some quirky characters and some even odder visitors. Sometimes the visitors bring misfortune with them and other times the villagers supply their own brand of trouble. Whether the people are locals or from away, apparently a few are capable of murder.

Maisy Wyatt, is on loan from Jane’s Eats & Treats to Mrs. Roque. The housekeeper has a grand vision for the Highmere House Conference Centre. She has spared no expense with the food or service for the minor literary celebrities who will be their first guests. It won’t matter if the December weather turns bad, it takes a lot to faze Mrs. Roque.

The other new employee Tiffany Zach, will work alongside Maisy to care and feed a cantankerous group of authors from Dunn Wolf Publishing. The situation doesn’t improve when the lead author and owner of the publishing house, Ziola Nutt, announces she has a six-figure media contract with a video streaming company. This news causes shock, disappointment, and anger among the rest of the writers when they find out she will not give them credit for their work, nor any of the royalties.

Worse still, the electricity goes out during a nasty storm. Cell phones are going dead, roads are blocked by fallen trees, and ferry traffic is halted. No one can get off the island. Not even the murderer.

When you have a story set in a lovely, grand bed and breakfast full of authors as guests, you know there could be trouble. And the publisher, oh my, the publisher, has nothing but bad news to deliver. Most of it has to do with less money in people’s pockets, and then there are bragging rights they find out she has about her own new book. What a brewing tempest for trouble. But what is really blowing up is a terrible storm trapping them on an island with no electricity. Have I set you up for this? Good.

This is the first book I have read by Yvonne Rediger, and it is Book 4 in a series titled “Musgrave Landing Mysteries”. I will say there were just a few spots that I thought slowed down a bit. There are a lot of characters, all quite interesting, but a little difficult to keep track of now and then.  It’s still a very good plot and a fun book to read. Hope there are more.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,
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