Cozy Mystery Challenge 2009

"Will you stop licking me, mom. Somebody is watching!"

I hope you can see I have done my best to cover a wide variety of cozies with regard to authors, time and place. Kris, thank you for hosting this challenge – I enjoyed it very much indeed!

1) Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage (1930). British classic, reviewed in April.

2) Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman´s Honeymoon (1937). British classic, reviewed in May.

3) Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the Dark (2006). Australian novel reviewed in May.

4) Alexander McCall Smith, The No1 Ladies´ Detective Agency (1998). Scottish novel which takes place in Africa, reviewed in June.

5) Kirsten Holst, The Young, Rich and Beautiful (1976). Danish novel, reviewed in June. Not translated into English.

6) Louise Penny, The Cruellest Month (2007). Canadian novel, reviewed in July.

Louise Penny, The Cruellest Month (2007)

[Denne roman er ikke oversat til dansk]

This novel is the third in the Armand Gamache series which takes place in Quebec, Canada. The review is the last of six for my cozy mystery challenge.

A quotation from the first page:
“You going tonight?” Clara asked, trying to distract the old poet from taking aim at Monsier Béliveau. “Are you kidding? Live people are bad enough; why would I want to bring one back from the dead?” With that Ruth whacked Monsieur Bélieau in the back of his head.

The village of Three Pines prepare for their Easter egg hunt, hiding wooden eggs around for the children. One gets an impression of the colourful villagers immediately, e.g. old Ruth Zardo who throws her eggs at people rather than trying to hide them. She was the one who warned the others against using chocolate eggs the first year, predicting that ´something bad will happen´. That year the villagers learnt that bears also like chocolate and quickly decided to substitute them with wooden eggs in the future.

This particular year offers special entertainment: a séance to wake up the dead. The first try has no effect at all, hence the medium (a psychic witch) suggests that they have another one in the abandoned Hadley house. As any reader could have predicted, something bad will happen again: apparently one of the participants is frightened to death.

Armand Gamache of the Sûreté is put on the case; an excellent agent as well as a kind and likeable person. Gamache has been to Three Pines before on a case related to the mysterious Hadley house. Apart from solving the case he has his own problems: some years ago he exposed a bent colleague, and since then strong forces within the Sûreté have wanted to get rid of him.
Canadian Louise Penny is brilliant at creating an atmosphere. Even though I don´t like superstition and psychics in crime fiction as a rule, I found this mystery more exciting and appealing than most of the traditional cozies.

One small minus: in the ongoing “civil war” between good and corrupt forces within Sûreté, Armand Gamache is almost too perfect, more like a saviour than a real human being.

See some other reviews here: Kerrie, Mysteries in Paradise and Cathy, Kittling: Books.

Kirsten Holst, The Young, rich and beautiful (1976)

This Danish novel has not been translated into English, but as I use it as part of my Cozy Mystery Challenge, I will try to convey the style and atmosphere of it.

(A free, abridged translation of the dialogue on the first page):

- What are they like? I asked.
- Stinking rich, Paul said.
- That is not a quality.
- Of course it is. Or it will be. That was where he went wrong.
- Who?
- Papa Hemingway. Don´t you remember when Scott Fitzgerald says to him: there is a difference between the very rich and the rest of us. And Hemingway answers drily: yes, they have more money … But Fitzgerald was right. There is a difference. They are different.
- How?
- In many ways. The very rich see the world in another light, and with good reason, because it is another world you live in when you have a fortune. Do you remember poor Marie Antoinette who asked if the Parisians couldn´t eat cake when they had no bread. Any school child could hear that it was silly… She lived in another world, and that may be her stupidity. It is still like that. Two different worlds. If you have a very rich friend and ask him to find you a reasonable hotel room, he will call the best hotel in town and ask for a reasonable room, and it will cost you five times as much as you had calculated on. He has just not understood what you meant…

So a stinking rich couple move to the small closed community in which our female amateur detective, Gitte, lives. Of course they have brought some dark secrets along (to add to the ones which are already fermenting there). Secrets which are so important that people are ready to kill for them.

So in many ways this is a classic cozy mystery, and a rather fine one in my opinion. The female ´detective´ is a bit unusual, however. She divorced her alcoholic husband a few years ago, and lives on her own in an old, neglected house. She has a really good relationship with her neighbour, the tall, successful architect Paul, but is very unwilling to give up her house and her independence to move in with him. This must have seemed strange, perhaps even wrong in the Danish countryside of the 1970s, and a female friend does indeed blame her that she only plays with Paul´s feelings.

A ´teaser´ from the first chapter. Gitte and Paul only just avoid running over a neighbour who steps out in front of their car:

“How little one knows, really. Later I have thought about that episode a lot. How lucky were we? If I had run over Ingeborg that day, four, no three people, might still have been alive. And Ingeborg died anyway.”

A true cozy mystery, and Kirsten Holst has written several of them – quiet, fast reads, and never too much blood or gore.

Kirsten Holst, De unge, de rige og de smukke (1976).
Anmeldt til min ´cozy mystery challenge´.

Et ´stinkende rigt´ ægtepar flytter til det lille samfund hvor den kvindelige hovedperson Gitte bor. Selvfølgelig har de dystre hemmeligheder med i bagagen (som de kan føje til de hemmeligheder, som allerede gærer på stedet). Hemmeligheder så vigtige, at nogen er parat til at dræbe for dem.

Så på mange måder er bogen en klassisk hygge-krimi, og endda et udmærket eksempel på genren. Den kvindelige amatørdetektiv er dog lidt usædvanlig. Hun blev skilt fra sin alkoholiserede ægtemand et par år før bogen begynder, og bor alene i et gammelt, forsømt hus. Hun har et rigtig godt forhold til sin nabo, den høje, succesrige arkitekt Paul, men er højst uvillig vil at opgive sit hus og sin uafhængighed for at flytte sammen med ham. Det må have virket mærkeligt, måske endda forkert ude på landet i 70erne, og en kvindelig nabo bebrejder hende da også, at hun bare leger med Pauls følelser.

Et citat fra første kapitel, hvor Gitte og Paul lige netop har undgået at køre over den kvindelige nabo, som træder lige ud foran deres bil.

”Hvor ved man i virkeligheden lidt. Senere har jeg ofte spekuleret over den episode. Hvor heldige var vi i grunden? Hvis jeg havde kørt Ingeborg ned den dag, havde fire, nej tre mennesker måske endnu været i live.”

Typisk hyggekrimi i bedste Kirsten Holst-stil. Som der står på bagsiden: ”letlæst og befriende ublodig – trods adskillige mord.”

A McCall Smith, The No 1 Ladies´ Detective Agency (1998)

This book, written by a Scottish author, is the first in the series, and my fourth cozy mystery review.

Mma Ramotswe inherits her father´s cattle, sells the herd at the right time, and spends the money on a detective bureau, the first one run by a woman in Botswana. She is a happy and confident woman, yet when she opens the doors to her new business, she feels a twinge of doubt.

“In her heart of hearts, she knew there would be no clients. The whole idea was a ghastly mistake. Nobody wanted a private detective, and certainly nobody would want her. Who was she, after all? She was just Precious Ramotswe from Mochudi. She had never been to London or wherever detectives went to find out how to be private detectives.”

Of course Botswana needs their Miss Marple, an ordinary woman full of common sense, who solves a handful of cases in this rather different crime novel. Her life, background and childhood with her beloved father takes up quite a lot of the story, which is a real cozy mystery with a strong sense of Africa.

Meet Alexander McCall Smith

A.M. Smith, Damernes Detektivbureau Nr. 1 (2003)
Denne krimi, skrevet af en skotte, er den første i serien, og min fjerde ´cozy mystery´-anmeldelse.

Mma Ramotswe arver sin fars kvæg, sælger hjorden på det helt rigtige tidspunkt, og investerer pengene i et detektivbureau, det første i Botswana som drives af en kvinde. Hun er en lykkelig og tilfreds kvinde, men da hun slår dørene op til sin nye virksomhed, føler hun alligevel en snert af tvivl.

”I sit hjertes inderste vidste hun, der ingen klienter ville komme. Hele ideen var en skrækkelig misforståelse. Ingen havde brug for en privatdetektiv, og i særdeleshed ikke hende. Hvem var hun, når det kom til stykket? Hun var bare Precious Ramotswe fra Mochudi. Hun havde aldrig været i London, eller hvor detektiver nu tog hen for at finde ud af, hvordan man var privatdetektiver.”

Men selvfølgelig har Botswana brug for deres egen Miss Marple, en almindelig kvinde fuld af almindelig, sund fornuft, som løser en håndfuld forskellige sager i denne noget anderledes krimi. Mma Ramotswes baggrund og hendes barndom hjemme hos hendes elskede far fylder en del i denne roman, som er en rigtig hyggekrimi med et stærkt islæt af afrikansk miljø.

Mød Alexander McCall Smith

Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the Dark (2006)

[Denne bog er ikke oversat til dansk – kan lånes på engelsk via danske biblioteker]
Cozy Mystery Reading Challenge # 3

This cozy mystery is from Australia, the 16th in the Phryne Fisher series. The story takes place in Victoria in the year 1928, when the rich and independent Miss Fisher receives an anonymous letter among all her Christmas cards, warning her that she had better stay away from a fabulous five-day New Year´s party. Phryne Fisher is not a person one tells what to do, however, so now she is determined to go.

The series conveys a nice sense of the roaring twenties and the decadent drink, drug and dance scene of affluent Australia. The weather is very un-Scandinavian: “The north wind was picking up. By tomorrow it might be the full dragon´s breath which withered trees and started bushfires and always gave Phryne a headache.”

To sum up the plot in a few words, a spoiled little boy is kidnapped, and the mysterious ´Joker´ threatens to kill the generous and popular host of the party. Phryne Fisher must take action – in between the many indispensable meals, games and concerts. She solves the crimes expertly, but more like an intellectual puzzle or game than through hard work.

So even millennium cozies will be cozies, and typically for the genre, the whole story centres around one manor and the surrounding lands, but the sex scenes have become somewhat more explicit and might make Miss Marple blush.

An example of the humorous tone of the story:
“´But surely this is exaggerated´ protested Miss Eliza. ´This Joker sounds like something out of Sexton Blake.´
´Stands to reason there must have been someone to copy all those villains from,´ said Dot reasonably.”

Dorothy Sayers, Busman´s Honeymoon (1937)

Cozy Mystery Reading Challenge # 2

This crime novel is not only a classic, but also the prototype of a cosy mystery, because the main part of the plot takes place in and around one single house, with the usual, small circle of suspects.

Several letters at the beginning of the novel indicate that Sayers may have planned to write an epistolary novel, but after the first twenty five pages she changes the style and continues in traditional crime fiction mode.

A short plot summary: the coveted bachelor Lord Peter Wimsey has finally married the independent crime fiction writer Harriet Vane, who has a past as a murder suspect. The two set out for their honeymoon in their newly acquired country house, Talboys. Contrary to their expectations, the former owner has vanished into thin air, and nothing has been prepared for their reception. The owner, cynical and stingy Mr Noakes, reappears soon enough, however, at the foot of the stairs of his own cellar.

The peace is over as the detective and crime writer can´t just enjoy their honeymoon with a murderer on the loose. Superintendent Kirk is a good and conscientious police officer, but he accepts their assistance eagerly, and rejoices at every opportunity to exchange literary quotations with Peter Wimsey.

As usual D.L. Sayers has created a fine and coherent crime plot, but the love story does take up a good deal of the book. Peter Wimsey fans will know that the public-spirited nobleman suffers when his own ´victims´ have been brought to justice (at a time when England had not given up the death penalty), and after having tried to cope with his feelings of horror and guilt on his own, he seeks Harriet´s help. “You´re my corner, and I´ve come to hide.”

For readers who enjoy cozy mysteries at all, this master mystery is a must.

Dorothy L Sayers, Peter Wimseys hvedebrødsdage (1950).
Denne krimi er dels en klassiker, dels prototypen på et cozy mystery, fordi så stor en del af handlingen udspiller sig i og omkring et enkelt hus, med den sædvanlige lille kreds af mistænkte.

En lang række breve ved starten af romanen kunne tyde på, at Sayers havde planer om at skrive en brevroman, men efter de første femogtyve skifter hun stil, og fortsætter på traditionel krimivis.

Et kort rids af handlingen: den eftertragtede ungkarl Lord Peter Wimsey er omsider blevet gift, med den uafhængige krimiforfatter Harriet Vane, som har en fortid som mordmistænkt. Parret drager på bryllupsrejse til deres nyindkøbte landsted, hvor alt skulle være klar til at modtage dem, men den tidligere ejer er forsvundet, og intet er forberedt. Ejeren, den kyniske og nærige Mr Noakes, dukker dog snart op igen for foden af sin egen kældertrappe.
Freden er forbi, for naturligvis kan detektiven og krimiforfatteren ikke bare nyde deres hvedebrødsdage, mens en morder er på fri fod. Den lokale mand, Superintendent Kirk er både dygtig og samvittighedsfuld, men tager gerne imod den udstrakte hånd.

Som sædvanlig har D.L. Sayers skabt et fint og sammenhængende krimiplot, men kærlighedshistorien fylder unægtelig også en del i bogen. Peter Wimsey-fans vil vide, at den samfundsbevidste adelsmand har det svært, når hans egne ´ofre´ har været for retten (i en tid hvor England endnu ikke havde opgivet dødsstraffen), og efter at have forsøgt at klare sig igennem på egen hånd som sædvanlig, overgiver han sig, og søger Harriets hjælp. ”Du er mit hjørne, og jeg er kommet for at skjule mig.”

For læsere, som overhovedet er til ´cozy mysteries´, er dette mestermysterium ikke til at komme uden om.

Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage (1930)

Cozy Mystery Challenge # 1

I had three good reasons to choose this one as the first in my cozy mystery challenge: it is a real classic, it takes place in a vicarage, and a vicar´s wife plays an important role in it. (See my own vicarage below the review).

As a rule, vicars in British crime fiction are unworldly and impractical, or naïve and boring. But reverend Clement is quite appealing in his total adoration of his unsuitably beautiful young Griselda.

The church warden, tiresome and choleric Colonel Protheroe, is killed when he is going to reveal something to the vicar. A narrow circle of suspects are all gathered in a handful of houses around the vicarage in St Mary Mead.

We are introduced to Mrs Marple through the eyes of Griselda. The kind vicar likes her for her sense of humour, but his wife is more skeptical: “She is the worst cat in the village… And she always knows every single thing that happens – and draws the worst inferences from it.”

The characters are sketched by quick strokes of the pen, and some of the typical ´roles´ in this – as in many other Christie novels – are the gruff ex officer, the spinster, the vamp, the untidy young girl, the naïve or flighty maids, the mysterious newcomer etc.

And of course there is Miss Marple, spinster and private eye by virtue of her observant, or should we say curious, nature. She often works in her front garden with its perfect view of the doings of the villagers, equipped with her binoculars ´for bird watching´. In this first Marple novel she is efficient and perspicacious, but does not appear as sympathetic as in later books.

The police are mainly represented by Inspector Slack, the supercilious type who draws his own hasty conclusions and invariably fails to listen to others. But when everything seems hopeless, Miss Marple takes charge. Fear not, justice will prevail.

See Kerrie´s review on Mysteries in Paradise.


Agatha Christie, Mordet i præstegården (1951)
Cozy Mystery Challenge # 1.

For mig er der mindst tre gode grunde til at anmelde denne bog som den første i min cozy mystery challenge: den er en rigtig klassiker inden for genren, den udspiller sig i en præstegård, og en præstekone har en væsentlig rolle i den. Præster i britiske krimier er som regel verdensfjerne og upraktiske, eller naive og kedelige. Men pastor Clement er i det mindste tiltalende i sin totale tilbedelse af sin ganske upassende smukke og unge Griselda.

Kirkeværgen, den besværlige og koleriske oberst Protheroe bliver myrdet, netop som han vil til at betro præsten et eller andet. En snæver kreds af mistænkte befinder sig alle i de få huse omkring præstegården i St Mary Mead.

Griselda skal til teselskab, og her skal vi møde Miss Marple for første gang. Den rare pastor kan godt lide miss Marple, som ´i hvert fald har humoristisk sans.” Griselda er mere skeptisk: ”Hun er den største sladderhank i byen. Hun ved alt, hvad der foregår, og hun lægger den værste betydning i det alt sammen.”

Personerne bliver hurtigt skitseret, og nogle af de typiske ´roller´ i denne som i mange andre Christie-romaner er den koleriske ex-officer, gammeljomfruen, vampen, den sjuskede unge pige, de naive eller forfløjne tjenestepiger, den mystiske, nyopdukkede fremmede osv.

Og så er der selvfølgelig Miss Marple, gammeljomfru og privatdetektiv, i kraft af sin observante, eller skal vi kalde det nysgerrige, natur. Hun arbejder ofte i sin have, med god udsigt til landsbyboernes gøren og laden, udstyret med sin nyttige ´fuglekikkert´. I denne første Marple-bog er hun effektiv og skarpsindig, men fremstår ikke nær så sympatisk som i senere bøger.

Politiet repræsenteres blandt andet af inspector Slack, den overlegne type, som hellere drager forhastede slutninger og låser sig fast på sin egen opfattelse, end lytter til andre. Men bedst som det hele ser håbløst ud, er Miss Marple selvfølgelig på pletten.

Se Kerries anmeldelse, Mysteries in Paradise, og ´min´ præstegård her under.

Cozy Mystery - Hyggekrimi

Skal jeg nu bruge det engelske begreb ´cozy mystery´, eller skal jeg oversætte det til hyggekrimi? I hvert fald vil jeg gerne fortælle, at jeg nu har kastet mig ud i en ny udfordring: læs og anmeld seks hyggekrimier i perioden 1. april – 30. september.

Det er Kris, Not Enough Books, som er vært for denne udfordring, og hvis andre skulle føle sig fristet, kan det stadig lade sig gøre at melde sig til (men man skal nok helst anmelde bøgerne på engelsk).

Det er ikke obligatorisk at lave en liste over bøger på forhånd, men jeg har skrevet mine umiddelbare ideer ned:

Engelske forfattere: Louise Penny, Agatha Christie (Miss Marple), Caroline Graham, A.A. Milne, Peter Lovesey, Alexander McCall Smith, Dorothy Sayers, Ann Cleeves, Martha Grimes, Ellis Peters, Gillian Roberts & Elizabeth Ferrars.

Skandinaviske forattere: Anders Bodelsen (Den åbne dør), Else Fischer, Kirsten Holst (Døden rejser med) Maria Lang (Mordet på Landsbykirkegården)

Hvad synes du? Hvilke af forfatterne vil du gerne have en anmeldelse af? – eller har du en yndlingsforfatter/hyggekrimi, du synes skal med på listen?



Cozy Mystery Reading Challenge.
Last week I found this reading challenge via Beth Fish´s blog, and I did not even try to resist the temptation. Thank you, Kris, Not Enough Books, for hosting this one.

The most important Rules:
1. The challenge runs from April 1, 2009 –September 30, 2009 (6 months)
2. The goal is to read at least 1 cozy mystery for each month, so a total of 6. You can read these all in the same month, one per month, or however you want.
3. It is ok to use books that you are already reading for other challenges, however at least 2 need to be specific for this challenge.

We don´t have to make a list beforehand, but here is a list of ideas I jotted down immediately:

English authors: Louise Penny, Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, Murder at the Vicarage), Caroline Graham, A.A. Milne, The Red House Mystery, Peter Lovesey, Alexander McCall Smith, Dorothy Sayers (Busman´s Honeymoon), Ann Cleeves, George & Molly Palmer, Martha Grimes, Ellis Peters, Gillian Roberts, (Amanda Pepper), Elizabeth Ferrars.

Scandinavian authors: Anders Bodelsen (Den åbne dør), Else Fischer, Kirsten Holst (Døden rejser med) Maria Lang (Mordet på Landsbykirkegården)

What do you think? Any of these you´d particularly like a review of, or do you have a favourite book/author which should be on my list?