Welcome to this month's mystery newsletter and I'm back with you guys in my old stopmping grounds hosting my monthly part of the mystery offering.
For this month's newsletter, we have some cozy mystery authors and their stories that bring chills, require a steaming cup of coffee and red wine but you love these types of stories.
Pull up your favorite reading chair, brew a pot of tea, and settle in for another delightful journey through the world of cozy mysteries.
This month, we're absolutely thrilled to spotlight four incredible authors who have been captivating readers with their charming small-town settings, amateur sleuths, and perfectly puzzling mysteries that keep us turning pages well into the night.
If you're looking for your next binge-read or want to discover some new series to add to your ever-growing TBR pile, you've come to the right place. Let's dive into the wonderful worlds created by Linda Reilly, Eve Calder, Sarah Graves, and Maddie Day – four authors who truly understand what makes a cozy mystery so irresistibly cozy.
Linda Reilly has mastered the art of combining comfort food with compelling mysteries, and honestly, is there a better combination? Her Deep Fried Mystery series featuring Norma "Fry" Quinn is pure comfort reading at its finest.
Set in the fictional town of Bennington, Vermont, these books follow Fry as she runs her late aunt's fish and chips shop while somehow always finding herself knee-deep in local mysteries.
What makes Reilly's writing so addictive is her ability to create characters who feel like your actual neighbors – you know, the ones you'd gladly chat with over the fence about the latest town gossip.
Fry isn't a professional detective, but she has that wonderful small-town curiosity and genuine care for her community that makes her amateur sleuthing feel completely natural.
The Cat Lady Mystery series is another gem from Reilly's collection. Featuring Delaney Collins, who works at a cat café (yes, a cat café!), these mysteries perfectly blend feline antics with solid storytelling.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to solve crimes while surrounded by adorable cats, well, Reilly has you covered. The books manage to be both lighthearted and engaging, with mysteries that are complex enough to keep you guessing but never so dark that they disturb the cozy atmosphere.
Reilly's greatest strength lies in her world-building. She creates these small Vermont communities that feel so real you could practically book a vacation there. Her food descriptions will have you craving fish and chips, and her cats practically purr right off the page.
Next, we have the work of Eve Calder with her hot mystery series:
Eve Calder brings us straight to the heart of Georgia with her Trouble in Paradise series, set in the charming coastal town of Paradise. Following Kate McGuire, a baker who relocates from New York to run a cookie shop, these books are like a warm hug wrapped in a mystery.
What sets Calder apart is her ability to capture that authentic Southern hospitality while crafting mysteries that genuinely surprise. Kate's transition from big city life to small-town baker provides the perfect setup for fish-out-of-water humor, but Calder never lets it become a caricature.
Instead, we get a realistic portrayal of someone learning to navigate new relationships, community dynamics, and yes, the occasional murder.
The baking element in these books isn't just window dressing – Calder clearly knows her way around a kitchen, and her descriptions of cookies, cakes, and Southern specialties will have you hunting down recipes online.
But beyond the delicious food descriptions, what really shines is the community Calder has built in Paradise. The supporting characters feel like real people with their own motivations and secrets, making each mystery feel organic to the setting rather than artificially imposed.
The mysteries themselves strike that perfect cozy balance – intriguing enough to keep you engaged, with sufficient red herrings and suspects to make you work for the solution, but never so gory or disturbing that they'd interrupt your peaceful reading session.
Then, we have the work from mystery author Sarah Graves, whose hot mystery series just keeps them coming back for more:
If you haven't discovered Sarah Graves' Home Repair is Homicide series yet, you're in for a treat. Set in the fictional town of Eastport, Maine, these books follow Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree, a former financial advisor turned home restoration enthusiast who keeps stumbling upon murders in her picturesque coastal town.
Graves brings something unique to the cozy mystery world with her focus on home improvement and restoration. Jake's projects – from fixing leaky roofs to restoring Victorian houses – provide fascinating backdrops for the mysteries.
Graves clearly knows her way around home repair, and reading these books might actually teach you a thing or two about renovating old houses, assuming you can tear yourself away from the mystery long enough to take notes.
What makes this series particularly compelling is Graves' portrayal of Maine coastal life. She captures the beauty and challenges of living in a remote area where everyone knows everyone else's business, where the weather can be unforgiving, and where the past has a way of surfacing when you least expect it.
Eastport feels like a real place with a real history, complete with all the quirks and complexities that come with small-town life.
Jake herself is a wonderfully relatable protagonist. She's competent without being perfect, curious without being nosy, and brave without being foolhardy.
Her relationship with her teenage son and her friendships with the other women in town add emotional depth to the series that goes beyond the mysteries themselves.
Finally, we have mystery author Maddie Day with her mystery series in buffet:
Maddie Day (who also writes as Edith Maxwell) is remarkably prolific, giving us several delightful series to choose from. Her Country Store Mystery series, featuring Robbie Jordan and her country store and café in South Lick, Indiana, combines small-town charm with hearty Midwestern cooking and solid mysteries.
What's particularly impressive about Day's work is her ability to maintain distinct voices and settings across multiple series. Whether we're following Robbie in Indiana, or diving into her other series, each has its own personality and charm.
Day has a gift for creating amateur sleuths who feel authentic – they're not solving murders because they're bored or looking for adventure, but because circumstances and their genuine care for their communities draw them into investigations.
The Country Store mysteries shine particularly bright because of Day's attention to detail in both the cooking and the small business aspects of running a country store.
Robbie's challenges feel real – from dealing with difficult suppliers to managing seasonal fluctuations in business – and these everyday concerns provide a grounding that makes the mysteries feel more believable.
Day's mysteries are well-plotted with satisfying solutions that play fair with readers. She plants clues throughout her stories without making them too obvious, and her red herrings feel natural rather than forced.
The pace is perfect for cozy mystery fans – steady and engaging without being breathless.
What makes Linda Reilly, Eve Calder, Sarah Graves, and Maddie Day such standout voices in cozy mystery is their understanding that the "cozy" part isn't just about the absence of graphic violence – it's about creating a sense of community and belonging that readers can escape into.
Each of these authors excels at building worlds where problems get solved, justice prevails, and good people look out for each other.
Their protagonists aren't superhuman detectives with extraordinary skills. They're ordinary people with extraordinary curiosity and compassion, and that's what makes them so appealing.
We can see ourselves in their shoes, wondering if we'd have the courage to ask the hard questions or the insight to piece together the clues.
These authors also understand the importance of series continuity – characters grow and change, relationships develop, and communities evolve.
Reading their books in order provides the satisfaction of watching not just individual mysteries unfold, but entire fictional worlds develop and deepen.
Whether you're new to cozy mysteries or a longtime fan looking for your next great series, any of these four authors will provide you with hours of delightful reading.
Their books are perfect for rainy afternoons, vacation reading, or anytime you need to escape into a world where justice prevails and the good guys always win.
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Mystery: September 10, 2025 Issue [#13342]
Wow! We are already in September?!? I LOVE this month. It begins the cool down from the warm months to the cool evenings of fall. 
