Okay, remember how I said I wasn’t going to track much this year? I’ve just given myself a “tracking” task of sorts. I’m joining Louise in her Cozy Mystery Bingo challenge! I can’t help myself: it’s such a fun idea, and I love cozies. I’ve been wanting to read more of them, and with quite a few on my TBR, this could be a 2 birds-1 stone situation.
The challenge runs from March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027 {love that the year runs that way!}, and there are 2 modes: regular and hard {I’m still debating which one I want to follow}. A few of the prompts will be a little trickier to fill than others, but after sifting through my TBR, it looks like I’ve got quite a few titles to choose from. Below is a list of books already on my TBR and their potential prompt matches {some could go multiple places as needed}. At the end, I’ll list the prompts I am short on ideas for, and if you have suggestions, they are very welcome!
- Three Bags Full | New to You Author / Animal Companion
- A Crime Through Time | Book Lover
- A Proposal to Die For | Punny Title / New to You Author
- Earl Grey and Shallow Graves | New Series / Metal on the Cover / Food Theme
- The Gardener’s Plot | Beautiful Cover
- Booked for Murder | Punny Title
- Pride, Prejudice & Peril | Alliteration / Building on the Cover / New Series
- This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone | Hot Weather
- Shady Hollow | TBR Vet / Pseudonym
- Mimi Lee Gets a Clue | TBR Vet / Diversity / Animal Companion
- Haunted High Tea and Homicide | Outside Your Comfort Zone / Book Lover
- The Secret, Book & Scone Society | Beautiful Cover / Food on the Cover
- Death Comes to Jane Austen Town | Building on the Cover / Book Lover
- Live and Let Chai | Food Theme / Hot Weather
- Christmas Eve Murders | Cold Weather
- In Farm’s Way | Cold Weather / Animal Companion
- The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield | 5-Star Prediction
While several of the above titles would be Library loans, many are on my shelf or Kindle; this bingo challenge should help clear my TBR! Clearly I’ve stockpiled cozies for such a time as this. There are more possibilities on the TBR, but these are the most obvious matches thus far.
Prompts I need a little more inspiration for include:
- Love Interest Isn’t a Cop
- Unusual Job or Hobby {some of these may actually work for this one, but I won’t know for sure until I actually start reading}
- Crafting {I lean toward foodie-oriented options, so my crafting cozy knowledge is slim}
I have a feeling the “on the cover” prompts will be fairly easy to fill in as I get reading, and moving some books around if they would fit one prompt better than another.
All in all, I feel like I’ve got a good “rough draft” selection of titles to work with, and with so many cozies out there, I feel confident that I’ll be able to find enough to fill the whole board.
Have you ever done a Book Bingo like this?
Are you a fan of cozy mysteries? If so, what kind is your favorite?
What would you suggest for some of these prompts?
You have an amazing list already! The prompts are so cute. I laughed at “love interest is not a cop.” I’m not sure you can find one for that category! Ha! Ha! I do enjoy cozy mysteries, especially ones with a bit of humor.
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I was amazed how many books I could pick so quick! 😀 I did actually read a trilogy last year where the love interest was a handyman – which would have been perfect, but I already read it, lol … Should be able to find at least one more!
I do love the humor in cozies, and how they’re so “fun” even to be about murder, LOL!
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This is such a fun idea, I hope you have fun with all the cozy mysteries! 🙂
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I am very much looking forward to this project! 😀
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I love this! You’ve got loads of great ideas!
Shady Hollow has been on my TBR for ages now, and I’m really keen to get to Three Bags Full before the adaption comes out.
For the love interest prompt, you could try any of: Blue Ridge Library series, Grilled Cheese series and Haunted Yarn Shop series? I’ve be making my own pile of possibilities, and hopefully have a Top Cozies vid and a TBR vid out in the next couple of weeks/months. 🥰
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I was so impressed when I realized how many books could be options! 😀 And this should be such a great push to finally knock out some of these that have been on the TBR forever 😉
Oooh, my library has the Blue Ridge Library series, so I’ll look into that one for sure! Yarn Shop may help with the crafty too, lol. Looking forward to your possibilities and Top Cozies picks! ❤ I think this is going to be so fun! 😀
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I really hope its going to be a good time! I love cozies, and have so many, but other genre books sometimes get so much hype the cozies get a little lost in the shuffle and I want to change that. 😅
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I love a Bingo based reading challenge, I think they’re so much fun to join in with. And if it helps you get to titles on your owned TBR, even better 🥰 I love the title ‘Live And Let Chai’ and it looks like you’ve got plenty of cosy mysteries on your TBR to work with. I havent really tried many cosy mysteries to have many recommendations for you but I’ve wanted to pick up the Aurora Teagarden series for ages now (having loved other books by Charlaine Harris in the past). Rereading the first ones premise I don’t think it would work for the love interest one but the club shes a member of could potentially be an unusual interest or hobby 🤔 good luck with this and I look forward to hearing how you get on.
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Oooh, now that you mention it – I loved the Aurora Teagarden tv movie series that Hallmark did! I did read the first book, and it was a bit gorier than the movie? LOL!, but I think later in the series {assuming the movies do follow true}, she ends up in a relationship with a professor 🤔 Hmm. Must look into this more! 🙂
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Oh wow I didnt know there had been an adaptation of that one. The gore factor doesn’t truly surprise based on the Sookie Stackhouse titles I’ve read. I’d definitely be intrigued to see what you think if you end up giving them another try. I totally understand if they’re darker than your tastes though. I dont really know how cosy they are, just that they’re labeled as such.
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I had never read any of Harris’s other books, so wasn’t sure of her style/typical tone, but the movies are so fun! I think that’s what threw me when the first book was a good bit bloodier than the movie (obviously Hallmark isn’t going to go too grisly, but still, lol) … We shall see. 🙂
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Ha, this looks really fun! You’ve got a lot of good ideas already. But you have to decide if you’re doing the easy or hard version. Some of the hard prompts look… hard. I think you can do it though!
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I know 🙃 Some of the hard prompts are tricky, but so are some of the easy ones! LOL! I think I’m going to read my first few, things that might apply to both levels, and then see how it goes before committing … I do think it’s going to be a lot of fun though 😀
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