cozy mystery

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Winter 2025 To-Read List

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 13 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt was:  Books On My Winter 2025-2026 to-Read List. I have a lot more than this on my list but I picked out ten to list today.

  1. Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

3. Miss Read Village Diary by Miss Read

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4. My Beloved by Jan Karon

5. A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse

6. Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart

7. ‘Tis Herself by Maureen O’Hara

8. The Case of the Velvet Claws by Erle Stanley Gardner

9. Murder She Wrote: Brandy and Bullets by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain

10. Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble by Laurien Berenson

Have you read any of these books?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Top Ten Quotes from my favorite Christmas book: Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 10 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week we could choose whichever topic we wanted so I chose: Top Ten Quotes from my favorite Christmas book (or one of them): Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon.

A description of the book:

Experience the joys of a small town Christmas in this novel in the beloved Mitford series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon.

Millions of Americans have found Mitford to be a favorite home-away-from-home, and countless readers have long wondered what Christmas in Mitford would be like. The eighth Mitford novel provides a glimpse, offering a meditation on the best of all presents: the gift of one’s heart.

Since he was a boy, Father Tim has lived what he calls “the life of the mind” and has never really learned to savor the work of his hands. When he finds a derelict nativity scene that has suffered the indignities of time and neglect, he imagines the excitement in the eyes of his wife, Cynthia, and decides to undertake the daunting task of restoring it. As Father Tim begins his journey, readers are given a seat at Mitford’s holiday table and treated to a magical tale about the true Christmas spirit.

I try to read either all of this book, or parts of it, each year at Christmastime.

“Lord, make me a blessing to someone today!” He uttered aloud his grandmother’s prayer, raised his umbrella, and, beneath the sound of rain thudding onto black nylon, turned left, and headed to Lord’s Chapel to borrow a volume of Jonathan Edwards from the church library.

The day after his visit to Oxford Antiques, he realized that the angel had seized his imagination. He was surprised by a vivid recollection of her face, which he’d found beautiful, and the piety of her folded hands and downcast eyes. As for the missing wing, wasn’t that a pretty accurate representation of most of the human horde, himself certainly included?

In the back room of Happy Endings, Hope finished reading the second letter on her desk and held it for a moment close to her heart. She had never received a love letter before. She was, of course, the only one who would think it a love letter, as there was no mention of love in it, at all. Yet she could feel love beating in each word, in every stroke of the pen, just as it beat in the heart and soul of the chaplain of Hope House and expressed itself in everything he did.

His father gazed at him for an instant more, then walked up the steps and into the house. He sat there, numb with a mixture of joy and bewilderment. In one brief and startling moment, he realized that he was, after all, seen — and perhaps even loved.

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.

Blast it! No! He would not forfeit the glad rewards of this rare, unhurried moment. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and closed his eyes. Thank you, Lord, for the grace of an untroubled spirit, and for the blessings which are ours in numbers too great to count or even recognize. . . . He sat for some time, giving thanks, and then, without precisely meaning to, remembering. . . .

But, no. He didn’t want the Holy Family to go faster. He’d developed a special tenderness toward the last of this worshipful assembly, and wanted to give them his best effort, his deepest concentration. Indeed, it seemed to be the wont of most people in a distracted and frantic world to blast through an experience without savoring it or, later, reflecting upon it.

“I brought it home and thought, Timothy gave Hélène his beautiful bronze angel, I want to do this for him. Because if I could do it, it would represent the very reason Christ was born. He came to put us back together, and make us whole.”

“Christmas is real,” he said. “It’s all true.”

“Yes,” she said. “It’s all true.

“Merry Christmas, my love.”

 “Merry Christmas, dearest.”

“I’m a sinner saved by grace, Lew, not by works. It doesn’t matter a whit that I’m a priest. What matters is that we surrender our hearts to God and receive His forgiveness, and come into personal relationship with His Son.”

Bonus: He leaned down and took her chin in his hand and kissed her, lingering. “I like to see your eyelashes go up and down and the little stars come out of you.”

This post is part of Comfy, Cozy Christmas, being hosted by me and Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Children’s Books I Read After I Was An Adult

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 21 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt was:  Modern Books You Think Will Be Classics In The Future (submitted by Veros @ Dark Shelf of Wonders).

I don’t read a ton of modern books so I couldn’t think of any for that prompt. Instead I decided to share ten children’s books I didn’t read as a child but did read as an adult.

  1. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I saw a movie adaption of this when I was a child but never read the book. I honestly think I appreciated it more as an adult. I read it myself and the next week read it aloud to my 11-year-old daughter and she enjoyed it too. What a sweet book with so many lessons. I didn’t like the way it ended, but only because I wanted more. I think most people know what this one is about but a quick summary is that it is about a girl who is orphaned, is sent to live with her eccentric and strange uncle at his mansion on the moor of England. While there she uncovers some family secrets and learns how to be kind and to love life.

2. Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright

This was a quirky one but very fun to read with our daughter. This one is about two kids who go to visit their cousin and find an abandoned village that was left when the dam was destroyed and the lake that had been there disappeared. It turns out, though, that the whole village isn’t abandoned. There is a brother and sister living in two of the houses that are still standing.

3. The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes

This is a book in the series of books about The Moffat family. This one is about Jane Moffat, who is the middle Moffat. It is such a cute book with each chapter being it’s own story, yet one theme running throughout — the theme of Jane’s relationship with a 100-year-old Civil War vet. It was so sweet.  I read this one first and then read it again with our daughter.

4. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Little Miss and I listened to this one on Audible and really enjoyed it. Well, most of it. There are some chapters we skip because the stories are either dark or weird.

The story follows the Woodlawn family in Wisconsin, with the main focus being on 10-year-old Callie. It takes place during the Civil War years.

5. The Good Master by Karen Seredy

Little Miss and I just finished this one.

It takes place in Hungary and follows the adventures of young Kate and her cousin Jancsi. Kate is sent to stay with Jancsi and her aunt and uncle because, quite frankly, she is a brat and her dad wants his brother to teach her to be a nicer little girl.

Kate learns about sheep farming, life in a rural area, and how to be part of a family in this sweet book (though it did also have a disturbing chapter where she is kidnapped by gypsies).

6. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

I saw the 1985 version of this when I was young, but didn’t read the book until a few years ago. Two years ago I read it, while summarizing some parts, to Little Miss. We loved this book and love Anne. I think most readers of my blog know what Anne is all about, but if you don’t — it’s about an orphan who is mistakenly sent to live with an older couple and grows up to be a charming, whimsical and spunky child.

7. Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen

I loved this one and read it in the spring two years ago. I then read it this past spring to Little Miss. This is the story of a young girl whose father has PTSD from World War II. The family goes to stay at the girl’s great-grandmother’s farm, abandoned since the great-grandparents passed away. They go for the visit to help her father heal but it becomes a place for the whole family to heal.

8. The Green Ember by S.D. Smith

I read this one with my son years ago and enjoyed it and have started it with Little Miss. This book is an adventure book that stars young rabbits with swords who go on a quest that leads them through a journey of good and evil, searching for family, and learning about themselves and what they can do.

9. The Black Stallion by William Farley

I saw the movie adaptation when I was a child but did not read the book until about a year ago. I read it to Little Miss and it was good but there were some sections we skipped because it just dragged and dragged. This book is about a boy who is shipwrecked with a wild, Arabian stallion which he befriends and takes with him when he is rescued. Eventually he begins to work with a trainer to make the horse a race horse.

10. The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz

This one is about a young pioneer girl from Pennsylvania whose family moves from the Philadelphia area to a very rural area of the state and learns what it means for a family to become self-sufficient and help to settle a new world.

Have you read these books? What did you think of them?

Are there children’s books you didn’t read until you were an adult?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books I randomly grabbed off my shelf

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt was: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf (Stand in front of your book collection, close your eyes, point to a title, and write it down. If you have shelves, point to your physical books. If you have a digital library, use a random number generator and write down the title of the book that corresponds with the number you generated. You get bonus points if you tell us whether or not you’ve read the book, and what you thought of it if you did!)

I did pick these books randomly, which you might question when you see the one. I was surprised that I have only read two out of all the picks I made. I did it by closing my eyes and just feeling around each shelf.

  1. The Devil’s Hand by Jack Carr

I have not read this one. It is actually from my husband’s collection. He is a very avid reader (more so than me) so our books are mixed. He’s a big Jack Carr fan. I may read this at some point.

2. As The Crow Flies by Craig Johnson (A Walt Longmire Mystery)

This series is about the sheriff of Wyoming’s Absaroka County and the various cases he has to solve. Yes, the show Longmire is based on the series. Walt’s sidekick is Henry Standing Bear, and his deputies are Victoria “Vic” Moretti and Santiago Saizarbitoria. I have not read this one yet but I have read several in the series so far and enjoy them. They can get a little repetitive but I love the characters and Johnson’s writing.

One thing you come to expect from a Walt Longmire Mystery is that there is going to be a fairly gruesome murder, Walt is going to have to go on a long journey (often in the snow) where he will probably see his Native American spirit guides, Henry is going to be both a support and a smart mouth that provides the comic relief, and Vic is going to figure out how to make complete sentences using only the words “the” and the f-word. So, no, these are not “clean” books. But the writing is really great.

3. Summer HIll Sisters by Beverly Lewis

I have never actually read Beverly Lewis. We found this book and several Elm Creek Quilting books by Jennifer Chiavarini in our attic a couple of years ago. I am guessing the previous owner left them. I will probably read this at some point.

4. Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

I have read two in this series but not this one yet. These are sort of like short stories. They were first published in either a magazine or newspaper back in the 1920s. I will read this one at some point.

5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

I actually read this earlier this year. I will be reading Return of the King this winter

6. Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

Another of my husband’s books. He reads a lot of Mosley, but I have not yet. Hope to soon.

7. The Farmer’s Daughter by Lisa R. Howeler (yeah…me)

I promise I did NOT pick this one on purpose. I didn’t even know it was on that shelf. I considered putting it back and choosing another one but I wanted to keep true to the prompt so I kept it here. I won’t provide a link so I’m not being spammy. It is on Kindle Unlimited if you want to look it up. It is a Christian romance. I now write cozy mysteries instead of romance but at some point I need to write the last book in this series.

8. My Beloved by Jan Karon

My husband just bought this for me and it came out in October. I can’t wait to read it but I think I might let my mom read it first. She loves Jan Karon books and I do have some other books I can read first. Plus, she’s a very fast reader so I’ll have it back quick I’m sure.

9. Cold Company by Sue Henry

I haven’t read any books by this author. I had never even heard of her before my daughter picked this out for me at a used book sale. I’ll get to it eventually.

10. An Amish Inn Mystery: Plain Deception by Tara Randel

I have read other books in this series and enjoyed them but I have not read this one yet. Probably soon, though.

Have you read any of these books? Let me know in the comments!

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Top Ten Tuesday: The ten most recent books I’ve read

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 22 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s prompt was Halloween Freebie, but since I don’t really read Halloween books, I chose to list my  last ten most recent reads.

My last ten reads have been fairly simple reading with four Nancy Drew books and two Murder, She Wrote books mixed in.  I’m going to go from my last read down to the tenth last read.

  1. The Nancy Drew Files: Win, Lose, or Die by Carolyn Keene

2. Murder, She Wrote: Trick or Treachery by Donald Bain

3. Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowen

4. A Fatal Harvest by Rachael O. Phillips

5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

6. Nancy Drew: The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene

7. Murder, She Wrote: Gin and Daggers by Donald Bain

8. The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller

9. But First, Murder by Bee Littlefield

10. Nancy Drew: Password to Larkspur Lane by Carolyn Keene

What have you been reading lately?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish I Could Read Again For the First Time

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 17 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s prompt was: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time.

  1. Little Women by Louise May Alcott

(I know…sooo cliché. But really. I held off on reading this book for years because I thought it just wouldn’t be my thing and then it really was!


2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

It took me a long time to read this one too and when I got to the beginning of it I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, but I pushed through and fell in love with this group of misfit friends and their journey.

3. On The Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I loved reading these books when I was a kid and I would love to experience the excitement of finding out what was going to happen next again.

4. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

This became one of my favorite reads of all time and I would love to read it for the first time again. The story is so unique and interesting and the romance so subtle yet swoony!

5. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun

I love many of the books in The Cat Who series but this one has been my favorite by far. It was written in a very different style from the other books so maybe Lilian didn’t write it. Ha! Either way, I enjoyed this one very much and would love to feel the excitement of solving the mystery again.

6. Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

I truly enjoyed this Sherlock Holmes story told by Horowitz with the endorsement of the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I would love to experience the thrill of reading this mystery again.

7. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

This one was so much fun and I would love to experience the magic of the story unfolding again and looking forward to figuring out how it was all going to turn out!

8. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

I love these books and I’d love to read the first one for the first time again but I am very glad to get to read it again and again whenever I want.

9. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

I really enjoyed this one as a kid. I am listening to it on Audible and will  probably order a new book so I can read it again. It has been so long since I have read it, that it will probably feel like I am reading it for the first time again.

10. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

This is the first book I ever took out or a library (at school) and read in full. I loved it – now when I read it to my daughter a couple of years ago, I did discover it was much darker than I remembered but it was still very good.  

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Hopeful Reads for Autumn

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 24 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt was: Books on My Fall 2025 to-Read List

I have more than ten books on my autumn hopefuls list, but I chose ten of those to share. I am leaving out those I am reading now or have already read this month:

|| Murder, She Wrote: Trick or Treachery by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain ||

|| Nancy Drew: The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene ||

|| A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse ||

|| My Beloved (A Mitford Novel) by Jan Karon (it releases Oct. 7 but I probably won’t get it right away so this could become a winter read) ||

|| Rebecca by  Daphne du Maurier ||

|| The Unselected Journals of Emma Lion by Beth Brower ||

|| A Hardy Boys Mystery: The Tower Treasure by Frankin W. Dixon ||

|| The Cat, The Mill, and the Murder by Leann Sweeney ||

|| A Fatal Harvest (An Amish Inn Mystery) by Rachael O. Phillips ||

|| The Cider Shop Rules by Julie Anne Lindsey ||

Have you read any of these books? Or maybe watched the shows based on them? What did you think of them or the characters?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Book Review: But First, Murder by Bee Littlefield

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

“Whoa slow down the Orient Express, Sherlock. You think you’re going to investigate a possible murder?” It’s one thing for me to bat around that idea in my own private brain or to make a few innocent lists in a new notebook. For my very normal and sensible little sister to make such a suggestion — out loud — is just bizarre.”

But  First, Murder by Bee Littlefield

Book Title: But First, Murder

Author: Bee Littlefield

Genre: Cozy mystery

Description:

After years of slinging lattes, Betti Bryant is taking ownership of her life. She doesn’t need new friends or book club invitations to distract her from finding her way forward. And the unresolved situation with a guy she kissed a few weeks ago might as well stay unresolved.

But there’s one distraction she is not prepared for: finding a murder victim on her way to work one frigid December morning.

Suspicion falls on Betti’s roommate, Callista, who happens to be holding a baseball bat over the victim’s body when the police drive up. Almost totally sure Callista is innocent, Betti buys a new notebook, digs out her scrapbooking supplies, and makes the cutest murder board ever.

Now, on top of holding down a job (or two) and figuring out her entire future, she’s committed to finding the real killer before any more lives are ruined—including her own.

My thoughts:

I was excited to get back into Betti’s world, after reading book one in this series, and see what Betti and her friends have been up to. I won’t share too much of what happened at the end of the last book, Clueless in the Coffee Station, in case you haven’t read it yet, but let’s just say Betti was trying some new things out at the end of the last book. The description above mentions that, of course.

In this book she’s in the middle of those changes (though still working part time at the coffee shop) when she stumbles onto a dead body outside her roommate’s new studio.

Of course, she needs to find out who killed him because she is sure the police will suspect her roommate.

On top of the mystery, in which her sister, Elsea, joins her in investigating this time around, there is a possible romance between her and a co-worker, Nico, and a new partnership with a local reporter.

Betti is a very quirky character and cracks me up. I don’t know if I would make some of the decisions she makes when it comes to not going to the police, but if she rushed right to the police there wouldn’t be a story, right?

Betti is introverted and indecisive like me and I think that is why I am drawn to her. She is also very funny, which I am not, but like to think I am.

I enjoyed the addition of her sister to this book. She was in the last book but wasn’t as heavily involved in the investigation as she was in this one.

Bee has left us with some questions at the end of this book which I hope means more stories with Betti and her family and friends.

I highlight a lot in my Kindle with Bee’s books because I love her use of words.

“The younger man comes into the café, leaving the argument behind with the snow he wipes onto the welcome mat.”

Isn’t that a cool line?

Or how about:

“Then I scream. Not one of those piercing shrieks from horror movies or playgrounds, but a goofy, uncontrolled yelp. The boy of a man, as iced over as the trees, is splayed out near an empty flower box, under the same window through which I glimpsed Callista dancing last night.”

Or:

“I found a dead man on my way to work this morning. I say it in my mind, over and over, but I can’t say it out loud. Not here, not with tea steeping and Christmas lights blinking and Chopin on the radio. When customers ask me how I’m doing I say, “Great, thanks!”

And:

“I’m going to go home and have a hard conversation with my roommate Then I’ll take a hot shower and fill my new notebook with thoughts on everything except the poor man who definitely accidentally froze to death last night.”

And one more:

“Whoa slow down the Orient Express, Sherlock. You think you’re going to investigate a possible murder?” It’s one thing for me to bat around that idea in my own private brain or to make a few innocent lists in a new notebook. For my very normal and sensible little sister to make such a suggestion — out loud — is just bizarre.”

Anyhow, I clearly enjoy Bee’s writing style. It’s first person, present tense, which I usually do not enjoy in books, but when Bee writes it, I enjoy it. I also enjoy Bee’s characters and how well-developed and 3-D they are. They are believable, raw and real. Bee’s books are also a good, light read, with a smidgen of heavy, but not enough to make her books dark mystery or thriller. Her books are definitely cozy mysteries with a good balance of cozy and mystery.

Hopefully, all my rambling will convince you to give the book a try.

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 mystery/cozy mystery book series with men as the protagonist

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt was:  Genre freebie (Pick any genre you’d like and build a list around it. You can even narrow the topic if you’d like, such as: thrillers with unreliable narrators, fantasy romance with fae characters, or historical romance with suspense elements.)

My choice was 10 mystery/cozy mystery book series with men as the protagonist (as shown by this post title *wink*)

Because it is such an obvious choice, I am not going to include Sherlock Holmes in this list, even though it would have taken up a spot that I didn’t have to fill with another series. There are a lot of series which could be added to this list, but I added ones I’m either familiar with because I or my husband read them, or ones that I have read and enjoyed.

  1. The Cat Who Mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun (29 books)

This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series, if not my favorite. James Macintosh Qwilleran, or simply Qwill, is the protagonist. He is a newspaper reporter in the big city in the first two or three books and later he is a newspaper columnist who has inherited a large sum of money from a woman he barely knows and is living in the small town of Pickax, which is “north of everywhere.”

He is helped in his mysteries by his two Siamese cats — Koko and YumYum.

I’ve read almost all of these books and, yes, there are a couple duds, but the series is a comfort read to me.

2. The Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson (21 primary books and several novellas)

This series is about the sheriff of Wyoming’s Absaroka County and the various cases he has to solve. Yes, the show Longmire is based on the series. Walt’s sidekick is Henry Standing Bear, and his deputies are Victoria “Vic” Moretti and Santiago Saizarbitoria.

I’ve read five or six in this series and have enjoyed them, but they do get a bit repetitive after a bit. Book series are supposed to be a bit predictable, though. It is what makes us feel familiar with them and makes the books become “comfort reads” even if the topic is heavy.

One thing you come to expect from a Walt Longmire Mystery is that there is going to be a fairly gruesome murder, Walt is going to have to go on a long journey (often in the snow) where he will probably see his Native American spirit guides, Henry is going to be both a support and a smart mouth that provides the comic relief, and Vic is going to figure out how to make complete sentences using only the words “the” and the f-word. So, no, these are not “clean” books. But the writing is really great.

3. Detective Daniel Hawthorne series by Anthony Horowitz (5 books)

In this series, screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz has inserted himself in the mystery. He solves crimes with a complex and unlikable retired police detective turned private investigator named Daniel Hawthorne. Mixed up in the mysteries of each book is the mystery of who Hawthorne is and why he left the police force.

I’ve read two of the books in this series and plan to read the rest.

4. The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries by Dorothy Sayers (15 books)

This series is about an aristocrat from England who seems to have nothing better to do with his time than solve mysteries. Lots of tongue in cheek humor mixed in with a ton of satire.

(Have read one and enjoyed it and plan to read more)

5. The Hercule Poirot Mysteries by Agatha Christie (34 books)

One of the most famous mystery series with a male protagonist. Hercule Poirot is a private detective from Belgium living in England. His trusty sidekick is Arthur Hastings.

I have read four or five and enjoyed them. Will read more.

6. The Hamish MacBeth series by M.C. Beaton  (36 books)

This is a series about a police investigator in the fictional Scottish Highland village of Lochdubh. There was a show based on the series but it is much, much different. For one, Hamish is a ginger in the books and has dark brown hair in the show, but a lot of the characters are different in general.

I do think Hamish sleeps around a bit in both, though.

I have read one and it wasn’t amazing writing (I’ve never thought Beaton’s writing that good but it gets the job done to deliver the story) but for some reason I still fell for Hamish and will be reading more. I have one on my physical bookshelf right now.)

7. The Albert Campion Mysteries by Margery Allingham (21 books)

According to the site, booksinorder.com, “Author Allingham has introduced the central character in this series in the form of a suave sleuth named Albert Campion. Along with the novels of this crime fiction series, the character is also seen in a few short stories, which are also written by author Allingham. It is believed that author Allingham has created the Albert Campion’s character as a parody to the character of Lord Peter Wimsey created by author Dorothy L. Sayers. But, she eventually went on to develop a unique personality of Albert Campion.”

I haven’t read any yet but have one in my Kindle and can’t wait to try it.

8. The Perry Mason Mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner (82 books!! In this series)

This series follows the investigations of attorney Perry Mason. Yes, they are the basis for the TV show from the 60s and 90s and yes, they are a lot different than the show.

I have read two Perry Mason Mysteries and enjoyed them both. I plan to read more and looks like I have a lot to choose from.

9. The Father Brown Mysteries by G.K. Chesterton (52 short stories compiled into 5 books)

I read one of the short stories and listened to another and enjoyed them both and hope to read more. This series of short stories is about a Catholic priest who is also an amateur sleuth. Yes, the shows are based on the short stories.

10. The Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Rex Stout (48 books)

I have not read any of the books in this series so I don’t know as much about it, but my husband has and enjoys them. They are about a detective named Nero Wolfe and are narrated Wolfe’s confidential assistant Archie Goodwin. 

I did not choose my series based on this list, but here is a full list of some other suggestions of mysteries with male protagonists:
https://cozymystery.com/themes/other-themes/male-sleuth/

Have you read any of these books? Or maybe watched the shows based on them? What did you think of them or the characters?