Cozies & Competition

2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge

One of my goals for June was to finish my cosy mystery challenge. Done!

1. Donna Moore, Old Dogs (2010) – cosy caper – read in April
2. M.C. Beaton, Death of an Outsider( 1988) – read in April
3. Louise Doughty, Honey-Dew (1998) – read in April
4. Jackie Fullerton, Revenge Served Cold (2010) – read in May
5. Rebecca Tope, Death in the Cotswolds (2006) – read in June
6. Ngaio Marsh, Artists in Crime (1938) – classical whodunit - read in June

Most humorous: Old Dogs
Most traditional: Artists in Crime
Cosiest: Death of an Outsider + Death in the Cotswolds


And now for my ´competition´.
In a few days I expect visitor no 30,000. On this occasion I have decided to give away a gift voucher of £ 10 (or $ 15) for Amazon.com or Amazon.uk

The rules:
World wide competition
Send an email with your name before next Sunday (July 4th) to do.hu.ja (at) mail.tele.dk

Tie breaker: write the name of one writer I like. (Don´t worry, I like 95 % of the books I review)

Ngaio Marsh, Artists in Crime (1938)

Ngaio Marsh (1895 – 1982) may still be the most famous crime fiction writer from New Zealand. This novel is the sixth in the Alleyn series, and the story where he meets Agatha Troy, the brilliant painter, whom he marries later.

Here is Alleyn´s first impression of Miss Troy when they meet on a boat from New Zealand back to England:

”Sitting on the canvas cover of one of the boats was a woman. She seemed to be dabbing at something. She stood up and he saw that she wore a pair of exceedingly grubby flannel trousers, and a short grey overall. In her hand was a long brush. Her face was disfigured by a smudge of green paint, and her short hair stood up in a worried shock, as though she had run her hands through it.”

This may not be art crime, but certainly artist crime. Alleyn falls for the interesting artist at first sight; she misunderstands him and feels annoyed by his unwanted attention while he, the nobleman, sees her beauty, her talent, her personality and her great intelligence behind the coat of paint.

Agatha Troy is going back home to Britain to begin a painting class for a handful of promising painters. As the reader expects, a murder soon takes place in the small, closed circle, and of course Alleyn is on the case, giving him a chance to be close to her.

There are several points of resemblance between this fine Golden Age whodunit and Dorothy L. Sayers´ Strong Poison, the novel where Lord Peter Wimsey meets Harriet Vane, the interesting and intelligent author who is accused of murder. Wimsey falls in love at their first meeting and does everything to save his beloved, but she is far too proud to accept his proposal.

2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge # 6

Coming up later this weekend: Competition - win a gift card.

Repecca Tope, Death in the Cotswolds (2006)

This British novel is the third in the Thea Osborne series but the first I have read.

The murder weapon was a novelty to me, and the idyllic setting is a small Cotswold village:

“I had wasted much of the day thinking about Phil and how it would be to have him across the street for a week, pottering about tidying my house when I should have been working in the garden, digging potatoes, picking up windfall apples for my pig. She was a very beautiful Tamworth, incidentally, called Arabella, living in a patch of old coppice I rented for peanuts half a mile away.”

Even though it is called a ´Thea Osborne´, the main character and first-person narrator is Ariadne, the local woman who lives across the cottage which Thea and her partner, Phil Hollis are staying in.

Ariadne lives alone with her independent cat and her beloved pig, spinning and knitting beautiful garments and scarves. She is the very enthusiastic leader of the local group of pagans, or wiccans, so when one of her few close friends, young Gaynor, is found murdered in Notgrove Long Barrow, a holy site used for pagan rituals, the police have to put her on the initial list of suspects. This results in a strained relationship with Phil Hollis who is not only Ariadne´s childhood friend, but also a Detective Inspector. As he was on the spot, he is put on the case, of course, leaving Thea and Ariadne to spend most of the week together, feeding Phil with useful bits of information about the villagers.

Though the motive did not seem very convincing to me, this was a fast, but really enjoyable read.


Reviewed for the 2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge # 5.

Jackie Fullerton, Revenge Served Cold (2010)

This is the American writer´s second crime novel (Jacqueline Fullerton according to Fantasticfiction.co.uk)

The novel is not marketed as cozy mystery, but I think there are several reasons why this light and entertaining story should be:

1. There is more focus on environment and characters than on drama and gory details
2. The young law students are much better at solving the crime than the quite incompetent police force
3. Young Anne Marshall´s sidekick is the ghost of her late father. A very active ghost.

The first lines:
“Ross felt his hatred boil. A slow, hot burn moved up his neck as he watched Elliott joke with the barmaid. His jaw tightened. This man had ruined his life, yet Ross laughed as if nothing had happened.”

Ross and Elliott were the best of friends until they both fell in love with Kathy – and Kathy chose Elliott. The above reunion is the first time the two have met in fifteen years, and Elliott who is worried about Kathy´s drinking problem does not even seem to realize that he has destroyed Ross´ life. Professor Elliott Spencer never gets a second chance to think about it, however, as he is killed by a hit-and-run driver on his way home.

Kathy drinks because she desperately wants a child, and she seems quite defenseless when the police begin to suspect her of killing her husband. Her old friend Shirley and Anne Marshall, one of Spencer´s law students, help each other searching for evidence the police have not even thought about looking for. Anne´s friends tell her to stay clear of danger, but when her late father appears in his favourite chair with his beloved pipe, ready to solve the crime, Anne feels she has to assume the role of his sidekick.

This ARC was kindly sent to me by the publisher.

Reviewed for the 2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge # 4.

Louise Doughty, Honey-Dew aka An English Murder (1998)

This British novel is the writer´s third. The genre is called satirical cozy, or cozy noir.

The peaceful environment in dusty Nether Bowston may point toward cozy mystery, but the story of Gemma Cowper who fails her O-levels and whose father is far too keen on protecting her against the world out there is unsettling. The tone and setting are old-fashioned, but surprisingly scary. And then both parents are stabbed to death, and Gemma vanishes.

The narrator, Alison Akenside, is a local journalist who lives close to the Cowpers. She has led a quiet single life, but she sees the murders as her one-time chance to have a scoop. And we soon learn that Alison and her family also have plenty of skeletons in the cupboard.

Unfortunately, the book is an uneven performance. On the plus side the first part and the environment are wonderfully sinister, and there is more psychological insight in the characters than in most cozies, but the ending is a bit of a let-down as there is not enough new information for my taste.

I bought the book myself. Reviewed for the 2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge # 3.

Bernadette´s review.

M.C. Beaton, Death of an Outsider (1988)

This is the fourth Hamish Macbeth story.

“Hamish hated change almost as much as he hated work. He had the tenancy of some croft land next to the police station at Lochdubh, where he kept a small herd of sheep, now being looked after by a neighbor. He earned quite good money on the side from his small farming, his poaching, and the prize money he won for hill running at the Highland Games in the summer. All that he could save went to his mother and father and brothers and sisters over in Cromarty. He did not anticipate any easy pickings in Cnothan.”

I think the scene is set with this description of Hamish who prefers solving family problems in the close community to spectacular murder cases. But he is forced to leave his usual beat as his superior is going to Florida for three months, and Hamish must act as his stand-in.

Soon after his arrival at Cnothan, one man disappears and the remains of another one crops up in a lobster tank! As such atrocious crimes are not within Hamish´s powers, Chief Detective Inspector Blair swoops down on the reluctant village while trying to keep Hamish out of sight so the village idiot cannot ´steal his thunder´.

This cozy mystery is very cosy indeed; the country setting, the quirky characters and the bodies which are never described in great detail all add to the fiftyish atmosphere, and when the crimes are solved, everybody is happy (at least the good guys), and order is restored.

I bought the book myself and read it for the 2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge # 2.

Donna Moore, Old Dogs (2010)

This ´cozy crime caper´ is Scottish writer Donna Moore´s second novel. See my review of her debut, Go to Helena Handbasket

“The contessa came back into the living room and glided to the window. She looked down at the imposing gravel driveway of the very smart, very exclusive, country house hotel with its view of Loch Lomond.”

Excellent surroundings – but will the first impressions last?

Two invaluable gold dogs are displayed at a Glasgow museum, and the main characters of this fantastic story, Contessa Letitzia di Ponzo and her sister Signora Teodora Grisiola, former tarts, now conwomen, see the dogs as a nice route to a very comfortable retirement.

The problem is that all and sundry want those dogs: a Scottish born-and-bred idealistic young Buddhist, a former employee of the museum, two thugs who work at a crematorium, plus a vindictive Australian. I have probably forgotten a handful, but I am sure you get the drift.

By coincidence they all plan to steal the dogs on one and the same Saturday evening, and Glasgow can turn from order to chaos. How will the handsome Chief Constable McEnteggart solve all these simultaneous mysteries – while looking good on the screen? No more about all the devious twists and turns: curl up in your best armchair with the book – be ready to forget all about real life and recession and have a laugh!

Donna was kind enough to send me this ARC, but from this week you can buy it fresh from the printing press.

Read for the 2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge

Cozy Mystery Challenge

Just like last year, I have decided to participate in the Cozy Mystery Challenge, hosted by Kris of Not Enough Books.

The main rules are as follows:

1. The challenge runs April 1st, 2010 through September 30, 2010.

2. The goal is to read at least 6 cozy mysteries, one for each month. You can choose to read more, but you must read 6 in order to complete this challenge.

3. While you can overlap with other challenges, please try to have at least 2 of the books only count towards this challenge.

Apart from the first book which will be reviewed tomorrow, I have not made any definite plans for what to read, but I think I have one or two on my shelf.

Or would you like to help me by suggesting a book or an author?

Here is my wrap-up post from 2009 so you can see what I read last year.

Readers suggest:
L.C. Tyler
Caroline Graham
Elizabeth Spann Craig, Delicious and Suspicious
Jasper Fforde
Carola Dunn, the Daisy Dalrymple series