Maggie Blackburn – The Book Diva's Reads

Once Upon a Seaside Murder (A Beach Reads Mystery)
by Maggie Blackburn

Good day, book people. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week so far and found time for some reading. I’ve been in a bit of reading slump lately, so I’ve been watching quite a bit of television. I was an early “cord-cutter,” so my television viewing is primarily limited to Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix, although I do occasionally watch a movie or documentary on Kanopy or Hoopla courtesy of my local library system. I’ve been watching quite a number of documentaries lately, namely true crime and biographies. I don’t generally read books from these genres unless a book club has chosen a title that fits into that genre. Does your television viewing differ from your reading habits or are they more closely aligned? Please help me welcome the award-winning, cozy mystery author, Maggie Blackburn. Ms. Blackburn’s latest release is the second book in her Beach Reads Mystery series, Once Upon a Seaside Murder. Ms. Blackburn has been gracious enough to stop by and share with us her thoughts on television viewing to accompany your cozy mystery reading habit. I hope you’ll enjoy what she has to say, follow the blog tour to learn more about this book and author, as well as enter the tour-wide giveaway. Thank you, Ms. Blackburn, for joining us today, the blog is now all yours.

TV shows to Scratch Your Cozy Itch

In between reading cozy mystery books, you may find yourself looking for a good TV show. These days, there’s alot to choose from for the cozy mystery reader—some of which are not murder mysteries, but still have that cozy vibe.

The first two shows I can think of are exactly like that.

Doc Martin, which is a BBC production, is an amazing long-running show about a doctor who develops an aversion to blood. That said, viewers actually don’t see the blood. The setting is rural England and astoundingly beautiful in a town full of quirky characters. You really feel for this doctor as he struggles to start again, even though, he’s um, a bit unlikable at times.

The Cafe, also from Great Britain, is set in a small beach town, in a cafe. There are several mysteries here–but none involved murders. I love the family relationships, the romances, and the whole vibe. I found it addicting and was sad to learn there were no more episodes.

Miss Fisher’s Mysteries is one series to die for. Gorgeous costumes, sophisticated plots, and murders solved by the lovely Miss Fisher every time. Set in the 1920s, amidst the weather folks, it a cozy mystery on steroids.

Monk is one of my favorite shows. Yes, he’s not an amateur detective, but at the start of the show he’s no longer a cop. He’s quirky and lovable, as is his assistant, Sharona. I love the humor and his sad backstory.

Only Murder in the Building is the new show everybody is talking about and it’s a bit racy for a cozy crowd, but still it has some elements. These sleuths are definitely amateurs–but they do use foul language. Fair warning.

So the next time you’re looking for something to watch, rather than read, I hope you’ll find this list useful. ♦

Once Upon a Seaside Murder (A Beach Reads Mystery)
by Maggie Blackburn

About Once Upon a Seaside Murder

Once Upon a Seaside Murder (A Beach Reads Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Brigid’s Island, NC
Publisher: ‎ Crooked Lane Books (October 12, 2021)
Hardcover: ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 1643858327
ISBN-13: ‎ 9781643858326 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781643858333 (ebook)
ISBN: 9781666520866 (digital audiobook)
ISBN: 9781666521177 (audiobook on CD)
ASIN: ‎ B08TV4GK2C (Kindle version)
ASIN: B09DHXDRYS (Audible)

As the holidays approach, bookstore owner Summer Merriwether learns a dark secret in this second volume of Maggie Blackburn’s Beach Reads mystery series.

There’s no place like home for the holidays, even if home is sleepy, beachside Brigid’s Island, NC. During this season for giving, the town wakes up to a welcome throng of shoppers–and Beach Reads is no exception. But bookseller Summer Merriwether’s Christmas cheer turns to cringing fear when she uncovers a deadly secret about her late mother–a secret someone will kill to keep.

When the local library hosts a cozy mystery panel discussion, Summer learns that one of the authors on the panel based her book on an actual murder that shook Brigid’s Island thirty-five years before. Worse, she soon learns that her dearly missed mother, Hildy, took a disturbingly deep interest in the case, going so far as to collect clippings and keep a journal of the dark doings. This doesn’t jibe with Summer’s memories of her usually cheery mother at all.

Tidings get worse when Summer learns of her long-lost biological family’s involvement in the crime…and still worse when the life of the book’s author is threatened. With the help of Hildy’s plucky book club, Summer puts her scholarly smarts to work on protecting the cozy author and solving the decades-old murder.

But this ghost from Christmas past may still be deadly in the present, and if she can’t find the killer, Summer’s future will be brief.

About Maggie Blackburn

Maggie Blackburn is the pen name of Mollie Cox Bryan. She writes cozy mysteries with edge. She’s the author of several bestselling mystery series. She’s recently released a novella mystery series: The Victoria Town Mysteries. Her book, Goodnight Moo, has been shortlisted for a Fresh Fiction Reader’s Choice Award. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman’s World. She makes her home at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley, Va.