Cozy Mystery – Carol's Notebook

A Very Novel Murder by Ellie Alexander

February 2, 2026February 2, 2026 by Carol2 Comments

Annie and Fletcher, from the Secret Bookcase Mysteries, have opened up their detective agency and have their first case. Kelly Taylor, a talented surfer and activist, recently drowned in her bathtub, but her elderly neighbor is convinced the young woman was murdered. I like Annie and Fletcher and their friends. They're smart and dedicated. They also have a good relationship with the police and have no problem keeping them updated or calling them in when necessary. Annie's boyfriend is handsome and caring and supportive and her best friend is adorable and a whiz with coffee. Annie's life is pretty good, aside from almost getting killed. There are no conflicts with her friends or employees. The town she lives in is appropriately cozy and walkable. Even the crows like her. Yes, we're told parts of her background have been tough, but it's really no surprise that with her first case, she solves a murder, uncovers a drug dealing operation, and gets...

The Mistletoe Murder Club by Katie Marsh

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025 by Carol6 Comments

I picked up The Mistletoe Murder Club, knowing it's the fourth book in the series and I haven't read any of the others. I am a sucker for a Christmas mystery and this one looked fun. The author did a good job of giving enough background without over explaining. Clio, Amber, and Jeanie are a fun team, but maybe rely more on luck and guesses than actual investigating. Clio is in a Christmas pantomime directed by the famous actress, Beatrice Butler. Unfortunately, there is tension among the cast members and Beatrice is not a nice person. When she ends up dead it's not surprising, the question is which one of them was angry enough to kill her. Detective Marco Santini is leading the investigation, but of course the women are determined to solve it. We have plenty of suspects and clues and the twist was decent. I'm not sure I'll bother going back and reading others in the series, but this...

The Holly Village Murders by Benedict Brown

December 9, 2025December 9, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

Poor Bella. Her fiancé was recently killed and now her Aunt Adele is dead under mysterious circumstances. Marius Quin, our mystery novelist/ amateur detective, and Bella head to Holly Village, where Adele lived, to figure out what happened. The folks are an interesting lot, mostly older aristocrats, but it's hard for Marius and Bella to imagine any of them as the killer. Marius and Bella make a good team, although I'm a little tired of Marius' "I love her but can't tell her" bit. The banter between the two is fun and their strengths play off each other well. The mystery takes place over about two days. We get plenty of clues and the whodunnit might be a little obvious, but there are plenty of Christmas touches that make this a nice read for the season. It's well-researched and lets you feel immersed in the late 1920s in London. It's the 6th in the series but was written to be...

O, Deadly Night by Vicki Delany

November 26, 2025November 26, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

Rudolph, New York, is the place to be for Christmas - the town goes all out to welcome tourists to America’s Christmas Town. Merry once again doesn't win the best float in the Santa Claus parade, but all the shops in town are bustling. Also a new neighborhood has moved in across the street, but Mrs. D'Angelo thinks something is up. She never sees them and they won't answer the door when she tries to drop off cookies. Mrs. D'Angelo is one of those nosey neighbors and even asks Merry to mention the elusive new-comers to the police. Then Mrs. D'Angelo disappears and Merry realizes the older woman might have taken her snooping too far. Eventually, Merry finds Mrs. D'Angelo relatively unharmed - and a dead body. The killer is pretty easy to guess in this one, as is the motive, but the characters are fun to spend time with. Merry's family and friends are appropriately quirky and her dog...

A Wonderful Christmas Crime by Jacqueline Frost

November 18, 2025November 18, 2025 by Carol4 Comments

It's Christmas time, which in Mistletoe, Maine, means another murder. This time around, the dead woman is in town with a antiques show, and was caught earlier on the evening she died trying to steal an antique decoration from a bakery. When the bakery owner, Alice, comes under suspicion, Holly want to help. Holly's husband, Sherriff Evan Gray, wants her to leave the mystery to him, especially since she's pregnant. It annoyed me how everyone treated Holly with kid gloves. Yes, she needed to pay attention to her blood pressure, but that's for her and her doctor to worry about - and maybe Evan, but definitely not everyone in town. She's an adult woman with five solved murders to her credit. She doesn't need baby sitters and constant reminders to watch what she eats. I'll grant you, it frustrated her too, and she did tell her friends and family to back off, but so much of the story was wasted on...

Arsenic and Old Lies by Benedict Brown

November 5, 2025November 5, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

I enjoy this series a lot, but don't seem to have much to say about this one. Marius Quin, mystery writer and amateur detective, finds a dead man in his study. The man has obviously been murdered and was Bella's fiancé. Bella is Marius' friend, sleuthing partner, and the woman he's been in love with forever. He's too close to the situation to help the police, so distracts himself with the case of Felicity Mortimer, a woman imprisoned for poisoning her husband fifteen years earlier. Marius is convinced Felicity is innocent and he and Bella set off to the Mortimer country estate to prove it. I like Marius. He's not the best detective or writer or the most sensitive man, but he tries. I love how well he and Bella work together and their friendship is well done. The plot moved along at a nice pace with plenty of clues, suspicious characters, and family secrets. The next in the series takes...