Angela: Let’s see, let’s see, if we’re going live, YouTube. I have to admit, I am very proud of this thumbnail. I love the background with it. Taking a second to go live, I’m like, “That’s okay, I love the thumbnail.” Hey, and we’re live!
Oh, this is always so cute when I see the comments pop up. Oh, my goodness. Oh, “Hi everybody. Oh, Cooking With My Cozies, Sonya, Marta, you guys are already here. You guys are right on time and oh, I just saw the comment. Where did it go? (responds to comment by Sharon Elizabeth “Wow! I’ve never cut it this close. Finished the book at 6:55pm tonight EST!”) You just finished reading at 6:55, that is amazing. Where did it go? Just under the wire. I love it.
Hey, but that means you’re ready to talk about it, and it’s fresh in your mind because, tonight, let’s see, I have the images again. So, we have, well, we also have video so we can do the little introductory (displays Welcome to The Cozy Mystery Book Club Livestream). Welcome to the livestream! The official video, which it feels very cool. (image reappears) And now it just wants to keep going? Of course that would happen. Thank you, StreamYard.
So, tonight’s livestream is on (displays image of book and April Book Club Read summary) On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young, our April book of the month. And, so, Christine, this is a second read time; second time around reading it for her. Mary, this is your first time, right?
Mary: Yeah, it is.
Angela: And you seem to have enjoyed the book. You said you liked it.
Mary: It was a five star for me.
Angela: Ah!Hey, that’s awesome! That makes me so happy.
Mary: I was in a reading slump before I read this, so I was glad that I had such a good time reading it.
Angela: I was really surprised by this book. I thought it was going to be another fun, hearted like a fun, lighthearted, “Oh we have all the puns,” I was like, “Nope!” I had to go pull this from my bookcase. (holds up And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie). I was like, “This had the Agatha Christie vibes to the core,” and I was there for that. I was not expecting it, but I was really happy with the Agatha Christie references and everything else.
Mary: And I loved…
Christine: I love those parts about the book.
Mary: Sorry.
Angela: What were you saying, Christine?
Christine: I was saying that was one of my favorite parts about the book was the Agatha Christie references.
Angela: And what were you saying Mary?
Mary: I love the true crime element in it because the dumping ground is actually a real thing. I had to go look it up when I read that part.
Angela: I have to admit, I think it’s something really funny about moms and cozy mysteries or moms and mystery novels when they’re telling their kids, “Oh, why do you talk about death? Why are you reading about murder?” And like you’re sitting there as the reader, reading a book about murder, and there’s a character, “Oh, why are you reading about murder?” And you’re going, “Well, I’m sitting here too, so I know why your daughter likes reading about murders. I get it.” There’s always the mom who doesn’t want the daughter to be reading about murders.
Mary: Well, I got my love for mysteries from my mom.
Angela: Aww, that’s so sweet. I definitely fell into the Hallmark Movie Channel and just stayed there. I remember being, so, this is just like a little backstory moment. But I remember I was really, really sick like 101-degree fever, and I didn’t go to my prom at all. I wasn’t really planning on going anyway, but I had a dress, and I was thinking, “Oh, maybe I will go.” I had the ticket. And then, the day before I got really, really sick and was watching Hallmark Movies & Mysteries for like three days straight, and I was as happy as a clam. It didn’t matter I was sick. It didn’t matter I missed the big event. I had Hallmark! And I had Mystery Woman. And what was it? McBride to keep me company. And, so, I just stayed with them ever since.
Mary: They just showed McBride last weekend.
Angela: Did they really?
Mary: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: Oh, my gosh, John Larroquette, classic! Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Everyone’s commenting. It’s so hard to keep up with everybody. (responds to comment by Leslie W “It got daaaark! I liked it”) Oh, okay. You guys are agreeing, it got dark. Yep, I didn’t really mind it though. So, I’m kind of curious if the darkness was a deterring factor, or if you didn’t mind it? Because, again, I kind of went with it because of the Agatha Christie vibes. But if you are looking for a lighthearted cozy mystery, kind of wasn’t this book.
Mary: I think that’s what I like about it. It was a bit more suspenseful.
Christine: Yeah, that’s what, I tend to like a darker cozy, so this was right up my alley with that.
Angela: Okay, so, I was going to say, yeah, this one wasn’t so much pun-filled, but I also thought it was interesting because we had a few swears in there, and I was going, “Did she just swear?” Oh, my gosh! And then they swear again, and I’m going, “This is, did the editor not catch this? What’s going on?” But I mean, it’s totally fine. It was just funny because I’m not used to seeing swears in cozies. Granted, there weren’t any F-bombs, but still. I just saw this one. (responds to comment by Jacqueline Sanders “Hi, I just recently got into the cozy mystery books”) We’re converting people to cozy mysteries. You just got into cozy. Yes! I’m sorry, what were you going to say, Mary? I didn’t mean to interrupt you.
Mary: I was kind of surprised that they all but showed, talked about the body.
Angela: (nodding)
Mary: They talked about how it was placed in the suitcase.
Angela: Yeah, I was surprised about that, because a lot of times we have poison, which again is not very bloody, or if we do have the knife, it’s a single knife wound, you know, there’s not a bunch of different stab wounds. And to have the police officer, not the main detective love interest we got, but his sidekick over there, who I was not a huge fan of, you know, threateningly, menacingly, tell her, “Oh, yeah, he had to break the bones to fit her in the suitcase.” I’m going, “Whoa, that is too much information, buddy.” That is not usually cozy mystery realm, but, I mean, it didn’t detract from the reading experience. It was just different because, again, most of the time it’s off-the-page or you’re hearing, you’re trying to solve a mystery that’s already happened. So, it was just different, but not in a bad way. (reading comments) Okay, people are liking the gritty. So, again, you guys both liked the book. What did you like about it?
Christine: I liked the aspect of like them solving the crime and how it was very Agatha Christie; that was like one of my main points of the book.
Mary: I think one of the things that I really liked was like I said the true crime element of it. Like, some of it was based in the truth, because it did make me want to go look up, “What? Is this really a thing that’s happening in Georgia?”
Angela: (responds to comment by Shannon S “I enjoyed it since I think it battled stereotypes about the South being this silly or idiotic place”) Oh, this is an interesting comment about the battling of the Southern stereotypes. I definitely read the word y’all quite a bit.
Christine: Yeah.
Angela: I will say that caught my attention after a certain point. (reading comments) Okay, people didn’t seem to mind that it was a little darker. (displays comment by Michelle “I didn’t really mind it being darker, but I did mind the swearing”) I almost think maybe the book cover, where did my little images go. I think that might have set us up for it in a way, too, (displays image of book and April Book Club Read summary) because I think I mentioned off camera that we didn’t have our cozy companion. We didn’t have anything fun on the book cover. Like, not fun, but anything funky or super ridiculously colorful that’s bright, and one of those, sort of, alluring images. So, I think maybe the book cover also kind of sets the tone, where it does have more blues and grays in the coloring than typical.
And I just realized, as I’m pulling up my graphics, I was so happy to see your beautiful faces, I didn’t do the official introductions. So, we have (displays image with contact info) a returning guest hostess, Christine, and I have her Twitter and Instagram handle right there for you. And I love that (profile pic) you have your little puppy on your lap, so cute. And then we have (displays image with contact info) a brand-new hostess who has been a huge supporter of The Cozy Mystery Book Club for such a long time, the lovely Mary Baza. And, so, I have her Instagram and Twitter handles right there for you. So, please, if you’re not already following these lovely ladies, please do so, and check out their accounts because they talk a lot about cozy mysteries and they’re awesome. I wanted to make sure I gave you guys the shoutout. I made the images. I looked up your information. I wanted to make sure I actually included it because I remember there was one time I made this beautiful image for a giveaway and totally forgot to post it. So, I wanted to make sure you guys got your dues because you are taking time to celebrate cozy mysteries tonight and people should know who you are and where they can find you.
Mary: Yeah, thank you.
Angela: (responds to comment by SharonElizabeth “Didn’t feel cozy to me”)Oh, people, okay, so, people are saying it didn’t feel cozy. (responds to comment by Renee “It was more cozy in an updated vein of Christie, so it worked for me”) Yeah, so, I’m going to say, “I think I agree with Renee’s comment.” This book felt like a modern-day Agatha Christie to me, and this is my little analytical interpretation. So, I always think we have Christie, and then I think we have books in the late eighties, nineties, which are sort of transition cozies, where they start to get more punny and then we have the fun-filled cozies of today. And, so, I think that this one is almost like a throwback to the Agatha Christie nineties kind of hybrid one, and it definitely gave me Aurora Tea Garden vibes. I was getting a lot of Aurora Tea Garden vibes. So, I was curious if you guys have read Aurora or anyone in the comments kind of got that too?
Mary: I’ve never read Aurora. I’ve only watched the movie.
Christine: Neither have I.
Angela: Okay, to me, it’s kind of funny, because Aurora, she has the mother who, I don’t want to go with the word overbearing, but does not approve. She does not approve of her daughter being in a Real Murders, that’s the name of her book club, the Real Murders Club, where they talk about real murders and true crimes. They try and solve them, so her mother’s not a fan of that. And then we have the Jane Doe Book Club where another mother is not a fan of the daughter talking about the crimes and things of bloody nature. So, I just kind of thought it was similar, “Oh, neither of the mothers approve of their daughters’ hobbies.” So, I just thought that was kind of interesting, like, that little overlap.
Mary: I can see that though. Now, that you’ve mentioned it, even in the movies, they kind of have that similar vibe.
Angela: Okay, yeah, (responds to comment by Tracy D) so, okay, “Definitely!” I just saw this comment, “The Aurora Tea Garden books are definitely darker than in the movies.” I don’t think they could get away with some of the stuff in the books with Hallmark Movie Channel.
Mary: It went dark, the last movie, though.
Angela: That was a little darker, I will admit. Maybe COVID got to them a little bit. Maybe that’s because it was a little bit post (COVID). (reading comments) Okay, so, people are seeing the Aurora parallel; that makes me happy, it’s not just in my head. (responds to comment by Michelle “Overbearing is the right word, Angela!”) and, okay, you will go with overbearing. I think in the movies, at one point, the mother has keys to Aurora’s house, and I’m going, “Did she give you the keys? Where did these keys come from?” So, okay. I’ll take the Aurora reference. I’m glad you guys agree.
(responds to comment by Alicia W “Loved the grandma too!) So, this is one of my favorite characters too. We have to talk about the grandmother because I got the biggest kick out of her in this book. I’m curious if you guys liked her. If you had other characters that you just loved in this one, because I think she might have been my favorite. I agree with Alicia, the grandmother was awesome.
Christine: Yeah,I think the grandmother was my favorite too.
Mary: The grandma was definitely awesome. I loved how she always mentioned her dating line.
Angela: She was so cute and then, at one point, again, this is a little off kilter for a cozy mystery. She was like, “He couldn’t handle me in the bedroom,” and I’m going, “Did she just say what I think she said?” because she’s the father’s mother, so the father’s side of the family. So, the mother and her brother, the aunt, the uncle for our leading lady there, the uncle is like, “I’m out of here now,” when he starts hearing her talk about that. I thought that was so funny because I had to do the family tree in my head going, “Is she his mother or not?” (responds to comment by Mia Snow “I loved the Grandma. I wanted more of her!”) Oh, yeah, I think the grandmother could have been the Watson to her Sherlock in a way.
Mary: I loved Mel. Mel is another favorite of mine.
Christine: Yes.
Angela: Oh, she was so cute. I was worried about her, though, when they brought her in for, ah, you got to love it, like there’s a reason for our sleuther to sleuth. But you have those moments of, “Really? You’re going to think this character is the killer?” I did not really buy her as the killer material. She didn’t really give me killer vibes.
Mary: No.
Angela: So, I mean, I want her protected. I don’t know what’s going to happen in books two or three, but I really don’t want her to be a victim. And I say that because, again, one of the things about this book that I kind of caught onto very quickly was the fact that the character who was killed was someone that was likable versus the villain or someone who deserved it in like a weird justice-y sort of way. So, I’m going, “Please don’t kill Mel. Please don’t do that Agatha Christie thing and do that to me.”
Mary: Agatha Christie liked to kill all the good people that you liked.
Angela: Oh, absolutely! That’s why I’m going, “Kate Young, I know this is darker, but how dark are we going?” Maybe, grandma too. I kind of want to put grandma in a protective bubble.
Mary: I think the sequels are Halloween ones. So, hopefully, it’s not too dark.
Angela: (reading comments) Oh, okay, people are agreeing with me. Yes. I’m on the right track. Okay, so, yeah, (responds to comment by Crystal Tea Knits) you thought it was so crazy to be against a book club so much. Okay, yep, I’m here responding to the comment (by Michelle). You “couldn’t understand what the big deal was about reading about true crime; according to her parents, all of us should be committed.” Yeah, so I know that this book is still relatively recent, so I can’t really say it came out after the podcast phenomenon, but I think people listening to podcasts about true crime has increased. Then you have the TV show, Murders in the Building or Only Murders in the Building.
Mary: Yeah, Only Murders in the Building.
Angela: So, I think more people are getting on the murder train.
Mary: Because it became really popular during the pandemic and stuff; the true crime stuff.
Christine: Yeah, I couldn’t, didn’t get, why the mother was so against the Book Club.
Angela: (reading comments)Oh, Cooking With My Cozies, you’ve read the second book and it was not as dark as the first. I do have, again, I felt so proud of myself, all prepared, I have an image for book two and book three in the series. (displays images) So, we have, the first one is On Borrowed Crime, which is obviously our tonight’s discussion. Then we have Reading Between the Crimes and then the third book is coming out (Crime for the Books). Oh, my gosh, so, you always have to click out of the comments then post things, but I need to learn my order here.
The third one’s coming out October 11. So, if you guys are already reading, it looks like you can add that to your alert system, add it to your TBR, but it’s not going to be out for a little while. So, if there’s a Buddy Read situation going on, we can plan it in advance, because you guys at least seem to have enjoyed the book. So, it looks like a Buddy Read situation might be an option. I’m looking over at the poll and most people gave it four stars, so that’s a pretty high rating for a book. So, I’m going to say it looks like most people have enjoyed it thus far.
(responds to comment by Monique “I have not read And Then There Were None before and I wish I had read it before. I do want to read the other books in the series, but I think I will read the book that it corresponds with before”) Oh, okay. This was one of my comments. So, I fortunately have read this book (holds up And Then There Were None) and I’ve also seen, I want to say, I saw the most recent adaptation and then there was one before that. So, I know this story relatively well, and even then, I think if you don’t know And Then There Were None or even have seen an adaptation, it must have been hard to read this book because there were so many references to it. I almost felt as if we needed to have had this as an unofficial Buddy Read in conjunction with On Borrowed Crime. I was kind of curious if you guys thought there should have been a little asterisk of And Then There Were None should be on your TBR.
Mary: I never read And Then There Were None and I never felt lost at all in the references and stuff.
Angela: Okay! I think she did a good job giving context. So, yeah, I think you understood the rhyming scheme. I think you got the references and, again, the title And Then There Were None. Well, at the very end, you can guess what happens, spoiler alert. When you start out with a certain number of characters, well, you dwindle along as it goes. So, you can kind of see where she was going with that a little bit. (displays comment by Little Bitty Delights “I caught on to the references and found that fun and intriguing”)
(responds to comment by Carrie Cohen “I’ve seen the 1960s adaptation of And Then There Were None… but never read it”) That’s what it was. I knew it was an older adaptation. So, in 1960s, yeah, Agatha Christie, there’s never going to be enough adaptations.
What did you guys think about the judge and Carol going missing, because he thought she was missing for four days and then our leading lady sleuther saw her just a couple hours before he said, “She’s been missing for four days.” So, I’m kind of curious, what you guys thought about the relationship situation or the mystery behind Carol going missing? So, did you guys like the suspense? What did you think about the judge? I’m just going to throw it out there to you.
Mary: I didn’t like him, but I didn’t not like him. He was just okay to me as a character.
Angela: Yeah.
Christine: I was just very suspicious of him, for some reason. He just came across as not someone to be trusted, at least at the beginning of the book.
Mary: I think it’s just the relationship they had with one another; it made him super suspicious.
Angela: Yeah, I felt like he was hugging her a little too long and the wife had just died, and he’s kind of acting a little flirtatious, and then we thought, “Oh!” then you find out he’s sitting there with the sister. And even though I finished the book, I’m going, “Is she really the sister?” I don’t know. That kind of threw me for a little bit of a loopy loop, and he did seem to be moving on very, very quickly. So, I think he was supposed to be a little bit of a red herring, and I wouldn’t have put it past him to have done something. I know he didn’t, obviously, but he was not going to be off my list because it’s always the husband, right?
Mary: But like in a lot of Agatha Christie adaptations that I watch, there’s always the more sleazy character in the background that’s not the killer.
Angela: (reading comments) “He was the dirty old man.” “He was weird.” “He kind of just had the vibes.” Oh, I like this, “He was despicable.” I like the thumbs-down emoji. Yeah, he kind of left you with those weird vibes. You’re like, “I know you didn’t technically do anything wrong,” but like, “You kind of did.” Like, yeah, I don’t think in the MeToo age he’s allowed this. I’m sorry.
Christine: I said he just gave off very weird vibes.
Angela: Yeah, I was just kind of curious, because I had made a note of him because he wasn’t found guilty of anything, but also, maybe, this was just me being me because I live in DC and, you know, lawyers and judges, I don’t think this guy should be a judge.
Christine: No.
Angela: I don’t think he has the right to give off verdicts about anyone’s life. Just throwing that out there.
Mary: How did he become a judge in the first place? That’s my question.
Angela: I mean, like, how small is this town? Like, what is your pool of legal applicants there? Just throwing that out there. (reading comments) Okay, so, I’m not the only person who thought he was a little cringy. Yeah, so, I listened and read it. Malice (Domestic) was this weekend, so I was doing things, and I listened to the audio, so I got my refresher. And listening to it, I think it hit me harder where I’m going, “Oh, my gosh, maybe, I kind of read faster.” And then with the audio, you’re listening to it at normal speed, and you’re going, “Hey, wait a second. No, that’s really creepy.” So, yeah, there was just something about him, rub me the wrong way.
(reading comments) Okay, so, I’m not the only person who thought the sister thing was weird. I’m still not convinced that was his sister. Oh, okay, so, Little Bitty Delights, who also has an amazing Instagram, if you are not following her on Instagram, you are missing out. She does these creations that are mind blowing. So, just throwing that out there, shoutout! How do you feel about the chief of police? The love interest? Do we like him as the love interest? Do we like him as a cop?
Mary: I didn’t like him. I didn’t like him at all.
Angela: You didn’t like the love interest?
Mary: I just think he didn’t really support her in anything in what she wanted to do.
Angela: Yeah, what did you think?
Christine: I was on the fence with him. I couldn’t decide if I liked him or didn’t like him. I liked the character. I don’t know if I liked him as the love interest though.
Angela: True. (responds to comment by Melanie) I like this, “I totally get why they broke up.” I think that’s a good summation. I always like it when characters break up and they have a good reason for breaking up, and then there’s a second chance love interest, and you’re going, “But it made sense for them not to be together the first time. Why are you doing this to me?”
We also have two other love interests for her. We have the chief, but then we also have the ex-boyfriend, Kevin, who moves in right next door because of course you do. And then you have this new special agent, Brad, who’s looking into the missing Jane Does. So, she seems to be a very wanted woman in the love interest department. (responds to comments by Jessica Bates & Elle Hartford) I just saw this comment. This is funny. There’s just a thumbs down, and Elle’s right, “The men in the story were very creepy.”
Okay, did you guys like the other love interests? And when I say other love interests, I used Kevin there very, very sparingly. I’m thinking more about the GBI special agent. So, what did you guys think about him?
Mary: I liked him a bit more than Quinn, was his name.
Angela: (nodding)
Mary: I honestly thought Quinn was the killer for a while.
Angela: Yeah. I wouldn’t have put that past him. (responds to comment by Michelle) Oh, okay, yes, Michelle. He had that, “And she’s a hysterical woman,” thing going. You’re never going to be a good love interest for a female-reading demographic, if you call women historical. Your female readers are just going to (thumbs down), you’re not going to last. (reading comments) It seems like you guys are sort of leaning to the special agent, which is where I’m kind of going.
Christine: Yeah, that’s where my vote was too.
Angela: (responds to comment by Jackie “I’m not a fan of love triangles or multiple love interests”) I like Jackie’s comment, because this isn’t even a love triangle; it’s like a parallelogram.
Yeah, I’m hoping, maybe, Brad is going to be in book two and three and something will go on for them because he seemed to be the only one who’s like, “Yeah, I’ll tell you what’s actually going on. I’ll actually listen to you.” She’s on the date or the dinner date with our chief of police, Quinn, there and she hides and runs away. I mean, if that’s your date, where you’re running away at the end, that was not a good date. And that is not someone you should be on a date with, if that’s how your evening ends, ducking and hiding and running. Just saying.
Mary: Well, if you can’t trust the person, then you should probably not be a love interest.
Angela: (reading comments) Okay, so, people were not trusting the GBI guy right away. Yeah, okay, so, I mean, I like him, but I’m just saying, this is one of those out of the three options, I like him the most. But again, of the three options, it was not exactly super inspiring. I mean, it wasn’t exactly like, “There’s no harm there.”
Christine: Best option.
Angela: Yes!
Mary: He seems like the more healthy one, out of all three.
Angela: (responds to comment by Monique “There was no man in the book who did not treat her in a condescending manner.”) Okay, yeah, I was going to say, “We’re picking up on something there.” Yeah, all the men in the book had something going on there. (responds to comment by Bookish Benz “I didn’t like any of the love interests. I suspected him for a while lol”) I think all of the love interests, at one point, I’m kind of going, “Are you the killer? Did you stuff this woman in the suitcase?” There’s a line in Killer Chardonnay by Kate Lansing, where the brother is at the dinner table, and they’re trying to figure out if one of the characters is the killer, and he says, “Well, we’re trying to figure out if this guy murdered someone so, clearly, we don’t think he’s the best guy for you.” Like, it’s true. If you’re wondering if someone’s a killer, maybe they’re not the love interest.
(reading comments) So, it looks like people agree that it’s like, “He’s the best of the worst.” Okay, so, you hope there are better choices in this series. I do too. This competition level, yeah, the competition, the race for our leading lady’s heart, not very encouraging, at the moment. But I’m going to put that one aside, and then, let’s see. Oh, yeah, we were talking about the grandmother before.
But if there’s something you guys, oh, I did want to, I’m actually going to take a moment to give a little hiatus, and I’m going to give Christine the power to randomly select a giveaway winner. Because I had told them off camera that this was going to happen. So, both of my guest hostesses tonight are going to be in charge of choosing winners for giveaways, because I was not able to give away the previous giveaways. So, Amanda Flowers Put Out to Pasture, this book has been rolled over for two months now, so instead of trying to get in touch with the winner, we’re going to choose it live right now. So, Christine, if you would like to randomly, you want to close your eyes and scroll or something, and randomly choose a winner, someone will get this book.
Christine: Jessica Bates.
Angela: Jessica Bates, you are the proud owner of Put Out to Pasture by Amanda Flowers, so if you want to send me an email with your contact information, I will give it to Poisoned Pen Press and have that book sent out to you. So, “Jessica Bates, Congratulations,” whatever the winning comment was. I’m trying to pull her up, now, if I can see the name. So, essentially, what ended up happening was, I posted the winner for Put Out to Pasture for the first, again, I’m losing track of the months now, I think my COVID brain is kicking into play, so I put out the announcement and I tried for weeks to get a hold of the winner, and I just couldn’t get a hold of this person. And then last month the winner, she lived in Sweden, and Poisoned Pen Press does not mail to Sweden, so I ended up doing an Amazon Gift Card as a Thank You, “You are a winner. I want to give you something, because I don’t want you to get gypped because of this situation, but they don’t mail to Sweden.”
So, we’re rolling over the six books in the Seaside Cafe Mystery series as well. Mary’s going to be choosing that winner, probably, in about five or ten minutes, so please keep commenting, and then she will have the power to give that away. So, Jessica, Congratulations! You have a new book to add to your to-be-read list and your library. So, Congratulations! I don’t even have that book. I’m excited for you, and Amanda Flower is awesome.
Mary: She’s one of my favorites that I’ve read.
Angela: Apparently, she had eight books come out this year or had eight books come out last year, and I’m going, “You have 8 books in a year?” Some authors don’t write eight books in their entire writing career.
Mary: I think she had a lot more. She has a lot coming out this year too.
Angela: I don’t know. Her life must be NaNoWriMo.
Mary: Well, Nora Roberts writes a lot in a year.
Angela: Nora Roberts is the goddess divine of Romancelandia. I don’t know how she does what she does. I remember reading an article saying she was on a cruise with her family, and she was still writing eight hours a day. And I’m like, “That’s how you’re the Queen! You own two mountains.” I’m like, “That’s how you do that.” Anyway, so, we’re going to have random little inclusions. I was just looking to see what else is going on. I’m like, “The comments.” You guys are so sweet. I’m so glad you guys could join us tonight and you’re enjoying the livestream.
(reading comments) I just saw someone comment about the uncle and that was another character I was going to bring up because we have an uncle here, who’s a private investigator and which gave me a little bit of Veronica Mars, maybe, even The Maltese Falcon vibes.
Mary: Yeah.
Angela: So, he’s the private investigator and she’s the receptionist, and then, he just leaves her, and he’s going, “You shall be the private investigator now; all of the things.” So, what did you guys think about the uncle?
Mary: I kind of want to know what went on in Guatemala.
Angela: That’s a good question.
Christine: Yes, that too. I liked that he left her. You’re right, though, it did give me very much Veronica Mars vibes with that. I liked him though. I would like to, hopefully, learn more about him in the next book.
Mary: Yeah, he wasn’t really much in it, and I would’ve loved to know about his back history and stuff.
Angela: (responds to comment by Mama Rox 2.0 “Uncle Calvin is in the second book as well; you have to read it!”)
I just saw this one pop up. (responds to comment by Michelle) So, you like how everyone in the book club wasn’t super exciting. Yeah, you got one character, who’s like, “I got two kids. I’m busy. I’m not going to be doing this.” And she also did the virtual joining at one point, and everyone else was meeting live, and I’m going, “I understand the virtual.” Like, I get it. It was funny how one character was like, “No, no, no. I just want to read.” I thought that was cute.
(reading comments) Okay, we liked Calvin. Yeah, I also have questions about what happened with him and our leading lady’s mother, because we don’t find out what her history is, and I am super curious and, also, concerned.
Mary: Did they kill someone? That’s what was my question the whole entire time. I was like, “Did they kill someone? Did they kill someone?”
Angela: I mean, my mind was going, again, this was a darker book, so I think that lent itself to Lifetime and HBO and Stars. I’m going, “What happened to these people?” My mind was going to some dark places, and I’m going, “Oh, boy, I’m really worried about the mother.” I’m like, “Please just be safe now.” I don’t know what happened to her though. I am genuinely concerned and need more information on that.
(responds to comment by ubiquitousfiend “I need more background about the uncle and the mom!”) Okay, thank you. I like how the comment was exactly what I was saying. Yeah, we don’t really know what he was doing too. And the mother, we don’t really know much about her, because she doesn’t have a job. They said she didn’t work, or she just wanted to be a mother and take care of her house. And, so, I don’t really get a sense of who she was outside of being the mom.
Mary: Which I’ve known a lot of people like that in my life where like they don’t know much about their mom other than them being their mother.
Angela: (reading comments)Oh, okay, you guys are talking about him in the comments. So, each book involves an Agatha Christie, which is awesome. And then I just saw this one pop up. Cooking With My Cozies, you’re answering all of our questions. I love how you’re like the official authority on this series. So, he has more character depth in book two, which is nice to know. So, in other words, we’ve got to go pick up book two to get our questions answered.
Yeah, the entire topic of her and her history is just we don’t know anything, which I think is a little bizarre because I don’t know if anybody else had those things when they were a kid, “Oh, you had to go do your little chart of I’m half Italian. I’m a quarter of this, and you’ll be like, “Oh, what do your parents do for work?” You have to do those little reports when you’re in elementary school. So, you would think there would be some background information, but didn’t really get any of it.
(reads comment by Lyn McEnaney) I like this, “Nothing wrong with Veronica Mars vibes.” Very true.
Mary: That was my show when I was younger.
Angela: You were a marshmallow.
Mary: (nodding) Ah-huh. I used to watch the movie when it was in theaters.
Angela: I feel like I haven’t been able to go down the Veronica Mars route for a while because I saw the Hulu TV show, and I’m not going to spoiler alert you guys, but I was really devastated at the end of the Hulu TV show.
Christine & Mary: (at the same time) Yes, me too!
Angela: Okay, thank you! That makes it really hard to be like, “Yeah, I’m going to go re-watch this, all the while knowing this thing is going to happen.
Mary: I got spoiled before I watched the last episode, and I was like, “Nope, not going to watch it now.”
Angela: Don’t watch it! No, if you guys liked Veronica Mars as it was do not watch the TV show,
Christine: No.
Angela: because you’ll be left with feelings that you do not know what to do with.
Christine & Mary: (laughing)
Angela: On my marshmallow (comment), I feel like, again, they call people marshmallows, right? Marshmallows, if you’re the fan. I feel like they took it and made a smore with my marshmallow. Like, they melted it and ate it, and like, “Yeah, my smore has really gotten burnt and hurt over here.”
(reading comments) Okay, so, we do need to talk about the actual mystery and the big reveal. So, did anyone predict, solve the case? Because I think I did a little bit, but I didn’t really get the reference about going back to check the deceased body to make sure, “Oh, yes, we’re taking photos as it decays,” so that threw me off a little bit.
Mary: That was just kind of creepy.
Angela: Did you solve it? Yes, no?
Christine: No.
Mary: No, I thought it was the cousin.
Christine: So did I, I did not like the cousin at all.
Mary: The cousin was annoying.
Angela: There’s this ongoing theme, and this is not a comment about Kate Young or anything, but there seems to be this reoccurring character in cozies where it’s this mean girl of sorts. There seems to be a mean girl character where you’re like, “I don’t want you to be the victim. I want you to be the murderer,” but she’s never the killer or the murderer. Like, she’s never the victim or the killer, and I’m like, “Why are you here?” So, I’m hoping maybe she comes down in future books because she’s on parole, she’s doing her volunteer hours. Maybe her heart will melt a little bit and she won’t be the wicked witch anymore. She’ll be the kind witch.
Mary: Maybe.
Angela: I love how everyone was commenting. Like, “Yeah, she was horrible.” Yeah, because she was truly terrible. Also, my question is “You’re dating your cousin’s ex-boyfriend which, first of all, right away, is a little sketchy, right?
Christine: Yeah.
Mary: Yeah, you just don’t do it.
Angela: Then you decide to move in next door, “What? What is wrong with you?” You’re a terrible, terrible person. I know you’re fictional, but I hate you.
Mary: He’s just probably jealous.
Angela: It was terrible! And then you’ve got the guy, Kevin, when Lyla goes to visit him in prison, and he says, “Oh, I shouldn’t have let her convince me to let you move in right next to you.” And he even says that because he’s like, “Yeah, we could have lived in my apartment. We could have gone somewhere like two streets over.” And he flat out says that the cousin did that, and that blows my mind. I mean, first of all, he’s terrible for letting her bully him. But why would you do that to someone? Why would you intentionally be that terrible? Ugh! man, if she’s the victim in a future book, I am not going to complain.
Mary: It just was awful that she just decided to be like that.
Angela: I mean, yeah, there’s something wrong with this woman because it was just all wrong. Oh, goodness. (responds to comment by Little Bitty Delights “Oh, Kevin and Ellen were great “bad guys” I was suspicious”) Okay, yeah, they were the bad guys. It’s one of those, you weren’t the killers, but you were still bad.
Mary: Yeah, you did awful things to her, even if you’re not the killer.
Angela: Yeah, and then when she finally was the one with a gun, so I feel as if Kate Young was clever in this way, and she kind of tricked us thinking, “Oh! This is our killer,” and “Oh, gotcha!” Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. So, we have our moment where we think it is the cousin, and I would’ve totally bought that. I would’ve believed that in a second.
Christine: I thought it was the cousin up until pretty much the end of the book.
Mary: Yeah, me too. I was like, “Wow, she just made that a good twist at the end.”
Angela: I was totally fine with that, when the cousin’s the one with the gun, and I feel as if there should be a term, but we have the big reveal and we have crazy-person logic, where to the rest of us who have brains that function in a regular capacity, and then you have the crazy person, who’s the killer, giving their logical answers and you’re going, “That makes no sense. That’s why you’re the crazy killer,” with the whole, “Oh, you used Kevin, and you threw him away, and I’ve got to do this for Kevin.” Her crazy logic made her sound like the killer.
(displays comment by ubiquitousfiend “Ellen was super toxic. I won’t miss her if she gets offed in a later book”)
Mary: I’m sorry. Can you hear my dog? He started to whine.
Angela: Oh, no, poor baby. Is he okay?
Mary: Yeah, I think my dad just got home.
Angela: Aww, the little guy wants to go say, “Hi.” Aww, I just heard the little one.
(responds to comment by Melanie “Oh, and when he tries to hit on Lyla when he’s taking the trash out… What a jerk.”)
Yeah, I was going to say, I can understand why Kevin was the ex-boyfriend. He’s the type of one where you’re going, “Yeah, we do not want you with him. It’s okay, bye-bye.” (reading comments) Yeah, people are not fans of Kevin.
Mary: I hope Kevin isn’t really in the next book.
Angela: I can’t picture the cousin or Kevin being super prominent. I can’t really see them being a part of the sleuthing gang. I like the comment saying like, “If it was the cousin, it would’ve probably come across as obvious,” but I liked the twist that we have that sort of validation of, “Oh, the cousin, yes, she’s the bad one,” and, all of a sudden, it’s, “Oh, wait a second.” So, I thought the twist was really clever. I liked that. I liked that it wasn’t as easy as, “Oh, here’s your answer,” rather “Oh, wait a second, there’s more to this. It’s more complicated than that.”
(displays comment by Crystal Tea Knits) Okay, so, you know the answer, “They’re not in the next book.” Yes! That makes me happy because I think that alleviates some of that drama that you might be concerned about, going, “Oh, goodness,” because I saw someone say she was toxic, and she was.
Mary: She was really toxic. I like the sibling rivalry, but it was like extreme, because she was jealous of Lyla the whole entire time.
Angela: (responds to comment by Melanie”) You never thought she was smart enough to pull it off all on her own. That’s very true, but then we’ve got the actual killer who, I mean, I kind of was curious about this because when it comes to mysteries, you have the everything matters and, so, we find out about Mel’s backstory of her parents dying. Then we find out they’re dying in a fire. Then we find out there’s a sister. Then we find out the sister no longer, you know, the sister passed away. So, the backstory did keep building, and the more it builds, the more tragic it became. So, you can kind of understand how that kind came about, I think.
(responds to comment by Mia Snow) You love all the talk about the next book, and you were on the fence, but now you want more. Hey, reading more cozies, that’s never a downside. So, I was going to say, while people are thinking or talking about the villain and the comments, Mary, do you want to take a second to make someone the proud winner of the entire Seaside Cafe Mystery series?
Mary: Hold on… Mia Snow.
Angela: Mia Snow, you are the proud winner of the entire Seaside Cafe Mystery series by Brie Baker. So, if you would like to send me an email or Direct Message with your contact information, I will send it to Poisoned Pen Press. Mary, thank you for choosing a winner. Christine, thank you for choosing a winner.
We’re, again, giving away all of the cozies, and I will even do the final winner tonight for, where did it go? I totally had my notes, and then, of course, I put it down. Yes, so tonight’s official giveaway is A Sprinkle in Time by Dana Mentink. I’m going, “Men tink,” that’s how I’m going to say this last name, and she’s also going to be part of next month’s Cozy Corner Chat author event. So, the second Tuesday of the month is over on Twitter. Authors will join you 7:00 PM EST to answer all of your cozy questions, and she’s going to be one of the featured authors. And because we were talking about this before we went live, I even pulled up, it is, this is the second book in her A Shake Shop Mystery series, and she has the cutest book covers, this one’s purple and it’s got this teal-blue vibes going. I think the book cover is beautiful. So, yes, you should read it, but it’s also beautiful to look at too. I’ll do that later, probably, another like five or ten minutes.
So, anywho, you guys are so great. And Mia, where is your winning comments? (Mia “woohoo! Thank you!”) So, yes, you guys are so sweet. (displaying comments “Congratulations, Mia”) Oh, my goodness, you guys are so adorable. (responds to comment by Melanie) So, I just saw the comment “No pressure” (Mary) Well, you (Mary) did a great job, “No pressure.”
Okay, so, I’m just looking down at the comments. Yeah, so what did you guys think about the big reveal? Did you guys like who the killer was? What did you guys think?
Mary: She was one of my favorite characters.
Christine: Yeah, I actually liked the character, and it completely shocked me that she was the killer.
Angela: She had the remorse at the funeral, you know, she’s crying. She’s doing all the things she’s supposed to be doing. She’s comforting the husband. She’s being nice to the husband; when he got a little too hands-y, she asked for help. So, she never really gave off the killer vibes in the classic sense of it. It was just the tragic backstory that seemed to be the setup for her.
Mary: Well, I thought it was something to do with Val, I just didn’t think it was her, because it was mentioned a lot like her tragic backstory and like being adopted and stuff.
Angela: But you almost thought, “Oh, you got your happily ever after. You were adopted by a nice loving family. You came to this nice town. You have your best friend.” She had everything! And now she has, it was so funny at the very end, now, she has what the movie and TV deals, and the book deal because people saw her interviews. So, in a weird way, she still has more, which, I mean, “You’re rewarded.”
Mary: She became famous after what happened.
Angela: I was going to say talk about rewarding bad behavior. (shaking her head) Yeah, what do you do with that? I mean, she gets famous for being a terrible (person), oh, goodness. Oh, thank you. You guys are talking. I’m just seeing some of the comments. You guys are so sweet.
(responds to comment by Mama Rox 2.0 “She took a photo every year – creepy!”) Yeah, this was the one. Yeah, she took a photo. She would revisit the dead sister and took a photo of the decaying body year after year.
Mary: That was kind of interesting. I was shocked about that comment.
Angela: (reading comments) Yeah, I don’t think you see that a lot in cozy mysteries. Usually there’s the poisoning, the body, and then you’re done. There’s not usually revisiting the corpse. That, again, with ‘the little darker’ that gave it (cringe).
Mary: I guess in real life serial killers do that sometimes though. They revisit the body.
Angela: Yeah, maybe, this was the whole Agatha Christie dark realism going on; the true crime components. (reading comments) Yeah, we really didn’t see her completely. I like the word, you’re like, yeah, “the psychopathic, the psychotic,” like
we didn’t really get that until she was fully unfiltered. Okay, yeah, so, thank you. I was very creeped out by the taking of the photos because, again, we’re going with a darker-cozy vibe here, and that definitely is darker-cozy vibes.
Mary: Do you think a lot of newer cozies might go darker though?
Angela: I’ve been noticing some of them are going a little darker. I know Arsenic and Adobo (by Mia P. Manansala), that one has more references to drugs, and it has, well, not more references, but it’s dealt with like other issues in it. So, that one, I think has some darker moments but, yet, still humorous, overall. I think they are touching on things that are darker, but depending on the book, it might skew darker, or it might have the darkness, but still with our traditional cozy components. Well, I think we’re going to have to wait and see, because I think the millennial cozy is changing things a little bit. What do you think Christine?
Christine: I do think that it is changing a little bit, because some of the newer cozies that, like, I have an arc for Emmeline Duncan. I think it’s one of, actually, her first book is one of our reads later in the year, it’s Fresh Brewed Murder. It’s still like very cozy and very humorous, but it does have like darker themes to it.
Angela: (nodding) Yeah, I actually got to speak with her at Malice (Domestic) and she was such this little, she’s this little ball of sunshine and positivity, and she really loves Portland, in that area. So, she’s talking about them having their protests, because that was one of my questions to her, “Oh, you have characters who are protesting. You have characters who are doing the activism.” Yeah, that book definitely does have moments where they’re raising topics that are a little bit more, I’m going to go with, I don’t know how to say modern.
Christine: It’s not really dark but it’s more like to the time we live in right now.
Mary: Yeah.
Angela: (reading comments) Yeah, definitely, this was a little bit, one of the darker ones we’ve read so far. And I know I mentioned this off camera, but I don’t know if I actually said this on camera or not, but I was surprised there wasn’t a cozy companion, because I think I’m just so used to seeing a dog or a cat in a cozy. In a weird way, though, I’m kind of happy there wasn’t one because of Agatha Christie vibes. I would’ve been really worried about this animal.
Mary: Yeah.
Angela: I would’ve been super worried about this cat and finding it on someone’s doorstep and then I’d be worrying about if it was alive or not. So, I’m actually glad there wasn’t a cozy companion, but I was almost expecting coziness there.
(reading comments) Yeah, so, people are thinking the revisiting is very true crime. So, again, with the True Crime Podcast going a little bit, how do you say, like, that one, the True Crime Podcast, I think, took off and then you have Real Murders in the Building. So, I think, maybe, people are more open to the darker cozies. I think maybe that might lend itself.
(responds to comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “But I love Arsenic and Adobo just won the Agatha!!”) It did just win the Agatha. It did win. I was going to say Marta, she loved Mango, Mambo, and Murder (by Raquel V. Reyes), so that was also nominated for the Agatha Award.
And then Arsenic and Adobo won and I’m going, “Oh! But Marta’s six out of five-star cozy was listed.” (reading comments) Okay, so, this is interesting. So, you’re a Stephen King fan, so this is not even on your radar as far as darkness levels go because Steven King can, I don’t know how his brain works or makes the connections that he does, because he can go, he makes his own darkness. You think you’re already, midnight dark, all the stars go out of the sky, he can get you dark dark.
Mary: Yeah.
Angela: So, next month’s book, (holds up The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams) the cover (black background) is a little bit darker toned. So, I don’t know if this is more indicative of the type of story, but I’m curious now how cozy this book shall be. But this is next month’s book, The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams. So, this is next month’s (book club discussion).
I was going to say, “I’m looking at the book cover,” and I’m like, “There’s not a cozy companion on it.” So, now, I’m curious, how cozy this one’s going to be. Got me curious. I haven’t read that one yet, because I knew we were probably going to read it for the Club, at some point. So, I just kept putting it off, putting it off, so I’m curious.
Mary: I’ve read some of her other stuff and they were pretty cozy.
Angela: Yeah. I don’t really know how dark this one is because while the coloring is a little darker, I know that she tends to be a little bit more lighthearted. So, maybe, it’ll be a hybrid. We shall see.
(reading comments) Okay, so, talking about the darker cozies. I think the Aurora Tea Garden series has the darker cozy vibes. Okay, so, some of you didn’t finish (tonight’s book). Okay, Tara said it was too dark for you and you had to take breaks sometimes. So, someone mentioned book two was not as dark, which is encouraging. So, if you at least like the series, like Kate Young’s writing style, maybe book two is for you. Okay, I might have to create a list of darker cozies because some of y’all seem to be there for them. Okay, this is going to have to be a question in the Instagram Stories, and I’m going to have to post some stuff because, clearly, we need some more dark cozy lists.
But I think that’s so funny that we hear, “We want the dark cozy and the super-lighthearted cozies. We get the millennial cozies, all the cozy mysteries.” Oh, yeah, Ellery, she actually offered to do a Zoom sort of setup, so I have to get back in touch with Ellery Adams because she said she’d be willing to do something for the Book Club. I always kind of have that moment of okay, “Book Clubs are for readers, but maybe we can do a separate author event,” and I’m not trying to say writers are not welcome in Book Club, that is so not what I’m saying. But, you know, when you’re talking about a Book Club, you kind of want to be able to just talk about the book and if the author’s sitting right next to you, you might be like, “Hi, how did you do this?” So, I might do something special for her because she also is so sweet over on her social media platforms on Instagram. She’s always posting and messaging and doing things. So, if you’re not following Ellery Adams, you should check her out, because she also has some really fun reels and I don’t know what it is about Instagram and reels, I’m always just, I don’t get what Instagram reels are, just go to TikTok.
Mary: I skip that in general.
Angela: (reading comments)Yeah, she has a great Instagram. Okay, yeah, so, I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s going, “At one point she gets her cat involved. She’ll do little things. She had a wand at one point where, all of a sudden, the book appeared.” She gets into it with editing with her reels too. (responds to Lize Jalbert) So, okay, millennial cozies. Millennial cozy mysteries are sort of a new, I’m going to go with a new sub-genre within cozies. I love how cozy mysteries are sub-genre of mysteries. Now, I get the different genre, like, the subcategories of a subcategory. So, the millennial cozy is, obviously, featuring millennial sleuthers, but these tend to feature sleuthers who are not as set in their professions and are still trying to figure out their lives. So, cozies have tended to skew more towards middle-aged characters and upwards. And it’s a second-chance career or second chance at love or now the emptiness syndrome. And so, now, millennial cozies are, “We’re just opening our coffee cart,” for Emmeline Duncan’s or Kate Lansing we have Killer Chardonnay, which I think is probably one of the first ones. Arsenic and Adobo, the main character is twenty-five. So, those are the millennial cozies that are kind of really prominent right now. Are you guys nodding or do you want to add to that?
Mary: I kind of felt like the book itself was more like a romantic suspense rather than a cozy.
Angela: (nodding)
Christine: Yeah, I feel like it was more to me like a thriller or like a true crime novel than a cozy because it was on the darker side.
Angela: (reading comments) I just saw this. We need a flow chart. Yeah, I might have to go back into Canva and start doing some graphics, get my Procreate app open and start doing some little things for y’all, because I think that cozy mysteries are definitely changing and evolving and having even, like, I love the branches off (sub-genres) that we kind of have going on right now. Gen-X cozies. Oh, my goodness. We can probably classify because we have the senior sleuthers, I mean, I love that it used to be done by the categories of, “We have the florist. We have the librarian.” Now, it’s, “We have the millennial librarian. We have the senior-sleuther librarian.” So, we even have, branching off of the branching off, these trees must look crazy. I was going to say Killer Chardonnay is always a great book. Always recommending that to first-time cozy readers. That’s always an awesome one.
Mary: I still need to get to that one.
Angela: You haven’t read it yet?
Mary: No, no.
Angela: Oh, my goodness. It’s okay. I forgive you.
Mary: I just have so many other books that I own that I need to get to. (laughs)
Angela: I think that’s the eternal problem of the reader, right? There’s just always so many books and then you get so excited going, “Oh, I just bought this new book,” and then you get distracted for five minutes, and then it’s two years later, and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, I remember when I bought this book, I still need to read it.” I mean, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve bought something so excited to read it and then I just still haven’t done it.
Mary: I haven’t read it yet, but I just bought a cozy not too long ago that was based in a romance bookstore.
Angela: What? (big smile)
Mary: I’m kind of excited to read it. It sounds really good.
Angela: Which one’s this?
Mary: Oh, I’ll have to look up my Goodreads.
Angela: Okay, you’re going to have to tell me because I am curious because that sounds kind of awesome. That sounds kind of amazing, as I’m going, and I’m scrolling to mix up the comments. This way I can randomly choose the winner and then you can actually tell me information during the event, and everything will be on the up-and-up, because for the last couple of months with the winners, I could not find them. So, I was just scrolling to mix up the comments, so I wouldn’t know who’s what and where.
Mary: All right, the book is called Death of a Red-Hot Rancher (A Love is Murder Mystery, book one, by Mimi Granger).
Angela: That sounds really cute. I need to add that. I need to look that up. Death of a Red-Hot Rancher.
Christine: I think I have that on my TBR. I just haven’t gotten to it yet.
Mary: And the next one (book two), it’s called Murder of a Mail-Order Bride. So, it has like romance titles type of stuff, and it sounds like a really good story.
Christine: Going to have to get that on my list.
Angela: That sounds, that’s so cute. This is the other thing too, right. There’s always so many books. I feel like it’s almost impossible to know all of the ones that are coming out, and everyone’s been working on this, and then you get someone that you didn’t know that you’re going to love, and then, all of a sudden, you read their book and then you’re like, wait, “You have a twenty-book backlist? What’s going on?” It’s so hard to know all of the books coming out. I don’t even know if I’ve heard of this one, but now I want to go read all about it.
Mary: I just like how it kind of mixes both genres of cozy and romance. I haven’t read it yet. It’s like on my list to-be-read soon.
Angela: I think my to-be-read list is ridiculous. I have the to-be-read bookshelf. I tried to keep a notebook at one point, and then my hand got tired, and then I was just going, “I’m a mood reader most of the time anyway, why am I doing this?” It’s so hard to keep track.
Mary: I’m always adding from like the Goodreads shelf or like my own personal list.
Angela: And then, when I was doing the little randomly scrolling, this was the comment that my cursor landed on. (displays comment by Lize Jalbert “Yes, no time for a job, must read!”) I don’t want to butcher your last name, but I’m going to go with Lize Jalbert. How are we going to say this last name? I apologize if I’m mispronouncing it. I sincerely apologize if I’m butchering your last name, but you are the proud winner of A Sprinkle in Time by Dana Mentink. Two last names I’m struggling with; oh, my gosh, I think I say this every time, but they always have that quote about if you can’t pronounce the word, it’s because you haven’t read it, and that’s what I do, read, and then it’s not so hard.
(responds to comment by Lize Jalbert “Yay! Thanks!”) You are very, very welcome, and I hope I pronounced your last name correctly. So, I’m going to say Dana Mentink is the author of A Sprinkle in Time and the winner is Lize Jalbert. So, “Congratulations,” and please DM me your information so I can make sure that that book is sent out as soon as possible.
(reading comments) You guys are so sweet. I don’t know if you guys like having the giveaway winner kind of done randomly during the event, but before these last two months, I didn’t have any problems posting the winner’s information and having them get back to me because I post the winner’s info, usually, in the email Newsletter, on the Twitter, and on the Instagram, and I usually post them in the main feed and in the stories, and then the Twitter, I usually do a couple of times. But, for some reason, the last couple of months, it was really hard, and I don’t know if that’s because the algorithms have changed or what.
Mary: Yeah!I’ve been noticing that I have issues with my Instagram stuff lately.
Angela: Yeah, I’m not really sure what to say about it because I felt really badly because I’m posting the name, and I don’t have the contact information, because when you post comments on YouTube, and it’s just a name or it’s not even a handle, there’s no way to email or message. And, so, you have to rely on someone seeing the announcement and following up. And if you don’t see the announcement, it’s really hard, so I don’t know if Instagram and Twitter were just not my friends the last couple months with this? (reading comments) So, you guys, thank you!
(displays comment by Lori “I love having the giveaway during the event!”) I’m glad you like the live winner. So, I’m glad and, hopefully, be able to get that information sooner and then get the cozy mystery out to you sooner. So, hopefully, the coziness is just at your door, making that an easier, better decision.
(reading comments and laughs) What is this? (responds to comment by Melanie “I wanna give you the things! Why is this so hard??”) Yes, I’m like, “I have books to give you!” I was saying beforehand, like, “I have this Amanda Flower book that Poisoned Pen Press asked me to do the giveaway for, and I organized the giveaway, and then nothing.” And I’m going, “It’s Amanda Flower. What’s going on here?” I’m looking around going, “Where are you people? How are you not winning?” (responds to comment by Regina Williams “Gone for Gouda has the best and most interesting cozy companion”) Okay, yes, I want to go read that one; that’s been on my TBR for the longest time. Gone for Gouda (by Korina Moss), definitely.
I’m glad you guys didn’t mind the live giveaways tonight. So, three winners, three awesome, just amazing prizes. Again, I am just always so thankful for Poisoned Pen Press for being so just generous and kind. Their team is just amazing. I feel so privileged to be able to connect with them and have them do these things for The Cozy Mystery Book Club, because talk about spreading the coziness, that’s a lot of cozies. So, I’m glad you guys liked that.
But if there’s something else you want to talk about in regards to On Borrowed Crime, please comment now. And I’m curious if you guys have something about the book that you wanted to mention or touch on. Mary, is there something you liked about the book that you wanted to make sure we talked about tonight?
Mary: I think I’ve talked about all the things I wanted to.
Angela: Was there anything, Christine, on your second read that you were going, “Oh, yeah, this was a thing.”
Christine: No, I think we covered everything I had.
Angela: Okay, and I’m pulling up, because I asked on Instagram if there’s something y’all wanted to talk about and I know we referenced a lot in regards to your questions because I think everyone has kind of been on the same wavelength with this book, which was really nice, you know, when everyone kind of has a similar mindset. So, Just Another Chapter wanted to talk about it being a little darker and that you enjoyed it anyway. Ransom Reads, “The ending,” which again I thought was a little bit of a twist. We talked about this one, “The mother’s obsession with the daughter being in a mystery club and being single,” Mad2819. And then I like how someone just put Val. So, MelMel42 was just like, “Val!” that was all I wanted to discuss. Val, exclamation point. So, I think we touched on everyone’s requests.
(responds to comment by Lize Jalbert “I just messaged you my address”) Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for messaging. Yes, please, if you are the winner of tonight, please either DM me, writerahart or @cozymysteryclub on Twitter and Instagram or send me an email [email protected]. Everything’s writerahart to make it super easy for you, so send me the info, and I will make sure your prizes are sent ASAP.
And then, also, before I forget, when my voice officially gives out, this is what happens when you go to an event after being in your apartment alone with your dog for so long and you talk. Your vocal cords are like, “What are you doing? Why? You’re an introvert. Stop.”
If you posted a photo of our book of the month, let me know, and I will send you a #Sleuther bookmark, the official bookmark, that I think you’ve probably seen on Instagram. I love it when I see the photos you guys post, and I even saw some more photos pop up today for On Borrowed Crime that I’m going to have to reshare and post because those photos make me so happy. But if you took a photo of On Borrowed Crime, let me know, send me a message on Twitter, Instagram, email, and I will send you a bookmark as a Thank You. So, that is my way of showing my appreciation for you for reading the book and talking about it and being a part of just the coziness. So, just want to make sure I mention that and let you know you’re entitled to something. I’m like, “You’re entitled to extra coziness.”
(reading comments) Oh, my goodness. Aww, thank you guys for joining us tonight. I know my voice is a little bit rougher. (responds to comment by Lu G “Max is so quiet tonight! Is he OK?!”) Yes, I just saw this comment pop up. So, my mom is watching Max, and I’m pretty sure he’s in my office, I can see him. He’s sitting on his bed, and he has, I don’t know how many bones in it, and I don’t know where he got all the bones, and I did not have these bones in the apartment when my mom came to watch him for Malice Domestic. So, I don’t know if she brought them. They went out on a special bone-buying trip.
Christine & Mary (big smiles)
Angela: But I’m pretty sure he’s like, “These bones have never been in my possession before. I’m going to protect them with my life.” So, he’s fine. I’m pretty sure as soon as those bones get eaten, however, he’ll be running around looking for more, and he’ll be much more active. But, yes, he was quiet tonight. Last time he was just everywhere and before I left for Malice (Domestic Conference) and before my mom came to watch him, and gave him all of his new possessions, I was doing this Zoom meeting, and his butt was in the camera like eighty percent of the time.
Christine & Mary (laughing)
Angela: Yeah, and then again for Malice, I was putting together my little suitcases, my little bags. So, he’s on top of one of my travel suitcases and he’s got his bone. I literally picked up the suitcase with him in it and put it on my lap. And so that’s what I did for like the last half hour of that Zoom meeting. I had him in a suitcase on my lap and it was the most ridiculous thing, but it was so cute and adorable, I love my little guy. I let him get away with anything and everything, so he is fine. He’s my little man, and I’ll keep you posted, if he ever is not making noise and he needs something; and you guys are also fur mamas, you understand.
Christine & Mary: (big smiles) Yeah. Yeah.
Mary: I’m surprised my dog didn’t make more noise than he did.
Angela: Oh, no, I think sometimes, yeah, when it comes to livestreams, I’m not allowed to talk to people who are not Max. Other times, it’s like, “Good. I’m by myself now. I’m out of here. I got my bones. I’m good, woman.” Other times, not so much; it’s the complete opposite.
And I just saw this question. (responds to comment by Melanie “Can we buy the Club coffee mugs? Is there a Cozy Club shop?”) So, yes, there is a couple of different ways that you can buy some of the cozy swag. But even then, like, I don’t make any profit on it. I would feel very uncomfortable. I’m not going to charge extra money for something. So, there is the Zazzle store, which has designs that I made public, and also unique designs for the store, which I believe is under Books Are My Hart, which is, obviously, my YouTube channel name.
And then, there’s also, so there’s Zazzle, Society6, Teespring, and then, also, I opened an Etsy store, so that I knew what you guys wanted. So, there’s two different Etsy stores. One of them is my play around to see what you guys like. One of them is under my own name, Angela Maria Hart, and I have stickers that I’m testing out to see what you guys like. And then the official one, these ones are going to be The Cozy Mystery Book Club, is the second Etsy store, and the items there are just going to be staples, which is why I made the two accounts. So, The Cozy Mystery Book Club, those items I’m always going to have no matter what, whereas the ones over on, for me, on my store, they’re both my stores, those ones I only bought, like, I want to say fifty of the stickers. So, I’m just seeing what you guys like, what you might want to do, because I’m always getting requests for a Book Club Box or other things. So, I always try to see what you guys like. And, again, I don’t make a profit on it. I love it. I love when people say, “I ordered a sticker, and I got all this stuff!” I’m like, “Yes, exactly.” So, if you order something, because someone else also wanted to buy, I think she said she wanted to do five stickers, I’m like, “No, just buy one, and I’ll give you the five.” So, just let me know what’s going on, and I’ll make sure you get it.
(responds to comment by Jackie Layton) Your dog pouts when he sees the suitcase. Yeah, Max usually runs when he sees my purse. I understand.
Mary: My dog leans over my bed whenever he sees me going out. He’s like, “You’re going out now?” (big smile)
Christine: (smiling)
Angela: Yeah, I think, especially with COVID, as soon as he saw the purse, he was shaking like, “Oh, my gosh, she’s leaving me.” Oh, animals.
(reading comments)
So, yes, I also have all the links posted for all the shops. I just remembered I did this. It should be underneath in the YouTube box, but I’ll also post them in the comments, and I can always share them on Twitter to make it just super easy for you.
But I’m just trying to see if there are any other questions. Oh, yeah, you guys are so sweet. Thank you for joining and reading the book and discussing everything. You guys are so sweet. Oh, my goodness, and thank you guys for watching. If you have any final thoughts, comments, questions, now is the time. I love how you guys are the fur mamas, so we’re all on the same page.
Oh, Carrie, thank you for posting a photo of the book. Let me know where to send your bookmark as soon as you have a chance, because that #Sleuther bookmark is yours.
So, do you guys have any final thoughts? Thoughts about the book? Things you want to share?
Mary: No, this was really fun.
Angela: Aww.
Mary: Thank you for making my first time doing anything like this, a fun time.
Angela: Aww, thank you for joining. This woman is so sweet y’all. Mary’s been a part of the Book Club for, I think, probably since it started.
Mary: 2019, maybe.
Angela: Okay, so, the idea was in 2017, then it was in fruition by 2018. So, pretty much almost from the beginning, but I think you have seniority over a lot of people.
Christine & Mary: (big smiles)
Angela: I think you’re one of the original sleuthers. I am so happy to finally have you do a livestream. Christine, you were so sweet last time. You were so sweet this time. I so appreciate you guys taking time to discuss coziness. You know, you have to read the books. I always feel like for guest hosts, I feel like I give you guys homework, almost, like, “Yeah, you got to actually read the book by the date to talk about it.” So, thank you for making the time and then chatting, and, you know, just everything, and being prepared, and you’re so sweet.
So, special shoutout and thank you to you guys. And I’m going to post your, let’s see, I made the clips, so this is (displays bio info) Christine’s information for those of you who want to go Follow Christine. You got her Twitter and Instagram. And then for Mary, (displays bio info) we got your Instagram and Twitter right there too. So, if you guys are not already Following these lovely women, please do so. They are amazing and talk about all things cozies and bookish. That’s exactly what we love, so thank you for that.
Last comments, I think, it is time to say goodnight, and talk to you guys next month about (holds up book) The Secret, Book, & Scone Society. I am really excited to read this book; it’s been on my to-be-read list for, I don’t know how long, so I’m excited to actually read this book and talk about it with everybody. I can’t believe that April’s almost over and now we’re talking about the May book. So, our May book of the month and then more coziness is coming your way.
Also, for all of you giveaway winners, please let me know where you want your prizes sent. So many good things happened tonight. Thank you for watching. Thank you for joining and being my guest hosts. Thank you, guys, and please stay safe, healthy, happy, and have fun sleuthing and reading. Bye, everyone.
Mary: Bye.
Christine: Bye.
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