Spotlight: Large Print Cozies

     This week, I decided to shed a spotlight on one of my favorite genres: Cozy mysteries, or "cozies". According to Wikipedia:* "Cozy mysteries, also referred to as "cozies", are a sub-genre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community." We have a huge selection in fiction, audio, mp3, and large print. Today, the focus will be on some of our newer large print cozies.
     (*I know, I know; I am loathe to use this as a reference, but it's an easy and simple definition.)

   The Diva Serves High Tea: a Domestic Diva Mystery is written by Krista Davis. The Parlour opens up in town and domestic diva Sophie Winston is ecstatic that she now has somewhere to satisfy her cravings for all things tea and crumpet. This quaint little shop also serves as a place for the women of town to gather, gossip, and check out the affable and dapper Robert Johnson who runs the new antique store across the street. All the gossip about Robert seems innocent enough until he is found dead--an apparent poisoning--after attending a fundraiser at The Parlour the previous evening. Will Sophie be able to put the clues together to save her new favorite watering hole?

     Egg Drop Dead is a Cackleberry Club Mystery by Laura Childs. The big secret to the Cackleberry Club cafe's success is maintaining a good personal relationship with each of their suppliers. Naturally, when Suzanne has to go to Mike Mullen's dairy to pick up some wheels of cheese, she is more than happy to do so. When she arrives, however, Mike is nowhere to be seen, so she decides to check the barn where she finds the poor man's body. Suzanne, Petra, and Toni are outraged that one of their favorite suppliers has been disposed of like the muck in the stalls and they vow to find out who has committed this horrible crime. But as they get closer to the truth, the killer becomes desperate and decides that the ladies of the Cackleberry Club must be put out to pasture, permanently!

     Cat With A Clue is a Bookmobile Cat Mystery by Laurie Cass. Minnie is shelving books in the library early one morning when she stumbles upon something unusual and very disturbing--a dead body. The authorities identify the woman as a visitor who came to Chilson, Michigan to attend her great-aunt's funeral. What no one can figure out, however, is why the woman was in the library after hours. The police also seem to be preoccupied with a string of strange break-ins as well. As wild rumors about the woman begin to circulate, Minnie and her black-and-white tabby, Eddie, have decided they are going to preserve the library's reputation by finding the killer. They track down clues as they drive the bookmobile around the county and Minnie will leave no page unturned in their quest!

A Cozy Library Mystery

     Author Miranda James continues her Cat in the Stacks Mysteries with the fifth book --The Silence of the Library. Charlie Harris, a kind and warm semi-retired librarian, and his large Maine Coon cat, Diesel spend their time working at the local college library as well as the public library of Athena, Mississippi. Unfortunately, Charlie always seems to get caught up in nefarious goings-on in this small Southern town. This time, Charlie is helping Teresa, the director of the public library, organize an event centered around children's detective stories for National Library Week. Fortunately for them, the centenary novelist Electra Barnes Cartwright--creator of the beloved Veronica Thane series--is a local resident. Charlie and Teresa convince Mrs. Cartwright to appear at their event. They don't realize, however, that inviting such a beloved writer to the event will bring out all manner of unstable individuals. When Carrie Taylor--a blogger and longtime fan of Mrs. Cartwright's work--agrees to bring some of her own memorabilia to be displayed in the library, she turns up dead. Why would anyone want to kill such a pleasant and innocuous woman? Could it be because she owned a rare version of the very first Veronica Thane book? Charlie is caught up in the matter, much to the chagrin of Deputy Kanesha Berry. On top of the murder, someone has broken into the hotel rooms of a couple of book collectors who have turned up for the event and Mrs. Cartwright's literary agent seems to have gone missing. Charlie and Diesel work their way through the clues and the list of suspects to give Kanesha a helping hand--whether she wants it or not! The ending will surprise many and the little twist is quite refreshing. I highly recommend this series for fans of cozy mysteries. If you would like to check out any of the other Cat in the Stacks Mysteries by Miranda James, they are:

1.  Murder Past Due
2.  Classified As Murder
3.  File M for Murder
4.  Out of Circulation
5.  The Silence of the Library

Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Mrs. Murphy's Mysteries!

If you are a fan of Rita Mae Brown, I am sure you have eagerly anticipated the next installment in her "Mrs. Murphy" mystery series which are co-written by her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown! The Big Cat Nap is the Brown's latest collaboration and it is as charming and fun a read as the rest of the series.  Since this story is the twentieth one in the series, the action, plot, characters and story are well developed and fun!  These cozies star Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her pet dog TeeTucker (corgi), Mrs. Murphy (tiger cat) and Pewter (overweight gray cat), her husband, Fair, DVM, and a host of their friends in Crozet, Virginia.  Harry was the postmistress of Crozet until she quit to take up farming on her family's land and has had some success growing ginseng, hay, grapes and sunflowers.  All is well in Harry's world until several of her friends have vehicular mishaps and Harry discovers a murdered mechanic in a local repair shop. Despite numerous warnings from her animals and friends, Harry decides to conduct her own investigation when other mechanics start dying and ends up involved in her own deadly chase!  A self-professed "motorhead," Harry enjoys discovering things about cars, and her love of vehicles is reflected in this book. If you are "put off" by animal characters in books, don't be afraid of this series--the animals do talk to each other and interact with humans, but only in ways that are normal behavior for cats and dogs.  Rita Mae Brown lives in Afton, Virginia and is the author of this series as well as the Sister Jane, a new canine mystery series and several other novels.  She is also an emmy-nominated screenwriter and poet and can be reached at www.ritamaebrown.com.