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TCO Reviews: The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Grey
Like many an adult who used to be a teenage girl, I have a soft spot in my heart for Jane Austen and her ever-relatable stories. I’ve spent many a rainy afternoon cozied up with Eliza and Elinor and Anne and a warm mug of tea. As a mystery lover, you can imagine my delight…
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Epistolaries and choice: The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
Those who follow the blog will know I am a HUGE fan of Janice Hallett – so much so that I import her books from the UK just to read them ahead of schedule. And despite some shenanigans, my Waterstones order of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels has finally hit my mailbox. I’ve…
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TCO Reviews: Sepulchre Street / The House on Graveyard Lane by Martin Edwards
I’ve got the making of a series on the brain, and it’s a perfect week to take on a new entry in the Rachel Savernake series by Martin Edwards. Sepulchre Street is Edwards’ fourth novel, and the fourth to feature his mysterious amateur sleuth, Rachel Savernake. Edwards is, of course, the premier expert on Golden…
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4:50 from Paddington, Part 2: Battle of the Lucys
We’re back with 4:50 from Paddington, and this week I want to take a look at how the BBC and iTV chose to adapt Lucy Eyelesbarrow. As a quick recap: Lucy Eyelesbarrow is one of my favorite Christie characters – a smart, independent woman who knows her strength in the domestic sphere and has the…
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4:50 from Paddington, Part 1: What makes a series stick?
We’re past the halfway mark on the Miss Marple series, and I’m so excited for this exploration. 4:50 from Paddington is the epitome of Marple-dom, an encapsulation of so much that I identify with the sleuth. But Christie keeps it fresh with new additions to the formula – most notably Lucy Eyelesbarrow, a smart and…
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TCO Reviews: Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters
If last week was the week of culinary cozy, then this week is focused on epistolary content. As a long-time fan of advice columns, I was excited to learn about Murder in PostScript, the story of a Victorian agony aunt who stumbles upon a murdered correspondent. When our intrepid heroine – a countess, no less…
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The Twyford Code: How to re-read a twist ending
First of all, time for a mini-celebration. If you’d told me back in October that I’d write 50 posts – at all, let alone before 6 months were over – I wouldn’t have believed you. The idea that I could find the time to regularly write and edit and share 50 essays of Thoughts on…
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TCO Reviews: Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
Looks like it’s cooking cozy week here at The Cozy Owlet, and this time we’re exploring a historical cozy set in 1950s Paris. Fun fact – when I first realized I could get access to ARC as a book blogger last year, Mastering the Art of French Murder was one of (if not the) the…
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Tita Rosie’s Kitchen: cooking up the ultimate cozy mystery
First Piranesi, now Tita Rosie’s Kitchen – I suppose 2023 will be the year of catching up on the books everyone has been raving about. I picked up Arsenic and Adobo to satisfy the “culinary cozy” entry on my Cruisin’ Thru the Cozies challenge, and ended up reading all three books. And while it’s rare…
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TCO Reviews: Final Draft by Shelley Burbank
For our next March review, I’m excited to share Final Draft by Shelley Burbank! The book follows Olivia Lively, a P.I. in Portland, Maine, as she deals with a criminal ex, overbearing parents, and a plagiarism scandal that threatens one writer’s reputation and another’s future. There’s been so much rain here in the Bay, and…