Nancy's Low-Octane Mystery List

[Nancy H]

I finished two more entries, letters U and V. I had forgotten how much I really love the Arthur Upfield series featuring Australian detective Arthur Upfield. Although this mystery is not about food per se, it still has a food in its title, so I am counting it! The other one I finished, for my V entry is a good cozy mystery.

So far here are my alphabetical mysteries:

[Cherie]

I had to add your last one to my TBR list. I could not pass up on the title. I think I am going to write a list of books based on titles that "called to me". :D You have already given me a list of books based on "food" in the titles. LOL!

[Nancy H]

Cherie wrote: "I had to add your last one to my TBR list. I could not pass up on the title. I think I am going to write a list of books based on titles that "called to me". :D You have already given me a list..."

I'm glad you are enjoying these titles, Cherie. I have enjoyed reading them very much, and I keep seeing more that would fit into this category. I am currently on my 'W' one, and have the final three already lined up. I wasn't sure if I could do the whole alphabet with food-related mysteries, so it was fun trying to find them. There are only two that are a bit of a stretch, but I figure they will count anyway because they have a food word in the title. (The 'Mr. Jelly' one, for example, but it was really, really good.)

[jaxnsmom]

I picked up A Cookie Before Dyingand several other cozies last weekend at my library's big sale. I think with your help (darn you), I have quite a selection of food related cozies :)

[Cherie]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I picked up A Cookie Before Dyingand several other cozies last weekend at my library's big sale. I think with your help (darn you), I have quite a selection of food related cozies :)"

ROFL! I am dying for our library sale to start this weekend. I cannot even think where I will begin looking, but I will have a few lists with me this time.

[Nancy H]

Just finished by W entry: Killer Crab Cakes by Livia Washburn. It was a good bed and breakfast mystery set in Texas.

So far here are my alphabetical mysteries:

[Nancy H]

Jaxnsmom and Cherie,
If you run out of suggestions for books to get/read, please let me know --- I have even more foodie mysteries/novels that I have but couldn't add here because I was doing these in order! I love it that you are finding some ideas from my list.

[jaxnsmom]

I currently have 859 cozy mystery books on my shelves, read and to be read. I moderate another group, Cozy Mystery Corner, so I added a lot of the books I've read over the years. But I'm still adding more, some of which have come from you :)

[Nancy H]

jaxnsmom wrote: "I currently have 859 cozy mystery books on my shelves, read and to be read. I moderate another group, Cozy Mystery Corner, so I added a lot of the books I've read over the years. But I'm still ad..."

I'll have to look at your shelves - I am ALWAYS up for a good cozy.....(don't tell the almost-2000 TBR books I have sitting on my shelves here at home, though!)

(not counting the ones I am stockpiling on my e-reader!!)

[jaxnsmom]

Yeah, you wouldn't want to make them jealous :)

[[deleted user]]

I am enjoying your list, Nancy. It's definitely coming with me on my next library raid!

[Nancy H]

I finally finished my X book...and although it was a stretch to get in the 'food' aspect, I was able to do it by imagining 'mandarin oranges' - lol!

The book is Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong and was a really good mystery set in China.

So far here are my alphabetical mysteries:

[Janice, Moderator]

You're doing great with just two more to go!

[Nancy H]

I just finished You Cannoli Die Once for my Y selection. It was a really good foodie mystery set in an Italian restaurant - and yes, it made me hungry for Italian food while I was reading it. It is just to bad that its sequel, The Ziti That Never Sleeps is not going to be released until January 2014. That would have been a great way to end my alphabetical food mystery journey, but alas, not to be. So I have another Z in mind and will have to make do with that.






So far here are my alphabetical mysteries:

[Cherie]

Oh, what a great title for your Y book. Too bad about Ziti. Almost there..... :D

[Nancy H]

Woo-hoo! I have finished it with a book that includes a food-related term (okay, I am stretching it here a bit, but we all know vineyards produce grapes and grapes produce even more delicious things....)as well as a main character for Z... The book is Death in Vineyard Waters and one of the two main characters is Zee (Zeolinda) Madieras.

This challenge has been great fun and I am looking forward to what next year's will be. I was pleased that I was able to use either author or title for all but one of the books (but it was hard to find a 'Z' author and the 'Ziti' book I mentioned in an earlier post isn't out yet.) Still, it has been quite an enjoyable experience trying to match up the books in order.

So far here are my alphabetical mysteries:

[Almeta]

Nancy H wrote: "Woo-hoo! I have finished it with a book that includes a food-related term (okay, I am stretching it here a bit, but we all know vineyards produce grapes and grapes produce even more delicious thing..."

Congratulations! I am impressed. Mysteries are my favorite genre, having added food to the mix was quite brilliant.

[Nancy H]

Almeta wrote: "Nancy H wrote: "Woo-hoo! I have finished it with a book that includes a food-related term (okay, I am stretching it here a bit, but we all know vineyards produce grapes and grapes produce even more..."

Thanks, Almeta. It was really fun, and I am so lucky that I have a friend who shares my love of foodie mysteries and who gives me her books when she is finished with them. Many of these came from her, and all I had to do was promise to show her my complete list when it is finished. I still have so many to read, though, and had I started earlier in the year, I think I could have read through the alphabet twice just using foodie mysteries, although X and Z were the hard ones.

[jaxnsmom]

Great going Nancy!!

I have You Cannoli Die Once on my tbr, and am thinking of reading it for the December challenge. Glad to hear you liked it.

[Janice, Moderator]

Congratulations, Nancy. And now you get to read one more with the December challenge. :)

[Nancy H]

I'm glad you mentioned that, because I didn't even see it! (Can you tell I was so excited to get right to updating my list?!) That is so cool that I can do another one for December. The only problem I have is to decide which one of the many stacked here?! I will have to look for the one with the 'best' title!

[Roz]

I love your list, Nancy. Just reading the titles makes me hungry. :)

[Nancy H]

Roz wrote: "I love your list, Nancy. Just reading the titles makes me hungry. :)"

Thanks, Roz. You should try reading them.....I'm surprised there aren't drool marks all over them because so many of the foods sounded so good, and some even had recipes, which of course I was too lazy, er, busy reading, to try, though.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Grats Nancy!

[Cherie]

Nancy - are the Napoleon B. mystreys (the ones by Arthur W. Upfield) considered Cozy Mysteries?

I was looking over your titles and checking links and found 16 #1 titles that fit in with Janice's Dec challenge. Just looking at the titles made me laugh so much! I think the Fruit Machine will have to pick one for me.

Oh, and before I forget - congratulations on finishing your Alphabet!

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm enjoying the titles too. They're hilarious!

[Nancy H]

Cherie wrote: "Nancy - are the Napoleon B. mystreys (the ones by Arthur W. Upfield) considered Cozy Mysteries?

I was looking over your titles and checking links and found 16 #1 titles that fit in with Janice's..."

Cherie, I'm not sure if the Upfield titles are cozies or not....some of them remind me in a way of police procedurals but they are not really totally that because Napoleon B. certainly doesn't follow police procedures and there is that element of his intution and native abilities at play, too, that make them sometime different. I don't know what exactly I would classify them....except just plain old good mysteries, maybe - lol!

[Nancy H]

I have so many great ones to choose from for December that I am having a tough time picking one! Maybe I will show you all a list of my front-runners and let you all help me pick....

[Almeta]

Nancy H wrote: "I have so many great ones to choose from for December that I am having a tough time picking one! Maybe I will show you all a list of my front-runners and let you all help me pick...."

Sounds like a job for the

Fruit Machine

☺

[Janice, Moderator]

Yes, the fruit machine may come in handy this month. And isn't it appropriately named?

[Cherie]

Nancy H wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Nancy - are the Napoleon B. mystreys (the ones by Arthur W. Upfield) considered Cozy Mysteries?

I was looking over your titles and checking links and found 16 #1 titles that fit i..."

I was just curious about Bony. I have my daughter searching for Mr Jelly's Business. I know I can get it from Audible, but I was curious about the other books and she is looking for me.

[Nancy H]

Cherie wrote: "Nancy H wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Nancy - are the Napoleon B. mystreys (the ones by Arthur W. Upfield) considered Cozy Mysteries?

I was looking over your titles and checking links and found 16 #1 t..."

The one I did was the book on CD and it was WONDERFULLY read! In fact, it was so well done that I think I am going to get some more audios of the same author read by the same person. I loved it, and if you can find the audio, I say, 'Go for it'!

[Nancy H]

For my December challenge, I read The Cakes of Wrath because everyone loves dessert, right?

This has been a great challenge and so much fun! Thanks to everyone for encouraging me and letting me 'play'!

Here is my list of the whole alphabet plus the December one:

[Janice, Moderator]

Nancy. Did you read The Cakes of Wrath for the December cozy mystery challenge? If so, you need to score it and report it in the December Reporting thread.