So I took up a reading challenge recently: Cruisin' Through the Cozies over at Socrates' Book Reviews.I love Cozies. I especially LOVE all things PD James. But, I thought I'd break a bit out of my comfort zone and read books by new-to-me authors. And, can you believe it, I had never read an Agatha Christie book!! When I taught middle school I had a student that would tear through her books- I thought it was quite fun. I knew I had to give it a go!
For my first cozy challenge read I chose Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I was surprised how easy to read this book was. I've been on a run of reading fairly dense books lately, so this book was a welcome change of pace. I flew through it in a couple of days. This would be a great beach/plane read.
This cozy was all about the murder mystery. There wasn't much character development at all. But the fairly good, yet simplistic, plot had me racing to the book's end: An odd assortment of folks are invited to an island for a week's respite. And, yes, as the title suggests, murder after murder occurs. Who is the murderer? An outsider or one of the vacationers? There are a couple of twists in the plot that make it a fun and enjoyable read.
One down, six to go. My next read is PD James' Cover Her Face (I found it at beach house we're staying at- score!). I also want to read a Charlie Chan book. I just downloaded Colin Dexter's The Daughter's of Cain to my Kindle. I really liked the first few pages.
Cozy lovers out there, do you have any other suggestions?
I'm linking up at Socrates' Book Review. Check out the other posts!!
Be well! Read on!
If you love mysteries I have to recommend the Maisie Dobbs books. There are 8, I think, now and I love them. They are set in England between the two world wars. The main character is fabulous, but so are the supporting characters.
ReplyDeleteI've also just been told I should try Dorothy Sayers and there are a couple waiting for me at the library. I'm looking forward to them!
Love the ideas Jenny! I haven't read Sayers yet. And I always love a new mystery series! :)
ReplyDeleteJust added Maisie Dobbs #1 to my Goodreads TBR. I also checked to see if was on the official cozy reading list, and it is! So excited to try these books out, they seem right up my alley! Thanks Jenny!
ReplyDeletei love both dorothy sayers & pg wodehouse-some good old school british mystery action
ReplyDeleteps this may be a dumb question, but what is a cozy?
ReplyDeleteyes, sayers and wodehouse are both cozies. I need to read them both!! :)
ReplyDeleteCozy mysteries are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously. The term was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-creating the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
The heroes of such stories are usually amateur detectives who often have a college degree and use their life experiences as a tool for solving crimes. Often they have a spouse, lover, friend or family member working for the police force, who can therefore provide them with important information about a case to which they would otherwise not have access.
The authorities usually dismiss the detective as little more than a nosy gossip and barely register their presence. However, this makes it easy for the detective to eavesdrop on their conversations at the scene of the crime and thus gather clues.
There is usually an array of eccentric supporting characters, who provide light relief and are generally very likeable.
Cozies very rarely focus on sex, profanity or violence. The murders take place off stage, and are often relatively bloodless (e.g. poisoning), while sexual activity (if any) between characters is only ever gently implied and never directly addressed.
:) from wikipedia
M.C. Beaton writes delightful cozies.
ReplyDeleteAnn
hehe i liked cozies and i didn't even know it! although wodehouse isn't probably exactly a mystery. sometimes they are mystery-like- like something needs to be solved, but not always. but they are very entertaining & sound like the description above.
ReplyDeleteAnn, thanks for the tip. Seems like she writes lighter mysteries...which may be fun after finishing a PD James book :) Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteSusannah, Wodehouse is a cozy though. You gave me one of his books years ago...very comical! I never finished it though :( I really should pick it up again!
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