Mid-Month Mysteries: Valentine Theme

 

Apologies for not posting last week. I had planned to post this on the 9th, but I scheduled it for the wrong date. I may as well post twice this week!

 Cozy mysteries often feature romance as a side plot, so it's not surprising that there are several mysteries that feature Valentine's Day. Here are a few of them.

My author friend Kelly Hashway recently published the first book in her holiday-themed cozy mystery series. I haven't had a chance to read Valentine Victim yet, but it looks interesting. It's about a psychologist whose Valentine's Day date is murdered, making her the prime suspect.

The St Valentine's Day Cookie Massacre by Elisabeth Crabtree is a novella featuring a murder in a cookie shop. It's free on Amazon, so I added it to my collection.

Another food-themed cozy mystery is A Catered Valentine's Day, by Isis Crawford. It includes chocolate, wine, recipes, and the death of the chocolate shop owner.

For a non-food related story, there's Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton. Two detectives find romance while solving the murder of a woman who received a mysterious Valentine's Day gift.

For a more extensive list of Valentine's Day mysteries, check out this link.

 

Mid-Month Mysteries: Chocolate

Whether you consider chocolate "the food of the gods," its own food group, a reward at the end of the day, or something else, chocolate is a favorite flavor for many people, myself included. It's not surprising that many cozy mysteries include this treat. However, so many mysteries feature baked goods that I feel they should be the subject of a separate post (or posts, if I want to break it down by cakes, scones, cupcakes, or something else.) For this post, I want to focus on cozy mysteries that feature chocolates that you might find at a specialty shop. (My favorite chocolate shop is Anna Shea Chocolates and Lounge. They make so many wonderful treats, including cupcakes, fondue, hot chocolate, and more. Their lounge is a great place to meet friends, have a date night with my husband, or even just hang out for a change of scenery.)

When I think of chocolate-themed cozy mysteries, the series I'm most familiar with is H. Y. Hanna's Bewitched by Chocolate series. It's set in a small English town, where a witch creates enchanted chocolates. The heroine is the witch's granddaughter and also has chocolate magic. Here's a link to the first book, Dark, Witch, and Creamy. There are currently seven books in the series, but it looks like I haven't finished it. Time to catch up! I also neglected to mention Hanna's Oxford Tearoom series last month in my post on tea, so here's a link to the first book in that series as well, A Scone to Die For.

 

I've found three other series featuring chocolate shops or chocolate factories, but I haven't read any of these books yet. Rest assured they'll be going on my gigantic To-Read list. Here are links to the first book in each series:

Cream of Sweet by Wendy Meadows

The Sweet Smell of Murder by Cindy Bell

The Chocolate Cat Caper by Joanna Carl

Sadly, there's no special mention of chocolate or a chocolate shop in the mystery I'm currently editing, but the heroine does live close to a bookstores that sells baked treats. 

Cozy mysteries featuring bookstores will probably be my next theme for this series. Please return in March to read more!