Challenge Officially Over

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this post up!   The Challenge officially ended Sept. 30th. 

I am very happy I was able to offer giveaway's this year and I hope you all enjoyed that added benefit too.
Speaking of giveaways, the winner for the Challenge end giveawa is Yvonne Hodorowski.  Congratulations Yvonne!!!  I've notified the publisher today so hopefully you'll get the books soon.

Once again I want to thank everyone for participating and making this challenge a success.  You all know I love cozies and love to spread the cozy love around.

I have updated the 2011 reads, it should be up-to-date with all the books you wonderful participants read for this years challenge.  Sorry that always took me longer than expected.  Things have been crazy and I was in full training mode for a half marathon and working out a ton.   Changes are coming for me soon but I'm hoping that I'll still be able to host this challenge next year.  Fingers crossed!

End of challenge giveaway!

I'm so excited to be able to offer a HUGE giveaway to one lucky winner.  In order to be eligible for this giveaway the only thing you have to do is actually finish the challenge!  It doesn't matter if you finished months ago or this month, as long as you finish you get an entry.  Oh, and also it has to be shipped to a US address.

Once again the books are being provided by the publisher so I want to send out a huge thanks to them for offering this giveaway and most of the ones I've hosted for this challenge.

The books that will go to one lucky winner are:
Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen
Sleight of Paw by Sofie Kelly
Quickstep to Murder by Ella Barick
Thread Reckoning by Amanda Lee
Button Holed by Kylie Logan
The Diva Haunts the House by Krista Davis
Death in a Difficult Position by Diana Killian
Mind Over Murder by Allison Kinglsey


I don't have a fast and effective way to verify that you have finished the challenge (would have to compare to the other form submissions and I'm too busy for that), so I take it that if you fill out this form you are being honest and you have completed the challenge.  Good luck everyone!

September Books Read

Guest Post and Giveaway! Kari Lee Townsend

I am happy to have Kari Lee Townsend submit a guest post for the Cozy Mystery challenge and offer her latest book as a giveaway.    I have a copy of the book myself and I can't wait to get to it this month.    Please sit back and enjoy this post and don't forget to enter the giveaway, info at the bottom.

Therapy for Uncooperative Characters 

Ever have characters who won’t cooperate? Well, I have...and it’s no picnic. One day while writing Tempest in the Tea Leaves, I’d finally had enough. So I cornered my characters and dragged them kicking and screaming into a room with four white walls, a card table in the middle, and two chairs on opposite sides.

                “Wh-what are you doing?” Sunshine Meadows the local fortune teller asked, a startled look on her pale pixie face.

                “What am I doing you ask?” I laughed harshly. “That’s a joke. I should be the one asking what you are doing. I have a deadline, you know, yet you aren’t cooperating at all.”

                “Ha! Told you this was all your fault, Tink,” Detective Mitch Stone responded with a smirk.

                “Oh, no you don’t, bucko!” I snapped, thrusting my finger in his wide chest until he stiffened those broad shoulders of his. “You’re no better than she is.”

                “Double ‘Ha!’,” Sunny spat. “And quit calling me Tink, Mr. Grumpy Pants.”

                “Enough.” I swiped my hand through the air. “I am going to lock you both in here until you learn to get along. Call it therapy.”

                “That’s not therapy. That’s insane.” Sunny stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her peace-sign T-shirt. “I’m not the problem. He is.” She jerked her head in the detective’s direction, her pale green eyes sizzling with indignation. “He thinks I’m a quack, and he sure as heck doesn’t treat me like an equal. I won’t stop until I make him a true believer.”

                “Equal?” Mitch frowned, his dark eyes narrowing and the jagged scar along his whiskered jawline pulsing as he towered over her until she looked up. To her credit, she didn’t step back. “You know nothing about detective work, and half of your so-called hunches are pure luck. One of these days I’ll prove you’re a fraud. You’ll see.”

                “And now I hope you both see why you’ve left me with no choice,” I butted in, then I stepped out the door, closed it behind me, and turned the lock.

                “Wait!” Sunny pounded on the door. “Give us another chance.”

                “You had your chance,” I responded as I moved to the two way mirror. I could see them both, but neither one could see me.

                “I can have you arrested for this,” Mitch boomed with his hands on his hips.

                “I can write you out of the book,” I added. “I win.”

                They both grumbled and paced the room for several minutes, then finally sat in the chairs facing each other.

                Sunny took a deep breath and spoke first. “Look, I know you don’t like the fact that Mayor Cromwell up for re-election and wants us to work together to solve crime in Divinity, or that Chief Spencer and Captain Walker’s hands are tied, but that’s not my fault. None of this is my fault.”

                “Says you.” He swiped a hand through his thick, black wavy hair and then slapped it down on the table. “If you’d kept your nose out of places it didn’t belong, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.”

                Sunny flinched, and then snapped her spine straight, thrusting her face into his. “I don’t stick my nose into people’s business ... they come to me. If they need my help, then it’s my duty to comply. You just don’t like that I’m better than you are.”

                He chuckled humorlessly. “In your dreams, Pixie Girl.”

                “Easy there, Spanky. If you don’t learn to play nice in the sandbox, then dreaming is all you’re going to get to do from now on. Do you really think Kari is going to writer you any more fascinating cases to solve? I think not, if you continue to be a grump butt.”

                He huffed out a frustrated breath. “Fine. Truce?”

                “Truce,” she responded, looking supremely satisfied.

                 “How’s that go? Oh, yeah, easy there, Miss Bubbles. We still have a case to solve, and you’re still my number one suspect. Kind of takes the pixie dust out of your wings, doesn’t it?”

                She ground her teeth, ignoring him, and knocked on the door.

                “You two ready?” I asked as I opened the door. “Because I need answers like yesterday.”

                “Don’t worry. You’ll get them. The sooner this case is put to bed, the better,” Tink said.

                “Sorry, Tink, but I don’t sleep with my assistants.” Mitch tweaked her nose as he pushed past us and left the building, hollering over his shoulder, “We’re burning daylight. Let’s move it.”

                Sunny just rolled her eyes and stomped off after him.

                I sighed. It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind, but it was a start.

A little about the author:

Kari Lee Townsend lives in Central New York with her very understanding husband, her three busy boys, and her oh-so-dramatic daughter, who keep her grounded and make everything she does worthwhile…not to mention provide her with loads of material for her books. Kari is a longtime lover of reading and writing, with a masters in English education, who spends her days trying to figure out whodunit. Funny how no one at home will confess any more than the characters in her mysteries!

                Kari writes fun and exciting stories for any age, set in small towns, with mystical elements and quirky characters. You can find out more about her on her website www.karileetownsend.com and also on the group mystery blog she cohosts, called Mysteries and Margaritas, at www.mysteriesandmargaritasblogspot.com

TEMPEST IN THE TEA LEAVES: A Fortune Teller Mystery

In the fortune telling business there are a lot of pretenders, but Sunshine Meadows is the real deal—and her predictions can be lethally accurate…

Sunny is a big city psychic who moves to the quaint town of Divinity, NY to open her fortune-telling business in an ancient Victorian house, inheriting the strange cat residing within. Sunny gives her first reading to the frazzled librarian and discovers the woman is going to die. When the woman flees in terror, Sunny calls the police, only she’s too late. The ruggedly handsome, hard-nosed detective is a ”non-believer.” He finds the librarian dead, and Sunny becomes his number one suspect, forcing her to prove her innocence before the real killer can put an end to the psychic’s future.

To enter the giveaway:
One entry per person.  You do NOT have to read a book in order to enter this giveaway, you just have to be participating in this challenge.   Contest will close on August 31st at midnight (central time).

August books read and contest entry

I'm happy to be able to offer 3 books for a giveaway in August.  As with the others, if you read a book from the same publisher/line you can get an extra entry.  

Challenge completed - form

I do believe some of you have already finished this challenge..way to go!     I know I'm incredibly late in getting this published, I apologize.    Better late than never though right?

July Books Read

Sorry I'm so late getting this one up!  No giveaway this month but please still let me know what you read so I can update the list!

May giveaway winners

I'm terribly sorry I'm getting this info out to you so late!  It's been a very hectic for me the last three weeks both at home and at work.   Without further ado....


The lucky winner of Flowerbed of State is Julie E.!

I was thrilled when I found out I was able to giveaway several copies of Following Polly by Karen Bergreen. The lucky winners are:
Stacie A.
Lori M.
Yvonne H. and  Yvonne H.  (What are the chances of this happening? Two different participants with the same first name and last initial.)
Carol O.
Rebecca
Julie E. (time to play the lotto Julie!)
Nancy G.
Kelly S.

Maggie Sefton - live chat on facebook today at 2pmEST

Hello everyone! I know several of you read books by this author so I wanted to pass along this info.

Maggie Sefton will be hosting the Facebook Crime Scene’s page Wednesday June 8th at 2pmEST. She’ll be there for a full hour to chat with fans and answer any questions.

I don't believe I"ll be able to stop by but hopefully some of you can!

June Reads and Giveaway

Please use this form to let us know what book(s) you have read for this challenge in June. The giveaway is only for June, so please enter by midnight June 3oth (central time) for a chance to win.

I have one giveaway this month and I'm excited about it.   The giveaway is for 1 copy of Hexes and Hemlines by Juliet Blackwell.  This is the 3rd in the Witchcraft Mystery Series.  I have a copy of this one at home and I can't wait to get to it.  If you like a bit of paranormal in your mysteries then I suggest you check out this series (if you haven't already).   This is another Berkley release and since the publisher is offering this book for review, I'm once again allowing readers an extra entry if they read at least one book for this challenge (for this month) from the same publisher.  So..get out your Berkley Prime Crime, Signet,  and Obsidian series and get reading! 

Only the first two pieces of the form are required, the rest are optional.  However, if you do enter the giveaway please include a mailing address so I can give it to the publishers once a winner is selected.

Mourning Gloria by Susan Wittig Albert - Winner!

Thanks to everyone who submitted the form with the books read in April.

I just went through the list and used Random.Org to pick a winner!

The winner is....Books n'Whatnot!  Congratulations!!!!!

Update on books read and giveaway

Hello everyone!  Thanks so much for getting this series off to a great start.  You all read a lot of books last month.   I'm working on getting the 2011 reads page updated with all the entries.

Just one word regarding the forms for the books read and giveaway.  Since I'm trying to do at least one giveaway per month, I will close the form after the month ends.  If you didn't get a chance to enter the books you read that month before I close the form, you are welcome to enter it on the current form however please don't mark that you want an entry for the giveaway.  Please only mark that if you are listing a book read that month. So, for example, if you read a book in April but haven't filled out the form you, you won't be able to enter it on the April reads form.  Instead, enter it on the May Reads form however don't enter the giveaway for May.  I am closing the form because I don't want people filling it out and entering the giveaway when the giveaway is closed.  Hopefully this won't confuse anybody but if it does please let me know.

May Reads and Giveaway

Please use this form to let us know what book(s) you have read for this challenge in May. The giveaway is only for May, so please enter by midnight May 31st (central time) for a chance to win.

I'm happy to report that I have two giveaways this month!  Anybody who reads at least one book is ellligable for both giveaways.

The first one is for Following Polly by Karen Bergreen. I haven't read anything by Karen Bergreen before but Following Polly sounds good and I thought cozy readers would enjoy it.  

The second one is for Flowerbed of State by Dorothy St. James.  This is another Berkley release and since the publisher is offering this book for review, I'm once again allowing readers an extra entry if they read at least one book for this challenge (for this month) from the same publisher.  So..get out your Berkley Prime Crime, Signet,  and Obsidian series and get reading! 

Only the first two pieces of the form are required, the rest are optional.  However, if you do enter the giveaway please include a mailing address so I can give it to the publishers once a winner is selected.

Food With a Side of Murder

Thanks to Stepfordmomto2 for bringing this article to my attention.

CNN had an article titled "Dig In: Food with a Side of Murder" where they talk about culinary mysteries.  How fun to see CNN giving the cozy genre a nod.

I thought the article was rather interesting and wanted to create a post and share with you since I know several of you like the culinary mysteries (as do I).

April reads and giveaway

Hello everyone! I'm so excited this challenge has officially started and I hope you all are too.

I'm going to list the books read this year, similar to last year only hopefully quicker.  If you finish a book for this challenge please come back to the challenge blog and let us know what you read.

As mentioned in the post I have giveaway's this year and I'm happy to start things off with one.  This month I'll be offering a copy of Mourning Gloria by Susan Wittig Albert.  Mourning Gloria is the latest in the China Bayles series.  While I admit to being way behind on this series myself (but made it a goal to catch up on this year) it is one of my first cozy series I really got into and one of my favorites.  If you haven't read any of them I highly recommend checking them out.      Since the publisher is offering this book for review, I'm giving readers an extra entry if they books they read for this challenge (for this month) are from the same publisher.  So..get out your Berkley Prime Crime and Obsidian series and get reading!
Update 4/19/11 - Signet Mysteries will count for an extra entry too!

Only the first two pieces of the form are required, the rest are optional.  However, if you do enter the giveaway please include a mailing address so I can give it to the publisher once a winner is selected.

Miss Marple comes to life..maybe

While I haven't read an Agatha Christie book in years and don't remember being a big fan (although I think I should give her books a try again), I know several cozy readers love her books so I wanted to pass this tidbit along.

I read a post on the Omnimystery News blog that says Disney has bought the rights to the Miss Marple character.

The article had this to say:
Disney has acquired the film rights to Agatha Christie's character Miss Marple, and envisions creating a comtemporary setting for the amateur sleuth. Mark Frost (Hill Street Blues,Twin Peaks) will write the screenplay, which is expected to be an original story, not one adapted from one of the many Christie novels.


And an article the following day updated us with this info:
Now we're reading that Miss Marple will be played by Jennifer Garner, clearly a significant departure from reader (and viewer) expectations.

It will be interesting to see how this project progresses.

Cozy Mystery giveaway's on my other blog

Good afternoon everyone!  I wanted to do a really short post to let you know I have 2 giveaways on my other blog, Not Enough Books, for 3 cozy mysteries.   If you are interested..please head on over!

Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston

Fruit of All Evil by Paige Shelton and  A Touch of Gold by Joyce and Jim Lavene

Cozy Mystery Challenge 2011 - Rules and Sign-up form

It's that time of year again, time to sign up for the annual Cozy Mystery Challenge and start thinking about the books you'll want to read for the next 6 months.

Last year we had a great turn out and I hope we do just as well, if not better,  in 2011.

For those who might wonder what a cozy mystery is, here's a great website that explains it and is a great resource for series:  Cozy-Mystery.com   I also have the 2010 list of read books still available on this blog, so feel free to browse through the list to see what members read last year.

Here are the rules:

1. The challenge runs April 1st, 2011 through September 30, 2011.

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. You don't have to read 1 each month, you can read them whenever you like, you just have to read at least six.

There are three participation levels for this challenge:

Only the required amount - 6

I think I can do better - 7-10

Feeling very ambitious - 11+

3. While you can overlap with other challenges, please try to have at least 2 of the books only count towards this challenge.  However, if you are doing a challenge such as 100 Books in 2011 or similar, where you are working towards a page count or book count, it's ok to count these books towards that challenge. 

4.Sign-up using the dedicated form. While it would be great if you signed up before April 1st,  you can sign up anytime between now and September 1st.

5. You do NOT need a blog to participate.  If you do have a blog, I would love to see a dedicated post linking back this post, but that's not required either.

6. You do NOT have to list the books you plan to read ahead of time, although you can if you want to (and the list can change throughout the challenge).

7.  Prizes!! Everyone loves a prize! Everyone who completes this challenge will get a bookmark made by yours truly.  My goal is to use the challenge button this year for the bookmark! That will probably help me mail them out a bit faster

This year I am also happy to announce that I'll be able to offer giveaways!  I think most of us cozy fans are aware that Penguin has two divisions with some awesome cozy series, Obsidian and Berkley Prime Crime.  I'm going to be able to offer a multi-book giveaway in September and possible one or two books before that. I don't know what books will be offered yet, just that I've been in contact with a wonderful person who works for them and they have been nice enough to allow me to do the giveaway(s).    

Due to the publisher providing the books for the giveaway, I'm going to put a twist on the giveaway entry.  Every person who completes the challenge will be able to fill out the giveaway form and earn 1 entry.  However, on top of that, for each Berkley Prime Crime and Obsidian book you read, you earn an extra entry. I'll have more details towards the end of the challenge when the giveaway is announced.  ( I want to disclose that the publisher did NOT request I do this, rather I came up with the extra entries as a way to help promote their books since they were kind enough to allow me to do the giveaways. )

Please let me know if you have any questions and most importantly....HAVE FUN!

Pssst - There is another cozy challenge going on this year, Crusin' Through the Cozies, being hosted by Socrates' Book Review Blog.   If you signed up for that one (heck..I did), you are more than welcome to sign up for this one as well. The only thing I ask is that you do pay attention to rule #3 and read at least 2 cozies specifically for this one..that you don't count for the other one. 

Help needed!

I'm planning on something really cool (or at least I think it will be) for the tag for this years Cozy Mystery Challenge but I need your help.

I need themes and words that are common for cozies, what do you think of when you think cozy mystery?

I've come up with these so far, but I need more!
cozy mystery
cozy
amateur
detective
cat
dog
food
cookies
cupcake
bakery
paranormal
witches
ghosts

I know there's lots more, but I'm drawing a blank.   If you think of others, please leave a comment with them.

Thanks!