Cozies

Here are some authors you might want to try if you like your mysteries gentle, with a cup of tea and perhaps a cat on the side.

Susan Wittig Albert--China Bayles, herb shop owner and former attorney in Pecan Springs, Texas

Nancy Atherton -- Aunt Dimity - dead but still solving mysteries in England!

M.C. Beaton -- Hamish Macbeth, Scottish police constable; Agatha Raisin, retired London ad executive with an attitude living in the Cotswolds.

Rhys Bowen--Wales village constable Evan Evans.

Lillian Jackson Braun--Jim Qwilleran and his famous cats, Koko and Yum Yum.

Sneaky Pie and Rita Mae Brown--Okay, so I gave the cat first billing. The books feature Crozet, Virginia, postmistress Mary Minor Haristeen and her cat, Mrs. Murphy.

Dorothy Cannell -- Ellie Haskell, British interior decorator and (a few books into the series) mother of twins, married to a writer-chef. Start with The Thin Woman.

Agatha Christie --Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and more.

Hamilton Crane--Emily Seeton, retired British art teacher. [Note: This series was started by Heron Carvic, then Crane, then Hampton Charles. If you are a Miss Seeton fan, just ask your friendly bookseller to find them for you.]

Jill Churchill -- Jane Jeffry, Chicago suburban single mother.

Mary Daheim--Emma Lord, small-town Alpine, Washington, newspaper owner-editor; and Judith McMonigle Flynn, Seattle bed and breakfast owner.

Jeanne Dams -- Dorothy Martin, American widow living in England.

Diana Mott Davidson--Does anyone not know famous Aspen caterer Goldy Bear Schultz?

Carola Dunn -- Daisy Dalrymple, aristocratic young feature writer in 1920s England.

Earlene Fowler -- This quilting series features Benni Harper, folk art musuem curator.

Anne George--Mary Alice Crane and Patricia Anne Hollowell, 60-something sister sleuths in Birmingham, Alabama.

Ann Granger -- English village mysteries

Charlaine Harris -- Aurora Teagarden, Georgia librarian turned real estate agent.

Carolyn G. Hart--The popular "Death of Demand" series featuring South Carolina bookstore owner Annie Laurance and her sleuthing husband Max Darling.

Hazel Holt--Sheila Malory, widowed British literary magazine writer.

Sharon Kahn--Ruby Rothman, rabbi's widow in Eternal, Texas.

Charlotte MacLeod--The Shandy series features botony professor Peter (renowned for developing a hybrid rutabaga) and his librarian wife Helen. The Sarah Kelling series blue-blooded Sarah and her quirky Boston family along with her investigator husband Max.

Leslie Meier--Lucy Stone, sleuthing mother of four in Tinker's Cover, Maine.

Kate Morgan--Dewey Jones, small-town Kentucky librarian.

Tamar Myers -- Magdalene Yoder, Pennsylvania Mennonite innkeeper; Abigail Timberlake, North Carolina antique dealer.

Sister Carol Anne O'Marie--Sister Mary Helen, 70-something sleuthing nun. [Note: I believe part, if not all, of the profits from these books still go to A Friendly Place, the women's shelter Sister Carol Anne helped found in 1990 in downtown Oakland.]

Katherine Hall Page--Faith Sibley Fairchild, caterer, minister's wife, mother, sleuth in small-town Massachusetts.

Virginia Rich (continued by Nancy Pickard) -- Eugenia Potter, food writer. [Note: Stick to the three written by Rich.  Pickard is an excellant writer and it would be well worth your time to read her Jenny Cain series, but she just doesn't quite get Eugenia...in my humble opinion.

Dorothy L. Sayers--Lord Peter, of course.

Denise Swanson--Skye Denison, school psychologist and amateur sleuth.

Deborah Woodworth-- Rose Callahan, 1930s Shaker sister in North Homage, Kentucky.

Margaret Yorke--I'm just playing with you here. Yorke is definitely not cozy. But she's really good and more people in this country should read her, so if you know anyone who likes quirky psychological thrillers, run out and get them one of her books.