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.