What's a cozy mystery?

                     
The cozy mystery genre is defined by a lighter, gentler approach to mystery: less supense, more humor. The sleuth is generally an amateur who gathers evidence by listening to gossip, relying on intuition and inate knowledge of character to solve the crime. Blood and guts are kept to a minimum. Pets and crafts such as quilting or cooking are usually an integral piece of the story.

                                                                 Examples of cozy mysteries:
(by no means a complete list)

Miss Marple mysteries by Agatha Christie
                                                 Amelia Peobody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters
                                                 The Cat Who mysteries by Lillian Jackson Braun
Goldy Schulz mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson
                                                 Ivy Malone mysteries by Lorena Mc Courtney      

                                                                                    INTRODUCING
                                         CHRISTINE STERLING
AND HER FAITHFUL SNOOPING PARTNER, MOLLY THE BORDER COLLIE

Christine Sterling never set out to become a sleuth. At fifty-five, she's a member of the Baby Boomer generation--with perpetual energy and youthful vitality, at least in her mind. What most certainly can be said of Christine, involves her penchant for snooping. With time on her newly-retired hands, snooping becomes her primary diversion. Christine's beloved border collie, Molly, is the perfect sleuthing partner, possessing a nose for sniffing out clues, so to speak.   

Christine Sterling's Golden Years, BOOK #1

Payne & Misery

It will be published this fall.

       All that sparks is not gold for Christine Sterling. The luster of her shiny "Golden Years" dream fades when Christine's newly retired husband, Jesse, becomes obsessed with a hobby requiring extra time away. Add to this dilemma Christine's dubious "gift" of observation, a super-sized helping of free time, and a double dose of imagination. Sprinkle liberally with peculiar circumstances lurking in the neighborhood and what do you get? Not the glittering paradise of togetherness Jesse promised. You get trouble, baby. Plenty of trouble.

Christine has already developed a bad reputation for conjuring wild tales to explain ordinary occurrences. Who is likely to take her seriously when she discovers a bruised and neglected neighbor named Lila Payne? Try as she might, she cannot interest anyone in Lila's dire need for immediate rescue. Something about crying wolf. 

But when Lila and Christine's beloved border collie Molly both disappear the same night, Christine dives headfirst into a dark pool swirling with muddy secrets and misery. Her best friend throws her a lifesaver of prayer and she begins to sense God at work in the situation. Even with God's help, can they save Lila and Molly before it's too late?

EXCERPT FROM PAYNE & MISERY

CHAPTER ONE

Dark—the word fit him like a bad guy’s black hat—complexion, clothing, glasses, expression, knit cap pulled low over his ears, tufts of curls poking out underneath. I concentrated on memorizing his suspicious features as I observed him through the plate glass window of the restaurant where we often ate brunch after Sunday morning church. His lurking worried me.

“Maybe he’s an Arab.” Not that I’d know an Arab if I bumped into one on the streets. Except for Hispanics, Grass Valley, California maintained a mostly snow white population, much like most small towns in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

I couldn’t pry my eyes off the shady man in the parking lot, but I would guess that Jesse didn’t so much as look up from his breakfast when he answered. “Who?’

“Out there.” I jabbed a finger toward the culprit.

“Where?”

I let out the anxious breath I’d been holding in and pointed again. “See the man hiding behind that forest green car?”

Jesse frowned as he chewed a few more bites of chili bean omelet. “Honestly, Christine. If he’s behind a car, how can I see him?”

“He keeps popping up. There he is! Look, look. Now.”

Jesse dutifully followed my pointer, then sustained a long stare before turning his attention back to his food. “Okay. I see him. So?”

“He staked out that car. He’s been waiting the whole time we’ve been here. He paces behind it, trying to stay out of sight. When the driver comes back, he’ll jump out and mug her. Take her cash and jewelry and who knows what else. Bet he has a gun or a knife in that pocket where his hand is. Watch him.”

Jesse rolled his eyes. “Give it up, will you? You’re jumping to conclusions again. How do you know a woman drives that car? And even if it is a woman, there could be other explanations. Maybe he’s in a hurry to get home and his wife is taking too long in the restroom.”

“Then why doesn’t he unlock the car and get in?”

Jesse stopped chewing and blinked. Ha! I had him there. I went back to studying the perpetrator in case I got called on to identify him in a line-up.

Jesse’s delayed answer mumbled out between chews. “Maybe his wife has the car keys.”

After being married to this man for thirty-five years, I should expect Jesse’s reaction to my gift of observation. He never took it seriously. “You’re going to be sorry when you read in tomorrow’s paper that some poor woman got murdered in the Humpty-Dumpty parking lot while you gobbled down a chili omelet.”

Jesse didn’t look up, just harrumphed and kept on eating.

I returned to surveillance, thankful for last year’s laser surgery, which had given my vision razor-edge clarity. The man stood in the shadow of an overhanging oak, but from the direction of his head, I could tell his eyes remained fixed on the front door of the restaurant. My stomach knotted into a pretzel. Danger! I narrowed my eyes. Would Jesse run out to save the woman when the man attacked her? Jesse, my hero, the love of my life. I’d be right behind him swinging my heavy purse.

Just then, a woman in a black Spandex dress started across the parking lot toward the man. I held my breath, then whispered, “Jesse!”

Neither of us moved while the woman’s designer bag flopped from side to side on its thin strap in rhythm with her swaying hips. Like a lamb to the slaughter, she sauntered closer to her fate without a trace of fear.

I gasped when the dark-complexioned man popped from the shadows directly in front of his victim. But, after a short verbal exchange, the woman opened the door of the green sedan and got in. The mysterious villain hurried to the other side and settled in the passenger seat. Back-up lights flickered. The automobile reversed out of the parking space and sped away.

Without so much as a punch or a yell. He didn’t even grab her bag.

I leveled my gaze at Jesse and blinked.

He opened his mouth.

I held up one hand. “Don’t say it.”

Instead, he shook his head and grunted again before returning to his omelet.

I took a big gulp of coffee and fidgeted with my napkin. “He did look suspicious. You can’t deny that.”

Jesse buttered his biscuit, took a big bite, and chewed. I felt the lecture building in Jesse’s brain like a sudden summer thunderstorm. He stared at me with a curious expression—as if I’d grown a second head—swiped his mouth with his napkin and sighed. “You never give up, do you? There’s something sinister going on everywhere we go. Face it, Chris. This is an ordinary small town in northern California. Good people live here. Bad things don’t happen. That’s why we moved to Nevada County. Remember? Extremely low crime rate. But you insist on seeing evil everywhere we go. You won’t stop snooping into other people’s affairs. Looking for—” His shoulders sagged and he waggled his head once more. “If it wasn’t so sad, it would be funny.”

“Funny? What would?” Did I dare ask?

“Your imagination.” He leaned forward and pointed his fork at me. “Someday, that wild imagination of yours is going to get you into real trouble.”

As Christine investigates the puzzling events leading to Mrs. Parrish's murder, incriminating evidence pointing to Amanda's guilt piles up. Amanda refuses to defend herself. Can Christine find a way to exonerate Amanda? Should she even try? And how does the mysterious malady contracted by Christine's beloved border collie complicate the quest?

HOT OFF THE COMPUTER!!!! 

                                                                                                                              SOPHIA SARAH MADISON WRIGHT

Stella Isabella McKay is a very blessed girl. But even with all her blessings, she isn't truly happy. If only she had a cousin of her own to play with. Just that one more blessing. Then she is positive she would be the happiest girl in the whole world.  Aunt Lucy travels halfway around the world to the same adoption store where she found her dear daughter Lena Katrina fourteen years before.  But that was when babies were in plentiful supply. These days, babies are very difficult to find. The Adoption Store is nearly empty. Mr. Moody, the adoption man, doesn't know what to do. Will Aunt Lucy find a little girl to adopt? And if she does, will Stella Isabella McKay become the happiest girl in the whole world?