Looking for tightly plotted cozy mysteries
May 20, 2017 1:16 PM
I'm interested in reading some recently published (last ten years) cozy mysteries. I'm looking for books that are very well paced and plotted as opposed to books with lyrical prose. If you have an author to suggest, please also recommend an individual book, not just a series or an entire body of work. Thanks!
Oh God yes so much yes to the Louise Penny Inspector Gramache series. Still Life, the first one, is a great place to start. They are cozy and clever and extremely well written.
I absolutely love Kate Shugak -- it is literally my favourite series -- but I wouldn't call it cozy. It is dark in place, violent in others, tragic in a few places. On the plus side, there are now 21 books in the series and it is not until this very latest book that the quality dropped at all. They clip right along at a fast pace.
However! The same author also has the Liam Campbell series and they are all of the good Kate stuff but without the darkness and tragedy. They are warm and funny and combine great mystery plots with a nice but not overblown or gagging romance.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:38 PM on May 20, 2017
I absolutely love Kate Shugak -- it is literally my favourite series -- but I wouldn't call it cozy. It is dark in place, violent in others, tragic in a few places. On the plus side, there are now 21 books in the series and it is not until this very latest book that the quality dropped at all. They clip right along at a fast pace.
However! The same author also has the Liam Campbell series and they are all of the good Kate stuff but without the darkness and tragedy. They are warm and funny and combine great mystery plots with a nice but not overblown or gagging romance.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:38 PM on May 20, 2017
I love Louise Penny, but I would not put her books in the cozy category--esp the later ones. And NEVER watch the TV version of Still Life; it couldn't be worse.
Some other ideas:
- Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce is a delightful series. Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first one.
- Gail Bowen has an interesting female main character, Joanne Kilbourn, a widowed mother, political analyst and university professor who finds herself occasionally involved in criminal investigations in various parts of Saskatchewan. I liked Verdict in Blood, but all are good. Since this is a series, it helps to read in order, since family/life evolves. Earliest ones are older than 10 years.
- Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries by Julia Spencer-Fleming--Clare is an Episcopal priest & ex-Army chopper pilot, not something you encounter every day. He's the local police chief. I liked I Shall Not Want.
- Have you read Erin Hart?--books are set in modern Ireland, but archeology focused. Haunted Ground is good.
posted by Nosey Mrs. Rat at 6:46 PM on May 20, 2017
Some other ideas:
- Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce is a delightful series. Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is the first one.
- Gail Bowen has an interesting female main character, Joanne Kilbourn, a widowed mother, political analyst and university professor who finds herself occasionally involved in criminal investigations in various parts of Saskatchewan. I liked Verdict in Blood, but all are good. Since this is a series, it helps to read in order, since family/life evolves. Earliest ones are older than 10 years.
- Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries by Julia Spencer-Fleming--Clare is an Episcopal priest & ex-Army chopper pilot, not something you encounter every day. He's the local police chief. I liked I Shall Not Want.
- Have you read Erin Hart?--books are set in modern Ireland, but archeology focused. Haunted Ground is good.
posted by Nosey Mrs. Rat at 6:46 PM on May 20, 2017
I really enjoyed Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen. From the publisher's description:
London 1932. Narrator Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line for the throne, is flat broke. She bolted from Scotland -- and engagement to Fishface (Prince Stiegfriend) -- for London, where she has:posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:57 PM on May 20, 2017
a) built a fire in the hearth
b) fallen for an absolutely unsuitable Irish peer
c) made a few quid housekeeping incognita, and
d) been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy son
When an arrogant Frenchman trying to swipe her family estate winds up dead in her bathtub, how can she clear her very long family name?
FWIW, I read the first two Inspector Gamache books and...wasn't a fan. They are pretty well plotted but the author's insistence on conveying good qualities by just outright saying "So-and-so, a very wise and kind person, did a thing" drove me bananas. I don't necessarily need the characters to have a rich interior life, but I do appreciate some degree of showing not telling.
I do agree with the Flavia de Luce books (start with the first one, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie). They are all about the clever plot device. (The second book deals in part with the mysterious death of a young child years before. It isn't graphic or anything, but if that's something that bothers you, you can easily skip that book and move on to #3).
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 9:39 PM on May 20, 2017
I do agree with the Flavia de Luce books (start with the first one, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie). They are all about the clever plot device. (The second book deals in part with the mysterious death of a young child years before. It isn't graphic or anything, but if that's something that bothers you, you can easily skip that book and move on to #3).
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 9:39 PM on May 20, 2017
I like the Corinna Chapman mysteries,, which are about an Australian baker who gets entangled in a lot of different mysteries thanks to her private investigator boyfriend and her own nosiness.
posted by daybeforetheday at 2:08 AM on May 21, 2017
posted by daybeforetheday at 2:08 AM on May 21, 2017
I think the word "cozY is what's bringing all the Louise Penny results. (and she's great!) but if you remove cozy and just go for well paced and plotted I'd recommend Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series.
posted by mulcahy at 6:51 AM on May 21, 2017
posted by mulcahy at 6:51 AM on May 21, 2017
I'm a big fan of the Inspector Gamache series, and in my opinion it really only starts hitting its stride with the fourth book, A Rule Against Murder. It mostly takes place at an inn - outside of the usual village context - so it can be read as a stand-alone without feeling like you're missing too much. It's like an updated version of the country-house murder mystery.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:51 AM on May 21, 2017
posted by Daily Alice at 6:51 AM on May 21, 2017
Came in to recommend Anne Cleeves. I am crunching my way through the Shetland series right now. Well-written, interesting characters, interesting setting, cool historical tidbits. Start with Raven Black, if you like it, read them all.
posted by biscotti at 3:47 PM on May 21, 2017
posted by biscotti at 3:47 PM on May 21, 2017
Also came in here to suggest The Flavia DeLuce series by Alan Bradley. They're fanstastic -- make sure to read them in order. Some others that I dearly love:
-- Simone St. James: Atmospheric ghostly mysteries with a smidge of romance set in 1920s England. It's not a series per se, but some titles include "Lost Among the Living" "An Inquiry into Love and Death" "The Other Side of Midnight" and others.
-- G. M. Malliet: The Max Tudor series. Max Tudor is a former MI5 agent & now a vicar in a small English village. A lighthearted and enjoyable read. The first in the series is "Wicked Autumn" followed by "A Fatal Winter" "Pagan Spring" "Demon Summer"
--M. C. Beaton: Agatha Raisin series. A middle aged lady with a penchant for troublemaking and bad luck in romance manages to get herself involved mysteries & murders. She grows on you as a character and you don't need to read these in order. Titles include "The Curious Curate & the Buried Treasure" "There Goes the Bride" and lots more. The author also has a Hamish Macbeth series.
-- Dorothy Gilman: The Mrs. Pollifax series. A bored widow talks her way into getting hired as a CIA agent.
I use Audible for my mystery fix and can't get enough of these. I'm also watching this thread closely for more suggestions. Great question!
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 2:19 PM on May 22, 2017
-- Simone St. James: Atmospheric ghostly mysteries with a smidge of romance set in 1920s England. It's not a series per se, but some titles include "Lost Among the Living" "An Inquiry into Love and Death" "The Other Side of Midnight" and others.
-- G. M. Malliet: The Max Tudor series. Max Tudor is a former MI5 agent & now a vicar in a small English village. A lighthearted and enjoyable read. The first in the series is "Wicked Autumn" followed by "A Fatal Winter" "Pagan Spring" "Demon Summer"
--M. C. Beaton: Agatha Raisin series. A middle aged lady with a penchant for troublemaking and bad luck in romance manages to get herself involved mysteries & murders. She grows on you as a character and you don't need to read these in order. Titles include "The Curious Curate & the Buried Treasure" "There Goes the Bride" and lots more. The author also has a Hamish Macbeth series.
-- Dorothy Gilman: The Mrs. Pollifax series. A bored widow talks her way into getting hired as a CIA agent.
I use Audible for my mystery fix and can't get enough of these. I'm also watching this thread closely for more suggestions. Great question!
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 2:19 PM on May 22, 2017
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posted by dfan at 1:38 PM on May 20, 2017