Fiber Fool

Oooo, Carole, you’ve chosen a topic right up my alley for this week! Although lately I’ve been tending more in the American West romance genre (which I’d prefer to be historical, but am having a hard time finding ones that aren’t overly preachy). But I was on a several year mystery bender and still sprinkle them in here and there. My list is in no particular order, but I will confess to using LibraryThing and GoodReads to remind me of my favorites :-)

1. I have a soft spot for Minnesota authors and books in general set in locations that I am familiar with. A fav Northern Minnesota mystery series of mine is the Cork O’Conner series by William Kent Krueger. Cork is half white and half native American and is well respected by both groups and often finds himself helping with investigations due to his acceptence both on and off the reservation. These mysteries are often packed with action and outdoor adventure in addition to the mystery.
2. I also enjoy cozies a lot and mixing that with historical settings in a quality book seems somewhat rare in my experience so I really enjoyed the Freemont Jones cozy mystery series by Diane Day. Freemont Jones is a woman ahead of her time, setting out to make a life for her single self in San Francisco with no intentions of seeking a mate. She is a spitfire with a lot of intelligence and stubborness. It is a rare that I want to own mystery books since once you’ve read it the mystery is solved, but this series was one of those exceptions. I haven’t yet re-read any, but the writing was so rich with atmosphere and setting that I’m sure it will be a fun re-read on some rainy or snowy weekend.
3. As a former woman in science I appreciate protaganists with a scientific education, which I find to be another rarity in mysteries. The Em Hanson series by Sarah Andrews is one of those series. Em Hanson is an amateur slueth but a professional forensic geologist in Wyoming often dealing with shady goings on in oil fields and the like. I think I’ve read the first three and I’m reminded I should revisit this series again if the library has continued to pick them up.
4. A more hard-boiled mystery series I enjoyed was recommended to me by my mom. It is what I call the Orchid series by Stuart Woods. It is a spin off of the Stone Barrington books featuring Holly Barker, a former MP forced into early retirement who moves to Orchid Beach, FL. The books in this series were fast-paced, hard to put down reads. If memory serves several of them I read in three sittings or less. I just couldn’t get enough. They had a lot of action and danger in them along with the mystery and a light dusting of romantic tension now and again.
5. The Night Villa by Carole Goodman is catalogued as literary fiction I believe, but like many of her books there is a mystery running throughout. This one was crazily high-tension and thrilling. All the action revolved around an archeological hunt in the Mediterranean. The setting was wonderful, the archeology added to the sense of mystery and the pacing and tension was superb! But I’ve loved every single one of her books I’ve read. She first hooked me with The Lake of Dead Languages.
6. Another favorite cozy series I have been collecting (mostly used as I find them) is the China Bayles series by Susan Wittig Albert. I was first turned onto this series by Chris back in 2006 I think. China Bayles is a retired lawyer who keeps up her creditials but runs an herbal shop in the fictitious Hill Country town of Pecan Springs, Texas. I’ve read the first dozen or so titles in the series and I still find it fresh and interesting, which can be pretty rare for cozy series. I do try to space out the reading of a series so a particular author’s quirks and tendencies aren’t too fresh in my mind. I find it helps me enjoy a series more.
7. A recent find that I need to dig into further combines my newer interest in western American fiction with the romance and mystery - A New Deputy in Town by B.J. Daniels. It is actually the second in a contemporary series set in Whitehorse, Montana. But I picked up free on Kindle at some point and just recently got around to reading it. I felt that Daniels really nailed the nature of small towns, though this one was really twisted. I am looking forward to some return visits to Whitehorse though!
8. For more suspenseful mysteries, sometimes with some romance I really enjoy reading Tami Hoag. I think I got hooked by Ashes to Ashes back in late high school or early college. But I really enjoyed the Deer Lake books and the Doucet Trilogy as well.
9. The Claire Watkins mysteries by Mary Beth Logue are another Minnesota/Wisconsin-set mystery series - mostly procedural that I enjoy. Claire Watkins is a widowed single-mother and former Twin Cities detective who takes a position as Sherrif of a county just over the Wisconsin border, southeast of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I enjoy small town/rural settings and I think the author really nailed the personalities of people from the region. Claire’s circumstances kind of tug at your heartstrings and there is room for a little bit of romantic tension because of that which I always enjoy.
10. It is relatively rare that a cozy mystery really grabs me from the first book. I often have to give it at least two books if not three to make up my mind whether I will continue reading the series or not. That wasn’t the case with the Aunt Dimity series by Colorado author, Nancy Atherton. Aunt Dimity’s Death grabbed me from the get go. Now that I’m up to book 14 I’m finding myself needing to take more time between the books because they just aren’t as fresh and compelling as before. Though now that she returned back to the England village of Finch rather than traveling around the world I enjoyed the last one I read a bit more. Lori Shepherd grew up in Chicago, the daughter of a single mother who had served in England during WWII and made a lifetime friend of Dimity who wrote regularly. Lori’s mother told her bedtime stories about Aunt Dimity, who she thought were a product of her mother’s imagination until she loses her mother and discovers she is Aunt Dimity’s heir. She then discovers she can correspond with Dimity from beyond the grave through a special blue journal and together they solve mysteries in the small England village of Finch where Dimity’s cottage is. In later books Lori and her family also travel to other parts of the world and solve mysteries on their vacations.

I have many other cozy series in particular that I read regularly. Most of them with niche interests - coffee, tea, crafts etc. but I woud have far exceeded ten if I listed all of them. If you’re wondering more about them leave a comment. I’d love to have a conversation about more cozy series. What kind of mysteries do you enjoy reading? What is your most memorable mystery read?