A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025: Mysteries: C Is For Cosies

 Cosies are my favourite type of mysteries. They tend to be about a character - usually a woman - who isn’t a professional detective. Mostly, the character has a boyfriend who is. Kerry Greenwood, for example, has written a series about baker Corinna Chapman, who lives and runs her business in the Melbourne CBD. Her boyfriend, Daniel Cohen, is a private detective. The books usually end with recipes baked during the course of the story - and a party held by all the inhabitants of the lovely Roman-style block of flats, Insula. There are quite a few American cosies with bakers or cooks, though to be honest, I prefer Kerry Greenwood’s recipes. She enjoys baking and writes it into her stories. The American ones I have read have rather fatty recipes I couldn’t eat.

There are a lot of occupations carried on by the heroines of cosies - cleaners, booksellers, caterers, florists and many more. Quite often the detective boyfriend is a police officer. She stumbles into whatever case he is handling.

Then there is Kathy Reichs’s Tempe Brennan, who has even had her own TV series, though I haven’t seen it. I’m not sure you could quite call these books cosies, as there is a murder in each, but Tempe Brennan isn’t a professional detective. She is a forensic anthropologist, though, and checks human remains in the course of investigation into murders. The author is herself a forensic anthropologist. 

Tempe has a niece, who features in a novel that reads very much like The Goonies and, in one scene, is watching a TV show that’s cheekily based on Bones, the Tempe Brennan show.

In each of the Tempe Brennan novels I have read, she has at least one scene where the killer traps her in a room and snarls, “Ha ha, now I’ve got you, you interfering bitch!” So, not a professional detective, no. But she does escape the villain and appear in another novel.

The Corinna Chapman novels are more obviously cosies, though, as there is no murder in any of them. There is, admittedly, one where there is an attempted murder in the middle of a witches’ gathering, but the main issue is some jewels stolen by the Nazis and somehow turning up in the present day in Melbourne! 

So, do you have a favourite cosy series?

A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025, Mysteries: B Is For Benjamin January

 

If you have been following this blog for a while, you will certainly have read my posts about the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly. But the series is among my favourites. I can’t leave it out. So far, there are twenty books plus some self published short stories and novellas, which are published on Smashwords. All are worth reading. It’s one of the few series I’ve read that doesn’t go downhill.

It’s set in New Orleans in the 1830s and 40s. Sometimes there is travel elsewhere. Benjamin January is an African American former slave, who is now making most of his living as a musician and piano teacher, though he is also qualified as a surgeon, thanks to his mother Livia’s late lover, who bought her and her children out of slavery and set her up as a placee(coloured mistress). 

Benjamin is also a sleuth. Usually, it’s because someone he cares about has been accused of murder. Sometimes he is actually commissioned and paid. He works with his two closest friends, both white, to solve each mystery. One of them is Abishag Shaw, a police officer - who commissions him, in one novel, The Shirt On His Back, to find out who murdered his brother. His other close friend is fellow musician Hannibal Sefton, an Anglo Irishman, who is poor as dirt now, and very sick, but who carries a Stradivarius violin. Hannibal often poses as his master when they need to travel because it will be safer for Benjamin to avoid being kidnapped and sold back into slavery if he is apparently a slave. 

His wife, Rose, is an intellectual who runs a girls’ school and translates Ancient Greek and Latin text. 

I really enjoy this series. It’s not only the history but the culture that intrigues me. The author really knows her history but also things such as the food - my mouth waters every time Benjamin stops off with a friend on the street to discuss the case while enjoying coffee and delicious pastries. Also, when one of his family is cooking. Yum! 

She also, quite often, centres a story around a historical event, or includes a historical figure. In the course of the series, he meets pre-circus Barnum, a charming rogue, and Edgar Allan Poe, when Benjamin is in Washington searching for a missing man. Both of these help him. 

If you haven’t read any of these stories yet, what are you waiting for? 

The first novel in the series is A Free Man Of Color. 

Owltitude Press: An Interview With Rebecca Fung

Recently, I reviewed children’s novel Septopus by Rebecca Fung on this site. Rebecca is also a  publisher at Owltitude Press, a small Australian press specialising in children’s books. Septopus was the first book from Owltitude, so far the only one, but keep an eye out for more. You’ll see Rebecca’s plans below. 

Take it away, Rebecca, and thanks for kindly agreeing to this interview!

GR: What gave you the idea to start Owltitude Press - and why that name?

RF: I worked in a small legal publishing company as an editor - very different from children's publishing but I worked closely with a group of people who'd started up their own publishing company. Their story was very inspiring (one of the things I love about stories!). They told me things like how they started out together and raced around madly selling their first book out of a van - and now it's their strongest selling title.

 

I love writing children's books and I had a manuscript so this was the place we wanted to start. We felt children could be inspired as I was. We discussed ideas for growing children's love of reading and writing and we wanted to be part of that.

 

'Owltitude' is a mash-up of owls - animals that I find super-endearing (and also a symbol of wisdom and learning which we thought very appropriate) and the word 'altitude' - we wanted to challenge ourselves and kids to write their best and push their creativity further.

 

GR: Tell us a bit about the process of publishing Septopus.

RF: When I started Owltitude Press I had most of the Septopus draft written and revised. I had engaged some amazing beta readers to read it for me and they gave most helpful feedback so it could be further edited and improved.

 

Because we really wanted to get children more involved in Owltitude Press, we reached out to schools and some children test-read the first couple of chapters of Septopus and gave feedback. I was so impressed by the interest and variety of feedback given by children in middle to upper primary school.

 

I also worked with Kathy Creamer, my illustrator. It was highly enjoyable working with an artist and receiving illustrations to choose from and develop with her.

 

Kathy is an absolute star. She went above and beyond in her work on Septopus. She was tireless in working on feedback and the little details she puts into her illustrations are so clever. They really take the book to the next level. I found out a good artist can teach you a lot about your own characters.

 

GR:  What else are you planning for Owltitude Press?

RF: I've talked to people about several projects and I'm writing a new manuscript now. However, I don't want to rush into anything. When I talk to people I want to feel that we're both committed to the project and it's both the right time and the right fit - we don't want to do something that anyone's uncomfortable with to meet a quota or anything.

 

GR: What are some of the best moments in running a press?

RF: When the books arrived back from the printer was a high point! I've worked in publishing before and this is always a favourite time for me - when you see your work become a tangible product.

 

The book launch was also fantastic. We launched the book at Book Face St Ives and the staff were so cooperative. Everyone who attended made the day special. We had special Septopus gingerbread and other themed food, there was a great turnout, the children asked interesting questions, everyone was supportive and we sold out of books!

 

Every time someone buys a book, says they've enjoyed a book or wants to talk about books with me is a great moment. Having a press gives a lot of freedom to work with books (which I love) and do it at my own pace, and look for my own opportunities. I'm open to all sorts of ideas.

 

GR: Are you working on something, yourself, right now? 

I'm writing a book about a magical zoo - a zoo with magical creatures such as dragons and unicorns in it. I've also been asked if I would write a sequel to Septopus and the answer is yes, I have been sketching out ideas for that too!

Thanks, Rebecca! That was fascinating. I think it’s great that you got children so involved in your first publication. 

If you want to check out Owltitude, the new web site is now up.

 

A To Z Blogging Challenge 2025: Mysteries! A Is For Archer

C. J. Archer is an author I have just discovered. She seems to be very prolific, writing both mysteries and speculative fiction. This novel, Murder At The Mayfair Hotel, is the first of a series. The heroine and sleuth is Cleopatra(Cleo) Fox, who, in this book, has just come to live with her aunt, uncle and cousins at the Mayfair Hotel in London, after losing her grandmother, who had brought her up. She lost both her parents as a child.

Three chapters into the novel one of the guests is found horribly dead in her room. Cleo and some of the staff get together to find the murderer. Will the hotel go down as other guests find out and leave and the newspapers report it? Who could have done it? Suspects include a staff member whose father is the detective inspector investigating the case. 

This is an entertaining cosy set in the late Victorian era. Cleo is a likeable character and the Victorian hotel described is fascinating.

If you are curious about this series, this first novel is currently free on both Apple Books and Kindle, and the other ebooks are not expensive, about A$6.99 each. If you do get it on Kindle, you can buy the audiobook that goes with it for only A$2.99. Definitely worth checking out! 

A To Z 2025. Theme Release

 I’ve been doing A to Z for several years now and have forgotten some of the ones I’ve posted. And some of the books and authors I am going to mention have been on this blog before, mainly in reviews. But the theme of this year’s A to Z has not been covered here before.

I love speculative fiction and children’s/YA works. I also love mysteries. So, that’s this year’s theme. I will be covering books and authors I’ve read and enjoyed over the years.

My preference is cosies, with the occasional police procedural. 

I hope you enjoy crime fiction as much as I do! I confess I’d love to write it myself, as well as the fantasy and non fiction I’ve done for children and teens. One of these days…

Saving Susy Sweetchild: Silver Screen Historical Mysteries 3. By Barbara Hambly. Edinburgh: Severn House, 2024

Saving Susy Sweetchild is the third of the Silver Screen Historical Mysteries. This series, set in Hollywood in the 1920s, started life as Bride Of The Rat God, a horror novel in which Norah Blackstone, an Englishwoman who had married an American soldier during World War I, lost her entire family, including her husband, and moved to Hollywood with her beautiful sister-in-law Christine, a silent movie star. They had to deal with a horrifying Manchu god which tears apart its victims, who wear a sacrificial necklace. It was a lot of fun. It’s probably out of print, though I was able to get it in audiobook.

Now, the fantasy elements have been removed and the novels are murder mysteries. Norah Blackstone becomes Emma Blackstone and Christine is Kitty. She still owns three cute Pekingese dogs, with the same names and personalities as in Bride Of The Rat God. Emma still has a cameraman as a boyfriend, though his name has been changed from Alec to Zal. Between the three of them, mysteries are solved.

In this one, there are some murders, but the main issue is the kidnapping of a child movie star, Susy Sweetchild. Her current film is unfinished, so the studio is not happy, not worrying about the child herself, but how they can finish the film without her if necessary. The child has been robbed of her earnings by her mother and other relatives want to get custody so they, too, can benefit from her work. In those days, children in film were not protected. The best known case was Jackie Coogan, who later went on to play Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. When he turned 21, he discovered that his mother and stepfather had squandered all the money he had earned as a child actor. The Coogan Act came in to protect other children. 

Emma, Kitty and Zal work together to solve the mystery and find Susy, hoping she is still alive.

It’s very readable stuff, with a lot of silent era Hollywood background. Like Christine, Kitty plays villain roles and enjoys them. Kitty is a lot less ditzy than Christine, though she does like men, plural, as Christine does. Despite that, she has enough of a brain to be involved in the mystery solving. 

I think I enjoyed this one even more than the second book, One Extra Corpse. It’s not surprising; Barbara Hambly’s books never seem to go downhill. There are twenty Benjamin January mystery books and they are still going strong. 

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t read Bride Of The Rat God, though you probably would enjoy this novel more if you have read the first two books in this series.

I bought my copy in Apple Books, and they are also in Kindle, but if you prefer print books, they should be available from your local bookshop. 

 

Moonboy by Anna Ciddor. Sydney: Allen And Unwin, 2025

 

This is the latest of Anna Ciddor’s delightful time slip novels. In the others, the characters time travelled to Roman times. In this one, our heroine, Charlotte, time travels only as far as 1969, where she meets her grandfather when he was her age. Keith, nicknamed Moonboy during his childhood for his passion for the space program, is suffering dementia in his older years and is living in an aged care facility which looks after several dementia sufferers. Charlotte and her grandfather had been very close and it is hard for her to see him like this. 

Checking out his box of childhood treasures, mostly cuttings connected with Apollo 11, she puts on his footy jumper and finds that it takes her back to the past, where she meets and befriends young Keith and his family. 

She finds she can change the past, such as persuading his older sister Gwen to go to do a job at Honeysuckle Creek, the Australian tracking station which showed visuals from the moon. There Gwen becomes interested in the space program and becomes an engineer instead of working at a shop in Queensland as Charlotte remembers. This inspires Charlotte to change some more history for the better.

Charlotte finds ways to get her grandfather to recover some memories and speak again, by reminding him of the space program.

The scenes in 1969, with the moon landing approaching, are fun, especially for people like me who were there. There is one scene in a classroom where the children are given milk. I remember that. To this day there are people remembering this program with disgust because the milk was warm. My school was built of bluestone, so the milk was cool and I enjoyed it. 

There is a milk bar where Keith and his family live and sell stuff. Milk bars were convenience stores that sold groceries and sweets in the days before supermarkets became the main places to shop. Actually, there were still milk bars around till only a few years ago, near where I live(the most recent to close was replaced with a cafe). It definitely made me sentimental, but for the younger children at whom this novel is aimed, it’s history, as much as the details about Apollo 11. 

Anna has done a huge amount of research and has given links to the web sites she used, including one that shows a video mentioned in the book. 

The style of this particular novel reminds me of the work of the amazing Gabrielle Wang, best known as the author of A Ghost In My Suitcase, which was turned into a play some years ago. 

The chapters are short, and easy reading.

Highly recommended for readers 9-12. 

Available in ebook and print, at all good web sites. 

Septopus by Rebecca Fung.Owltitude Press, NSW, 2024

 

Stanley is a Septopus, born with only seven tentacles instead of eight. He can do what everyone else needs eight tentacles to do, but his father treats him like a fragile person who needs regular doctor appointments and is too weak to go anywhere, his mother, a scientist, pays very little attention while doing her experimenting and his siblings - and other octopus children - bully him.

Fortunately, Stanley, while he puts up with his family’s behaviour, finds ways around it. The first time involves embarrassing his oldest brother, Oswald the jock, in the middle of an octoball game.   He manages to get into a party which his family don’t want him to attend, inspired by the story of “Octorella”, and makes his first friend there.

It’s good to see a story in which a bullied child - even if they’re a sea creature - refuses to be a victim. It should inspire young readers.

The cartoon-style art of veteran children’s book illustrator Kathy Creamer, cover and internal, is delightful, funny and over the top. 

This book is suitable for readers from 8-14, as well as adults like me who love children’s books. Plus it will be good to read to children.

It’s currently only available in Australia, though it might be available elsewhere once Owltitude Press expands. It’s the first book by a new publishing company, though the author has written more books, some of which are already available on Amazon. Here is the Australian Amazon, but also available on the American and British sites. https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=rebecca+fung&crid=2QXCD8W5NMVMC&sprefix=%2Caps%2C244&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent

If you live in Sydney, try Abbey’s Bookshop, which has already sold out its current stock of Septopus, but should be willing to get in more. Or ask your local bookshop to order it if you live elsewhere in Australia. It’s past Christmas but this will make a good birthday gift for the child in your life.

The Owltitude web site is down right now, but I will put it here when it’s back.