This week we’re turning to a subgenre of mysteries called cozies. These usually take place in a small town or village. Typically the language is clean and violence, other than the murder or murders, is minor. In cozies, the main characters can be anyone, sometimes retired and they are put into a situation where they must find the killer because they or friends have come under suspicion by the local police detectives. Mary Saums is the author of a cozy mystery series that features two retired ladies from very different backgrounds. Jane Thistle was born in England and spent many summers in Wales. She married an American career soldier and moved where he was stationed as his career moved him up the ladder to become Colonel John Thistle. Phoebe Twigg has retired from her job as Children’s Librarian in her home town. These two women formed a friendship from the first day Jane moved to Tullulah.

Jane discovered Tullulah while taking a scenic route from Florida to the Midwest after supervising the packing of her household after another transfer. To her it was a place of wonderment such as she had experienced as a child. Jane, you see, has two secrets. The first is that she can see ghosts and auras; at least she could while she was in Wales. Once she left Wales for the last time, that ability seemed to go to sleep and was reawakened when she entered Tullulah. She had rather forgotten about it, but something in this sleepy little town reminded her of Wales and she determined that this is where she would live if she outlived her husband. This was not a place where he would be happy and she never told her husband about it. She saw a little girl on her first trip into town. She thought nothing of it until she returned, this time traveling from the Midwest back to Florida years later. She saw the little girl again and she had not aged at all and was still wearing the same white dress she had on when Jane first saw her.

The house she purchased was far from town, on the border of a wildlife refuge. She liked hiking and birding and having few neighbors. She was excited to settle in to her new life at a relaxing pace. One of her neighbors, Cal Prewitt, a man the townsfolk call ‘no account’ stopped over the first night. He was drunk but stopped to introduce himself and his dog, Homer. The Prewitt’s owned many acres of untouched woods and Cal had begun writing the Native American stories that had been handed down each generation. They had a long conversation and Cal asked Jane over the next day to see some of his woods and the secrets they held.

Things are not as they seem on Cal’s land and a body is discovered. Cal seems the only choice for the deed, so Jane and, reluctantly, Phoebe start investigating.

I have enjoyed this short series. So far, there are only two titles, but I’m hopeful for more. And, oh, yes, Jane’s second secret. It’s a whopper, but I’ll let you discover it yourself. Some things may seem a bit preposterous, but the series is imaginative and fun to read.

Published by St Martin’s Press

Thistle and Twigg, 2007
Mighty Old Bones, 2008

Readers everywhere are heralding the return of Jane Whitefield after a hiatus of several years. Thomas Perry’s character, Jane, was introduced to readers in 1995 in Vanishing Act. Jane is a Native American from the Seneca tribe, Wolf Clan in upper New York State. She helps deserving, desperate people ‘disappear’ by giving them new identities to hide from abusive husbands or the perpetrators of high-profile killings.

Jane knows many tricks and teaches her clients how to stay safe by keeping a low profile, blending in, living where others wouldn’t expect them to live, but most of all by keeping alert …and aware…always. For a new life to work there has to be a new background. Family and their stories must be forgotten, given up because those looking will be watching them, too, waiting sometimes years for a chance that something will turn up to tell them where to search. The new stories must be rehearsed until they become natural, the first response to a question, answered without thought or hesitation. False papers and paper trails are easy for Jane to obtain, for she knows people in the right places, people who trust her as she trusts them, because they all operate outside of the law.

Is it easy? Not at all, but it can be done. The worst thing is to forget to be watchful, because someone is out there, searching.

This is a great series because Jane is very real, resourceful, clever and likable. Her story and the story of the Native Americans in the area surrounding Lake Ontario is present throughout the books. But, suspense is the key to this series as well as action, confrontation and narrow misses. Jane is very good at what she does, but there are always surprises.

Published by Random House

Vanishing Act – 1995
Dance for the Dead – 1996
Shadow Woman – 1997
The Face-Changers – 1998
Blood Money – 1999

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Runner - 2009