The Baker Street Translation by Michael Robertson is the third book in the Baker Street Letters mystery series featuring Reggie and Nigel Heath, barristers whose office address happens to be 221B Baker Street in London (available April 2, 2013).

I am a big fan of anything Sherlock Holmes, and there have been many different spin-offs related to the master detective. You even see modern day Sherlocks on television, giving the sleuth 21^st century cases to solve. What I loved most about Michael Robertson’s version is that it’s kind of based in reality; the reality of fiction of course.

Reggie Heath and his brother Nigel are barristers who rent the office located at 221B Baker Street in London. As you can imagine, tourists are constantly flocking to the location to get a glimpse of the famous address. What fans are also doing is writing letters. These letters are actually addressed to Sherlock Holmes and arrive at Reggie’s office daily.

[You’ve got mail...]

Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer is the third book in the Clifton Chronicles series (available April 30, 2013).

Most of the time when someone finds himself involved in a lawsuit, he wants to come out the winner. This is not true for Harry Clifton. As the book opens, Harry is waiting for a decision that will determine his future. In his case, losing the lawsuit would be the best thing that ever happened to him. If he wins, he will be named the heir to the Barrington name and fortune. But if he loses, he will be able to marry Emma Barrington, the love of his life and the mother of his son.

It’s no surprise when Harry’s best friend and Emma’s brother, Giles, comes out the winner in court. Everyone is thrilled with the results, and Harry and Emma finally tie the knot. What follows takes the reader through the beginning of post-World War II life in England, when women still can’t serve on the board of a company and air travel is starting to become a replacement for long journeys by sea. It’s as fun as Downton Abbey minus the drama in the lives of the servants downstairs.

[Upstairs minus the Downstairs but plus all the drama!]

Airtight by David Rosenfelt is thriller of murder, family loyalty, and corruption (available February 12, 2013).

When a judge is found murdered in his garage, the New Jersey police department take action on a mission to find his killer. Luke Somers is lead on the investigation and the clues he follows bring him to Steven Gallagher, a drug user who was about to be sentenced by the deceased judge. When the police show up at Steven’s place, things go from bad to worse and Luke shoots Steven when he pulls a gun of his own.

The media is in a frenzy, congratulating Luke for catching the judge’s killer and making sure justice was served, albeit in the form a dead perpetrator. It’s the kind of media coverage and sensationalism we see in real life. But Luke isn’t happy about the attention.

[Who would be?]

Arsenic and Old Puzzles by Parnell Hall is the 14th book in the Puzzle Lady traditional mystery series (available January 22, 2013).

Everyone in town knows quirky, sarcastic Cora Felton as the famous Puzzle Lady. Her crossword puzzles, along with her photo, run in newspapers across the country. What most people don’t know, however, is that she doesn’t actually create the puzzles, nor could she solve one if someone held a gun to her head. However, due to Cora’s notoriety, she’s the first person the chief of police calls when he needs a Sudoku puzzle solved. The problem is, the puzzle was found on the body of a dead tourist at a local bed-and-breakfast run by the Guildford sisters.

[It’s puzzling, to be sure...]

When it comes to law and order in mysteries, the first thing I think of are police officers and private detectives. However, there are a number of professions that amateur sleuths claim as day jobs; from crafters to retirees to little old ladies in St. Mary Mead. 

One group of people who are out there solving crime after crime is not a group that you would normally associate with murderers. It’s the clergy. Who would have thought that these God-fearing men and women would be so adept at solving crimes and ferreting out the evildoers? Ok, so maybe the evildoer part isn’t a surprise.

Terrie Farley Moran already posted about some of my favorites—G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown; the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters; and Sister Fidelma, the brainchild of Peter Tremayne. But there are more! So many more!

What I love about mysteries involving clerical sleuths is that they run the gamut from historical to modern day. There is something for everyone. Do you like ancient Ireland? I’ve got a crime-solving nun for you. Do you like modern day, rural New York? I know an Episcopalian priest who can’t seem to steer clear of murder.

[Have faith in their crime solving skills]

A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch is the 6th historical mystery in the Charles Lenox series (available November 13, 2012).

Charles Lenox plans a trip to his uncle’s estate hoping for a few calm weeks in which to write an important speech. When he arrives in the quiet village of Plumbley, however, what greets him is a series of small crimes and acts of vandalism at the local shops: broken windows, minor thefts, threatening scrawls. Only when a far more serious crime is committed does he begin to understand the great stakes of those events, and the complex and sinister mind that is wreaking fear and suspicion in Plumbley.

Charles Lenox is a gentleman, complete with club membership, family pedigree, and London mansion. As the latest book in the series opens, Charles is a sitting member of Parliament, and is clearly struggling with the concept that his days are now filled with politics rather than detection. He misses the intrigue that goes along with scouring the streets of Victorian London looking for clues that will lead to the breakthrough in a case.

[Politics or murder...or both]

There are few things I enjoy more than the changing of the seasons. When the leaves start to turn, I dream of roaring fires and snowflakes falling from the sky. I make sure my favorite blanket is within reach of my armchair and that the reading lamp is in working order. My fireplace may be gas, but I use my imagination to hear the crackling of the logs as I sit snuggly and warm, and reach for my book.
 
Whether or not snowfall is in your future, there is nothing like a cozy mystery to keep you warm and toasty. As much as I love to read all cozies, I have to admit that I do have my favorites. I find that a good series with memorable characters can make me feel like I’m visiting old friends each time I pick up a book.
 
To help fill the fall and winter months with great reading, I’ve put together a list of my top ten coziest cozies:

[Judges, the blanket and teacup, please!]

Paradise City by Archer Mayor is the 23rd mystery in the series featuring Vermont Bureau of Investigations agent Joe Gunther (available October 2, 2012).

When the story opens you find yourself in the middle of a burglary in progress, which is taking place in the wealthy Boston neighborhood of Beacon Hill. The unfortunate victim of the crime catches the thieves in the act, which lands her in the hospital in a coma. Her granddaughter, Mina, distraught over the incident, decides that the police need some help with the investigation and starts to poke her nose into things. Meanwhile, there is another burglary at a wealthy estate in Vermont, which hits the desk of Joe Gunther and his squad at the Vermont Bureau of Investigations. Both cases seem to involve stolen jewelry that is fenced to a powerful, yet unknown buyer. The story also involves an illegal immigrant who is working off her passage to the United States as a jewelry artist under sweatshop conditions.

[Threads woven into a sparkling, mysterious tapestry]

Lucky Stuff by Sharon Fiffer is the eighth Jane Wheel, antiques picker and private investigator cozy mystery (available September 18, 2012).

If you are a collector of anything, you will find a kindred spirit in Jane Wheel. I have more than my fair share of items I can’t live without, and most of them are books. I have to admit that finding out that Sharon Fiffer’s character is a picker made me like her instantly. Jane isn’t just a collector, though, she rescues other people’s treasures. Many times these treasures are in the form of old photographs and yearbooks from thrift stores and flea markets. She gives them a home when previous owners have abandoned them.

[Old things are sometimes good things . . .]

Bad Little Falls by Paul Doiron is the third book in a series featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch (available August 7, 2012).

Due to “administrative trouble,” Maine game warden Mike Bowditch has been reassigned. The truth of the matter is that he’s been exiled, to the northern edge of Maine, so far north that you can cross into Canada on a snowmobile. The town of Whitney is known for three things: rampant drug abuse, high unemployment, and poaching. To complicate things, he is instantly attracted to a local woman, Jamie Sewell, whose ex-boyfriend is the town drug dealer. When a blizzard hits and a half frozen man shows up at the door of one of the townspeople, it starts a hunt for the man’s missing friend. When the friend is found dead in a snowbank, Bowditch is caught up in the search for the killer. The fact that the dead man is the aforementioned drug dealer only makes the list of suspects longer, and the job of sifting through motives even more complicated.

The author opens with a quote from Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms:

I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was.

I did not care what I was getting into.

It’s almost like Paul Doiron started with the quote and built his story around it. Mike Bowditch’s strange involvement with Jamie Sewell couldn’t be described better. He’s drawn to the woman and her beauty, even when he knows he should keep a professional distance, even when he realizes that she may be a suspect. Jamie has her own troubled past, which includes a strange son who keeps a journal full of grotesque drawings. Bowditch’s similarly messed up past seems to have made him susceptible to someone with so many problems. He seems to have a need to help her and her son that is separate from his physical attraction to her.

[Sometimes, you should just say “no” . . .]