Some of my favorite mystery authors/series - Part II

Continuing on with my list of favorite mystery authors and series, and staying with the theme of animals (if you haven't guessed, a lot of cozies feature animals in a big way), my next favorite is:

Blaize Clement: the Dixie Hemingway series
Blaize Clement writes about ex-policewoman Dixie Hemingway who is learning to rebuild her life after the tragic loss of her husband and daughter. Set in Siesta Key, Florida, Dixie has taken a job as a pet sitter and unfortunately her clients have a nasty habit of dying under very suspicious circumstances.

Though primarily cozy in nature, the Dixie Hemingway books (at this point there are only four) are harder than my other favorites. There is more violence and more of a sense of menace. Furthermore, Dixie goes out of her way to avoid trouble. At every opportunity she tries to go in the opposite direction, only to find she's gone exactly where she needs to be to solve whatever murder she's happened upon.

Part of the satisfaction for me in reading these books is being able to watch Dixie come back to life, partly through her relationships with the animals she cares for and their owners. The mysteries almost take a backseat to that.

So, in spite of their fanciful titles - "Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter," "Duplicity Dogged the Dachsund," "Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues" and "Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof" - the Dixie Hemingway books are not a light-hearted fun read, but instead offer solid mysteries with more than a touch of the darkness our world offers. But as Dixie learns to live despite the darkness, so too, do those of us who follow her journey. Not a beach read, but certainly an author to try if you don't want too much fluff in your mysteries.

Nancy Atherton: The Aunt Dimity series
OK, leaving the animals behind and moving on to something completely different. And I do mean completely different. Atherton's books are unlike any other mysteries I've ever come across. First of all, not a single one of her books has a murder in it, a real rarity for mysteries today I think. Even the very first book, "Aunt Dimity's Death" has no murder in it. But the mystery is compelling nonetheless.

The second big difference - the main character Lori Shepherd, is helped throughout her misadventures by Aunt Dimity, her mother's best friend who Lori never knew existed until Dimity dies and leaves a small fortune to Lori as well as a small blue notebook through which Dimity continues to communicate.

Lori is a fun character to follow as she has a habit of sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong, particularly if there's a handsome man involved (and there always is!). And she gets into the weirdest situations. Only Lori would set off in the morning for a walk through the woods on a sunny day and end up being trapped by an early blizzard at decripit old estate where something weird is going on. Only Lori would agree to help a friend catalog an old book collection and wind up in the middle of a mystery that goes back 100 years. Seriously, every book is totally different than the others.

But the think I like most (other than the fun stories and likeable characters) is that at the end of almost every Aunt Dimity book, I want to be a better person. There's just something about the stories Nancy Atherton writes that highlights the best in people and inspires me to want to be kinder, more considerate, more involved - just overall better!

I'm not sure all the Aunt Dimity books are for everyone, but I highly recommend everyone give "Aunt Dimity's Death," "Aunt Dimity's Christmas" and "Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin" a read. If you like them, you can give the others a try.