Some of my favorite mystery authors/series - Part I

In spite of the fact that I'm slowly writing a mystery novel, I am actually rather new to the mystery genre, having been a die-hard fan of sci-fi and fantasy for most of my life. But in randomly picking up a few mysteries over time I discovered I really like the mystery sub-genre known as the "cozy" and have found a few authors I can say with confidence are among my favorite mystery authors.

None of my favorites are authors who make it on to the New York Times bestseller. None have window displays in big Barnes & Noble dedicated to their books. One, unfortunately, even had her publisher drop her. But none of that matters to me. These are the authors who helped me fall in love with cozy mysteries and these are authors I'd recommend without qualm to anyone interested in giving light mysteries a try.

Lilian Jackson Braun: The Cat Who... series
There are 29 books in Lilian Jackson Braun's series about a retired newspaper journalist named James Qwilleran (called Qwill for short) and his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum-Yum. The books are all light reading and fun.

In every book some type of crime (usually murder, and often more than one) occurs and Qwill gets involved in solving it through the use of his intellect, his ability to get others to confide in him and the near-psychic powers of his overly large mustache and KoKo's somewhat psychic personality quirks.

The latter books are not as well-written as the rest but considering they were written when Braun was in her late 80s/early 90s its not surprising that the latter books aren't her best. But the first 25 or so books are such a pleasure to read! The next time you need a fun beach read or something to keep you entertained on a flight, definitely think about picking up a Cat Who book.

Laurien Berenson: Melanie Travis series
The first Laurien Berenson book I read was "Once Bitten," the eighth book in the Melanie Travis mystery series (15 books total) and I liked it so much I immediately went online to get a list of the books in the series and then hit my local library to see what they had.

The books all follow the life and adventures of Melanie Travis, a single mom, who shows pedigree poodles in her spare time. The first several books all feature the dog showing world as the backdrop -- think of the movie Best In Show and throw in a series of murders and you can kind of get an idea of what Melanie's world is like.

Melanie is always a reluctant detective, most often getting strong-armed into investigating theft, murder and mayhem by her overbearing aunt Meg. But she's so good at figuring out who the bad guy is, even if it lands her in a bit of hot water quite often.

Although in reality, Melanie's problems are not mine, I always related to what she was going through and always cared about everything that happened to her, her son, her two poodles, her fiesty aunt, delinquent brother and all the fun characters who inhabit the dog showing world.

Like most cozies, the Melanie Travis books are light reads and a lot of fun. I honestly feel like I know Melanie and the other characters in her books. I even went to a dog show once hoping I'd see a glimpse of what Berenson describes so wonderfully.

Unfortunately, Berenson's publisher has decided the series no longer has any legs, so unless another publisher picks it up, I will have to accept I will never find out what other entertaining adventures Melanie embarks on. But don't let that stop you from giving the series a try. If you like light-hearted whodunits and dogs, these books are a real treat.