January News for A Cozy Death Book Club
Dear Cozy Mystery Readers,
What a happy new year this is! We have some new members and welcome to all of you. We’re very glad to have you. Our “List for 2026” is out. Please look at the website: www.acozydeath.com. You’ll see it dancing on the site and proud as punch.
Our December meeting was so much fun. It came at a busy time but we had our stalwart members at the meeting to discuss Ngaio Marsh’s Enter a Murderer. The general consensus was that it was one of her lesser books, but a well-drawn depiction of theater life as it was in the 1930s. Ngaio Marsh was one of the authors credited with the Golden Age of Mystery Writers. Her compatriots were Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Marjorie Allingham. We’ve read samples of each of these authors and loved each and every one of them.
In addition to discussing Marsh’s book, we played a game called “Name the Title or Character.” Each of the prompts came from our 2025 list of novels. We had three winners and each will get a book. Tahlia is mailing them out as I write.
Tahlia and I have been talking about featuring our website on Instagram and TikTok. If we use TikTok I’ll have to go to the beauty parlour to get something done to my hair--but that’s a minor issue. Instagram doesn’t make me nervous; I simply have to be organized and faithful. On the other hand, TikTok is something that I have to rehearse. I don’t want to get caught on camera saying “uh, uh, like, like, and you know” in between sentences. Oh my! It’s another mountain to climb.
Speaking of mountains, or hills, our January book takes place in San Francisco. It’s a wonderful introduction to a series that incorporates cultural information, notions of respect for elders (oh, those were the days!!!!), and of course, a great mystery with a humdinger of a resolution to the crime. You have to read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. You’ll love it and Vera -- the main character. She’s a force of nature. Please come to the meeting on January 25th.
Also, don’t forget our great contest. All you have to do is come up with a paragraph that uses the sentences: “The woman walked round the corner of the house and saw a snake consuming a large Tuscan toad. The victim was motionless, looking about it only slightly puzzled, blinking, whilst the snake attacked its leg.” (from Summer’s Lease by John Mortimer) Enter by January 20th on the website’s Contest page: www.acozydeath.com .
See you soon and keep on reading cozy mysteries!
Fondly,
Karin and Tahlia