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They Do It With Mirrors, Part 2: creating a character ecosystem
It’s time to take a closer look at the two TV adaptations of They Do It With Mirrors. This is a bit of a tricky one, because the novel has distinct strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, the novel features quite strong character portraits but a questionably consistent theme. Last week, we discussed that the overall effect…
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They Do It With Mirrors, Part 1: A suite of character studies
Welcome back to our series on the art of literary adaptation, using the Miss Marple series as a guide. For those of you who are new, I’ve been re-reading the adventures of my favorite spinster sleuth, and comparing the novels with both the BBC and ITV adaptations. It’s been a fascinating way to see how…
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Cozies, fantasies, and more: the most exciting books of 2023
Happy New Year! We just finished a roundup of some of my favorite books of 2022, and it’s time to look ahead to the new year. While I do my best to vary my reading diet and not only take in new books, there are a few I’m particularly excited to get on my shelf.…
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The Cozy Owlet’s favorite 2022 reads, Pt. 2: Mystery & crime
Welcome back to my end-of-year roundup of my favorite books of the year. Yesterday, we covered one of my favorite voyeuristic, meta-fictional genres, the epistolary. Today, we’re going to dive deeper into my “home base” genre – mystery and crime novels. These are: My favorite mystery & crime novels: clever protagonists making sense of our…
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Wrapping the Advent of Mystery: one final bow
We have made it through a week of Golden-Age murder mysteries together. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. This has been the most ambitious series I’ve created so far, and it’s been such a treat to read and write. I started this series hoping to find some new authors and stories,…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 7: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
And so we’ve made it to Christmas Eve, to Nochebuena. Later today, my family will be gathered around the Christmas tree, sharing cocoa and buñuelos and laughing as the family unwraps my husband’s prank gift boxes, But before we get there, it’s time for one last Christmas mystery to wrap up 2022. And of course,…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 6: An English Murder by Cyril Hare
As we’ve read through Christmas mysteries this week, things have stayed on the reasonably light-hearted side. (At least, as light-hearted as you could expect with murder in the mix). Because house parties often involve friends and family, the genre is a great way to explore family tension. most of these stories limit their suspect pool…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 5: Murder for Christmas
Continuing our exploration of Christmas Manor House Mysteries, we’re looking at Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan, featuring aging amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine. Before we get into the details, let’s take a moment to admire the immaculate cover art for this one. It’s the perfect design to evoke a Manor House Christmas in the Golden…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 4: The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
So far, many of the the stories this week have been Christmas-adjacent. (Somehow, even having Christmas in the title is not enough to guarantee a Christmas-centric timeline.) That ends today. From here on out, it is straight manor house closed-circle mysteries that take place on Christmas. Some poor unfortunate soul invites a bunch of friends…
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Introducing the Advent of Mystery: a week of Golden-Age murder mysteries for your winter celebrations
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… Here at The Cozy Owlet, we’re huge fans snuggling up with a great book when it’s cold (and windy) outdoors. It’s a great time of year to appreciate the comforts of a warm home and a supportive community. Of course, there’s no better way to throw that…