Essays & Media

What Makes me Buy a Cozy Mystery: Trusting Recommendations From Authors I Admire

As a host for New Books in Literature on the New Books Network, I usually look for ambitious, character-driven fiction. These novels, whose authors I interview, span the decades and explore human suffering, resilience, and transformation. In between reading gorgeous novels for NBN, I like to refresh my palate with an excellent cozy mystery.

Culinary Cozy Mysteries and the Murder Rate Paradox

Why are there endless murders in so many cozy mystery towns? Cozy mystery readers might eventually notice that safe and sweet fictional villages have very high murder rates. Those murder rates are even more distracting than the children who never grow older and cozy protagonists who never marry their sweethearts. As an avid reader and the author of the Whipped & Sipped culinary cozy mystery series set in Chicago, I probably think about murder more than most people.

Almost as Interesting as Poop

When I remarried years ago, I chose Villeroy and Bach’s Frutteto pattern for our dairy dishes. The beautiful porcelain plates, bowls, and serving platters edged with warm-colored fruits and vegetables, served us for over twenty-five years until many were scratched and chipped and no longer made me happy.

Ten Favorite Historical Mystery Series

I love historic cozies because there’s something about diving into the protagonist’s community, eavesdropping on the protagonist’s inner thoughts, and watching her (because cozy protagonists are mostly women) solve what at first seems to be an unsolvable crime.

This is Good

Long before I started writing books, when I was focused on creating, teaching, and performing music, I was plagued by a little voice continuously telling me I wasn’t good at any of it. That voice never shut up. When I was raising children, I never felt like I was the best mother, and years later, when I began inventing recipes, I questioned whether I had it in me to get the flavors right.

An Introduction to Cozy Mysteries

I didn’t realize I was reading an early cozy mystery when I first picked up a Diane Mott Davidson novel in 1990, but it was a pleasure to read about a crime that didn’t involve hardboiled grit, disgusting descriptions of blood and guts, and moments of spine-chilling fear. Instead, it centered on a divorced caterer worrying about the flakiness of her pie crust as she solved a tricky murder in a small, fictional mountain town in Colorado.

Five Cozy Mystery Series with Slightly Unusual Protagonists

Cozy mysteries got me through cancer. Maybe medical intervention did most of the work, but I spent over a year exhausted, foggy, and barely functioning. I’d lie on the couch devouring cozy mysteries about aristocrats, ancient Roman informers, or butterfly collectors, and the hours would speed by. Tales of amateur sleuths baking a peach pie or cooking for a crowd could make me feel better.

Why I Couldn't Sleep Last Night Thanks to Claude AI

I’m just recovering from a bad night filled with bad dreams about a short but enervating fling I had in the early nineties. I should have known the guy would turn out to be controlling when he commented on my hat the first time we met.

The Queen of Jazz and Me

Unless you knew that we shared a birthday, you'd think that I have little in common with the First Lady of Song!

Interview with Alene Baron

What words or phrases do you overuse?
Alene Baron probably uses the word “annoy” a little to often (as does her creator).

How My Dad Inspired a Character

The last time I saw my father, Alex, was in 2021 during the pandemic, when only hospice nurses were allowed inside. My parents lived on the third floor, so we only got to see Dad if our mom was able to wheel his chair to the window. That day, I stood outside the building, waving up at their balcony. He was too weak to wave, but I think he smiled. I’ve held onto that memory.

Respect and Other Ingredients

Ruthie Rosin, the pastry chef in my Whipped and Sipped Mystery series, is sweet-natured, quick-witted, and spiritual. She observes centuries-old Jewish traditions but lives in the contemporary, real world with her husband and three children.

G,P. Gottlieb Discusses the Whipped & Sipped Mystery Series

Q. Galit, I love your unique culinary cozy series. Thank you for taking a few minutes to answer my questions.

A. Thank you so much for signing up for my website and for doing all the book promotions you’ve worked on for several years now. So many authors are grateful to you!

Edith's Forty Years at the Whipped & Sipped Cafe

Dear Alene,
I know how much you wanted to have a video to play during Edith’s 40th anniversary party, but I was spectacularly unsuccessful in getting anything worthwhile on the recording. I interviewed her as you requested. She refused to go on camera unless her face was darkened. Here’s the video:

A Worthwhile Conference

I just returned from Left Coast Crime, a conference for mystery lovers. Of the 550 or so participants, there were about 70 authors, and the rest are readers looking for books to read. Guess who’s got 3 published mysteries (and a 4th launch coming this summer)?