I just finished the first one, "Murder on Astor Place".   It was so good!   I really enjoyed the rapport between Sarah and Malloy, and the descriptions of New York at the turn of the century was wonderful!   

I stumbled on this series a few weeks ago. I've read the first 3 so far and have all the rest to get to. It's definitely my favorite cozy series.

I have also read some of these and enjoyed them

The whole series is really  good  have fun  reading them.

Tammy

Thanks!  I'm getting ready to order a few more. I think these are going to be keepers for me.

I don't think I have heard of this series before.  But it sounds interesting, so I'll check them out.  Thanks!

Glad to hear it!  I've been collecting this series as I find them at USB's and FOTL sales and look forward to reading them as soon as I get at least the first few.

I'm also a fan of this series.  So far, I've only read the first two, but I can tell it's a keeper series for me.

I have never read them- what is a "cozy" series? can anyone tell me ?

Carrie, here's one definition of a cozy, adapted from About.com. The rules are not inflexible. My wife loves the Gaslight Mysteries series.

Cozies are mystery novels typically set in English [or American] country houses, small towns, villages, or other benign environments. Cozies feature very little violence, aside from the murder, and few gory details. The term arose from the relatively genteel settings, the common use of amateur sleuths as protagonists, and the fact that all loose ends are tied up and the villain caught and punished by the novel's conclusion. Agatha Christie's Jane Marple novels typify the subgenre. Normally, there is not a lot of foul language or sex in cozies.

Someone has said that a true cozy mystery has to have a cat in it. :-) My own definition is that it's a mystery I can read right before I go to bed and I won't have nightmares.

Les

ETA: Here's a nice description with lots of examples from the NY Times: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4DC103BF93BA25753C1A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

Lester,     Thank you for the NY Times link. I copied it to give to our FOL bookstore supervisors where I volunteer. They said they get many questions about cozies, and they were asking for a good definition. This article is by far one of the most comprehensive I've seen about the popularity and changes of cozies. Again, thank you.   M'ann

Her newest book Murder on Bank Street  is now in the system

I've been reading these for the last few years, and love them.  They are hardcover keepers for me.

I just finished MURDER ON LENOX HILL.   This novel had a great plot and characters that you can care about  ( how can you not care about Sarah, a woman born into New York's upper class, who gives up her life of luxury to become a midwife and adopts an orphan with disabiliities?!) 

If your looking for a wonderful  historical mystery, that seems unsolvable and that will grab your interest.....and keep it, this novel is for you!

I stumbled about Murder in Little Italy as part of the Historical Fiction Forum 2009 Reading Challenge and I loved it!  It made me go to the library and pick up the first two books so I can start from the beginning!  The Mystery genre is new for me, so I'm excited to try something different!

As for the definition of a cozy, this is a new term to me, though I've heard it used before.  Best I can tell, I guess it's like the book version of the TV show "Murder, She Wrote?"  That's the feeling I got when I read this book, same feeling I got when I used to watch that show! :-)

Yes, Brenna, a "cozy" is a mystery that typically has very little gore and violence and one where the "sleuth" is an amateur as opposed to being an actual police detective or private eye.  Many cozies are also set in small towns or in the country as in British cozies.

The Gaslight Mysteries are like potato chips for me.  Once I start one, I can't stop!

I really like this series too.  I think I heard about it from LeeAnne in this forum. 

I've only read the first book and really loved it.  I have the second one on my TBR and just requested 3 and 4.  I also heard about the series on this forum.  One of several new to me series I have started just from hearing about them here.

I love these also and if anyone enjoys the historical NY mystery aspect of the books, I highly recommend the Molly Murphy mystery series by Rhys Bowen(tho it begins in Ireland). 2 fabulous series!

Other historical series that I have enjoyed:

Lady julia grey mysteries by Deanna Raybourn

Royal Spyness mysteries by Rhys Bowen

Lady Emily mysteries by Tasha Alexander

:)

I've read the first two and loved them.

I read the second one sitting on the beach at Coney which was awesome!  I'm very excited to read the rest, I love the history aspect and the characters are interesting and believable. 

Holly, I love your recommendations for these series.  I've started all three of them.

One I didn't see listed here is Cyrus Barker & Thomas Llewelyn series by Will Thomas.  VERY well written mysteries.

I just finished up one from the library that was also a historical mystery, but I can't for my life remember the name of the book, the character OR the author.  I DID like it though!  I've just been reading so much lately I can't keep up.  If I figure it out I'll come post it here.

I got it!  (I had posted about it in the what are you reading thread..lol)  It's Murder on Nob Hill by Shirley Tallman.  It was very good.

I just checked out Murder on Nob Hill today! I'm glad to hear it's good.

I have read all Victoria Thompson's books except the very last one. They have all been very good books. I'm to the point where I would like the relationship between Sarah and Frank to progress a little further but other than that, I have no complaints of the series.

Thanks Melani for the Nob Hill recommendation, I looked it up and it sounds wonderful!! I'll be WLing it.

Misti, I did read the most recent one and that is my one complaint about it. I don't see that the relationship made any new progress. :(

I've been wanting to start the series but I can't even get the first titles from my library system. And so many of them are not in the system here.

The Victorian era isn't a big favorite of mine but the books sound so good (and I've enjoyed her historical romances in the past) that I'd love to read them at some point.

Is it REALLY important to read them in order? It's easier to find the more recent titles but I'm anal about reading series in order.........

Gail

I just added the 1st one to my WL. I love historical mysteries.  They all seem to take place in England so I like that it's NY.