Cozy Mystery stories ...

Here are a couple of additions to popular mystery series:

GOD REST YE, ROYAL GENTLEMEN by Rhys Bowen is yet another title in the Royal Spyness series involving Lady Georgiana.  This time, she and several family members are invited to be guests near Sandringham as the Queen celebrates Christmas.  A terrific blend of 20th century history (involving European politics prior to WWII), plus upper-class manners and holiday customs, this mystery brings Lady Georgiana once again face-to-face with a murderer. Someone takes a shot at the Prince of Wales, future King Edward VIII, and several employees are also hurt or die in suspicious circumstances while on the estate.  As the holidays near, look for GOD REST YE, ROYAL GENTLEMEN if you would like reading about “a cast of charming, quirky characters … [in a] lovely English Christmas cozy” (quote from Publishers Weekly review).

CLAWS FOR ALARM by Rita Mae Brown is A Mrs. Murphy mystery – actually number 30 in the series involving a dog named Tucker, and two cats, Pewter and Mrs. Murphy. I generally enjoy spending time with their owners: Harry, former postal worker, and her husband, Fair who is the local vet in Crozet, Virginia. However, it seems like Rita Mae Brown and her “co-author” Sneaky Pie Brown are sadly running out of ideas. The dialogue and text here felt repetitive and the story itself, involving the death of a local matriarch and subsequent squabbling by her adult children, was not particularly original or inventive.  Combining the modern day happening with a mystery set far in the past generally adds confusion encouraging the reader to focus on one storyline or the other. Earlier tales in this series are more engaging and worth a look.