Cozy Mysteries discussion

Recently I wanted to re-read a book that is out of print but when I tried to get it from the library I found that they no longer had many of the author's books. The librarian told me that when an author or series is out of print they no longer replace damaged books and sometimes discard older books that they feel don't circulate enough to make room for newer ones. Do any of you have favorite authors who's books have become hard to find?

Here are a few of mine:

Bil Know who also wrote as Noah Webster and Michael Kirk
Dell Shannon who also wrote as Lesley Egan and Elizabeth Linington
A.J. Orde

Robert Irvine who wrote a series with a P.I. named Moroni Traveler. All the stories had something to do with the Mormon church in one way or another, so I learned something with every one. I'm lucky in that I was able to put together a collection of all the books in hardcover. I have recommended them to friends and they have had a hard time finding them, and I won't lend mine out since I had such a hard time getting them myself.

One of my favorite authors is Clarence Buddington Kelland. He died in the early sixties and wrote books in several genres. All of his books are out of print and hard to find. I do have copies of most of my favs, but it would be nice to have a few more.

I really liked the Darina Lisle series set in England by Janet Laurence. She is a British author and I found it hard to find her books. I wrote to her and she wasn't planning on writing any more in the series. (There are 10 books in the series.)

Another author that I like is DB Borton who writes the Cat Caliban series. She also wrote a short series with the main character named Gilda Liberty who was in an "eccentric movie-mad family in the midwest". There were only 3 books in the series. They were also fun reads. What's so annoying about my library not carrying her books is that she is an Ohio author (I'm in Columbus, OH) and she teaches at a college near here.

For all of you having trouble finding an out of print book and your library doesn't have it don't forget about interlibrary loan. It is true that periodically you can't get a book even through interlibrary loan but I would say that 95% of the time you can.

Denise wrote: "Another author that I like is DB Borton who writes the Cat Caliban series. She also wrote a short series with the main character named Gilda Liberty who was in an "eccentric movie-mad family in the midwest". There were only 3 books in the series. They were also fun reads. What's so annoying about my library not carrying her books is that she is an Ohio author (I'm in Columbus, OH) and she teaches at a college near here...."

I read the Cat Caliban books. I liked them because they took place in Cincinnati. I'm originally from Dayton, so enjoyed reading about a familiar place. Another author whose books are hard to find is Jonathan Valin. He's a Cincy author, too. His series wasn't cozy. The hero was a P.I. named Harry Stoner. I could always identify places in his books.

Many books discarded by libraries can be found on half.ebay.com. I rarely spend more than $3 per book, and may cost only $.75. The shipping is typically more than the cost of the book. This is how I have kept up with many British writers whose work is not otherwise available in the US. One particular favorite source of mine is BetterWorldBooks who support literacy projects. When you order more than one book from one source the shipping cost is decreased. I recently got about 12 books from this supplier, and am in heaven at the prospect of reading them all.

I do buy some books that I can't find at the library. unfortunately I only have a limited amount of space for books.

Hi Audrey, I like Better World Books too. But another source for English books could be ALIBRIS.com, looks like they are based in England, give it a try.
( I found an English author that was not as popular in US..a special edition or something only they had.)
As far as keeping books...I rarely keep anything unless its reference. I take them and trade them in at a local used bookstore so I don't fill up my place with books I probobly won't read again.

Audrey wrote: "Many books discarded by libraries can be found on half.ebay.com. I rarely spend more than $3 per book, and may cost only $.75. The shipping is typically more than the cost of the book. This is h..."

and Sandy wrote: "I do buy some books that I can't find at the library. unfortunately I only have a limited amount of space for books."

Some good places to get books at no or very little cost:

I like to remind people that even if your library doesn't have a book you can request an interlibrary loan. I think the Interlibrary Loan Program is unbelievably wonderful. I am so afraid with current budget cuts that libraries will discontinue this free service. Right now I have two library loan books, the one I am reading is Murder Off the Books by Evelyn David and the second book is All the Dirty Cowards by Deborah Adams. The David book was kindly loaned to me by the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Parma Ohio and the Adams book came all the way from the Harris County Public Library in Houston Texas. The last one that I had and just returned was The Case of the Bouncing Grandma that came to me from Phoenix. As you can see, I use the interlibrary loan system frequently especially if a book is a few years old or older.

If it is a brand new book that I am looking for and my library doesn't have it I will request that the library buy it. However if you go that route remember to check back in a month or so and see if your library did purchase it and then put it on reserve and read it. My library used to automatically put a reserve in for you if you requested that they buy a book and they did but they don't do that anymore--so I need to remember to check back. Of the 14 books that I have requested that my library purchase over the last year, they have bought 9 (and I anticipate that number will be higher because I made just made the request for two books this month).

Also you can go to www.bookmooch.com, www.paperbackswap.com, or www.swaptree.com and trade books. All you pay is postage.

A little bit harder way to get books is to "find" them through a site called www.bookcrossing.com. This website approaches things more like a scavenger hunt. Rather than try to explain it let me copy something from their website as an explanation:

"BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. A book registered on BookCrossing is ready for adventure.

Leave it on a park bench, a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym -- anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel. Track the book's journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person."

Even though I registered at their site (it is free) I haven't tried their method yet. I have a problem leaving books somewhere (especially outside as they would get ruined if it rained etc and I love books too much to do that). I also haven't tried to hunt one down yet either. The idea is kind of cool though and it costs nothing.

Audrey mentioned www.half.ebay.com and I have not tried ebay but I have bought several books through the www.amazon.com. I use Amazon to look up info on books a lot but I have also bought books through their website. As Audrey said about ebay if you go for the used books on Amazon you can get them for as cheap as one penny and then pay $3.99 shipping so you have paid $4.00 for the book. Some of the prices are just amazing. Of course you have to look at the really tiny print to find the used books on the site but it is there for almost every book that I have looked at unless the book hasn't come out yet and they are taking pre-publication orders.

I'm sure there are many other swapping/trading type sites out there but I thought I'd throw out a few for people to look at.

Denise wrote: "Audrey mentioned www.half.ebay.com and I have not tried ebay but I have bought several books through the www.amazon.com. I use Amazon to look up info on books a lot but I have also bought books through their website. As Audrey said about ebay if you go for the used books on Amazon you can get them for as cheap as one penny and then pay $3.99 shipping so you have paid $4.00 for the book. Some of the prices are just amazing...."

I have bought and sold books on eBay for years now. I've never gotten a dud and have been lucky in selling almost everything I've listed. In some cases it's turned out that I had a book listed that was hard to come by and I made very nice profits on them. I've also used half.com and have had pretty good luck there, too. I'm usually not patient enough for PBS. I've sent out far more books than I've received.

I haven't come across any that I absolutely could not get a hold of, but I have come across ones that are out of print or hard to find and people seem to know this and they are very expensive. But after hunting at many of the above listed sources, I have been able to find copies very inexpensively. The one problem I have had with Amazon is that if they don't have the book in the system, you can't buy or sell it. So it's not a matter of it being unavailable at thetime, it's not in their invetory list at all.

You may also have some luck contacting the past publisher of a book and seeing if there's a chance that they would do an e-book or put it on Kindle. You may want to explore that anyway in the event that some of these are being reproduced in that fashion. Our library has e-books, and I believe Barnes and Noble and possibly Borders have a "hard to find books" online section. I know at least one of them does. And B&N has used books for sale that people can list like Amazon.

Shelly wrote: "Charlotte Macleod/Alisa Craig. I love her books, would willingly read them over and over. My library doesn't have them anymore, they've already discarded them. My mom had copies of all but I think..."

This is one of my all time favorite writers. Her quirky style and interesting characters always made me smile. I like her Shandy series the best, but they're all very amusing and clever.

Just started reading the first in the series of the Southern Sisters cozy mysteries called Murder On A Girl's Night Out. This author passed in 2001 but her stories are still available. ( I bought this one used). It looks like they have them all on Amazon. So thanks for the recommendations! It is really funny and I like it so far! I also picked up a Charlotte Macleod book, Silver Ghost, that I'm going to try as well.

Sandy, a lot of times you can find those books through Amazon's used book dealers. I have purchased tons of books that were "out of print". All of them are "retired" library books. I'm a collector of Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy books. I have every single one. I was recently able to get the last one I needed called "Every Last Cent". It apparently never sold in the US. It's a "retired" library book from England. They are all hardbacks and they are all in good condition or even better.

I like several that are difficult to get my hands on! The Carolus Deane series by Leo Bruce, the Catherine Aird series (but I'd like them in hardback), the Puzzle Lady series by Parnell Hall. Of course I hate to buy them, so I'm trying to get them either through PBS or from the local used book stores. An uphill battle!

I am also on the hunt for Charlotte MacLeod. Alisa Craig in e-format. My paperbacks are hnging together but only barely. I would also love Mary Stewart on e. And Helen MacInnes, Alistair Maclean....

Melanie wrote: "I am also on the hunt for Charlotte MacLeod. Alisa Craig in e-format. My paperbacks are hnging together but only barely. I would also love Mary Stewart on e. And Helen MacInnes, Alistair Maclean...."

I love this author too. Charlotte MacLeod was one of the cozy authors who made me really start reading them.

Another way to get your hands on hard-to-find mystery books is to ask your local library to request a copy through the inter-library loan system.

I do have a problem with that. I find I don't manage to get to town during my library's hours, but they do have internet which I should use. One option I have been using in Canada (British Columbia to be exact)is The Bookman, store in Chilliwack, webpage here: http://www.bookman.ca/ I was thrilled to get the first Donna Andrews Meg Langslow series "Murder with Peacocks" (the call came that it was available within the hour, just came in). Fortunately my daughter lives in Chilliwack and could pick it up for me, saving postage, and I picked it up from her when I finally got down to Chilliwack last week. His website is well-worth checking out.

I'm still hoping they can find "Access Denied", third in the Turing Hopper series. I think I have the other 3 in the series.

Halfway between a cozy and a "straight" murder mystery/ thriller, I am almost finished book 2 of Jefferson Bass' The Body Farm series, having already read books 1 and 3.

Betty wrote: "I'm still hoping they can find "Access Denied", third in the Turing Hopper series. I think I have the other 3 in the series."

Betty: Hi, I looked on www.fantasticfiction.co.uk and found Access Denied for sale. There are 3 pages of bookstores that have it for sale in the US for $1.00. I switched to Canada and two stores listed it, one at a stupid price, but the other one was The Bookworm, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and it said C$5.00. Don't know how much shipping would cost from the 5 in the US that had it for $1.00 or if the Canadian bookstore would be better.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/d...

Here is the link for you (above).

Thanks, Denise, I'll look into that. I have a request in at The Bookman, but no luck yet.

Betty wrote: "Thanks, Denise, I'll look into that. I have a request in at The Bookman, but no luck yet."

Well, supposedly the bookstores listed on Fantastic Fiction actually have the book on hand to sell.

Denise wrote: "Betty wrote: "Thanks, Denise, I'll look into that. I have a request in at The Bookman, but no luck yet."

Well, supposedly the bookstores listed on Fantastic Fiction actually have the book on han..."
I checked out Fantastic Fiction and the Ontario listing but the link is no longer working. However, I see Amazon.ca has in stock a reprint hardcover, so maybe a mass market version will be available soon. I hope so, it will be easier for me to obtain through them.

My library system must be excellent as I have not found one book that they could not get for me yet. I feel pretty lucky :)

Heidi I wrote: "My library system must be excellent as I have not found one book that they could not get for me yet. I feel pretty lucky :)"

So lucky! I wish I could get books I actually want to read at the library. I do sometimes, but they're always translated and I hate that..

I can't find Room with a clue by Kate Kingsbury, the first in the Pennyfoot Hotel Series.
The pricing out there is insane for the copies that are out there-I don't understand why! I had found it on a rare books website, and the seller immediately cancelled my order and never answered my emails which was such a bummer.
I wont pay $20 plus for a paper back that was originally $7!!
I tried to contact the publisher with little luck.
Sigh.
I have it on my wants list on swap and paperbackswap but no bites :(

Michelle wrote: "I can't find Room with a clue by Kate Kingsbury, the first in the Pennyfoot Hotel Series.
The pricing out there is insane for the copies that are out there-I don't understand why! I had found it on..."
Alibris currently has one posted for 5.69 good condition

I take that back..I used the bookfinder site Kari suggested and I found room with a clue!!! I've been looking for AGES.
Hooray!!!

Ellen R-S (MO) wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I can't find Room with a clue by Kate Kingsbury, the first in the Pennyfoot Hotel Series.
The pricing out there is insane for the copies that are out there-I don't understand why! ..."
That's the one..I got it!

Michelle wrote: "Ellen R-S (MO) wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I can't find Room with a clue by Kate Kingsbury, the first in the Pennyfoot Hotel Series.
The pricing out there is insane for the copies that are out there-I..."

Glad you found one! I borrowed the ONLY copy in the whole Wichita library system ;)

Susie in KS wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Ellen R-S (MO) wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I can't find Room with a clue by Kate Kingsbury, the first in the Pennyfoot Hotel Series.
The pricing out there is insane for the copies th..."

Can I buy it from you when your finished?

I'm a big fan of Fredric Brown's work, and after years of pre-internet shopping, think I've got all of them. But it did take years.

Leigh wrote: "I'm a big fan of Fredric Brown's work, and after years of pre-internet shopping, think I've got all of them. But it did take years."

Fredric Brown! Thank you for reminding me of this marvelous writer. I've only read two of his books so far -- The Fabulous Clipjoint and The Mind Thing -- and I recognized that both were the work of a brilliant imagination. Now that you've put me in mind of him, I'll have to look for more of his mysteries.

Margery Allingham, anyone? I love her Campion books, which are now not easy to find.

Martin wrote: "Leigh wrote: "I'm a big fan of Fredric Brown's work, and after years of pre-internet shopping, think I've got all of them. But it did take years."

Fredric Brown! Thank you for reminding me of this..."

You have some fabulous reading ahead of you.

Grey853 wrote: "Shelly wrote: "Charlotte Macleod/Alisa Craig. I love her books, would willingly read them over and over. My library doesn't have them anymore, they've already discarded them. My mom had copies of ..."
I'm a library director and I REFUSE to allow my Charlotte Macleod books to be weeded (as well as several other mystery authors from the past). A lot of these authors eventually are "rediscovered" . The Balaclava U. Series was my my favorite.

It's frustrating to see a book that looks good and to not be able to find it!

Melodie wrote: "Robert Irvine who wrote a series with a P.I. named Moroni Traveler. All the stories had something to do with the Mormon church in one way or another, so I learned something with every one. I'm lu..."

I'm reading these right now, I just finished The Angels' Share and am waiting on the next one to arrive from the library. I found out about them for a recommendation I think from Melodie for Utah books for the USA challenge. I'm really enjoying them. Luckily so far I've been able to get them all from my library system. My personal library doesn't have them, but they all seem to be in the system.

I had a hard time finding Swapping Paint by Joyce and Jim Lavene. I had to get that through interlibrary loan and it took a while.

Melissa wrote: "Melodie wrote: "Robert Irvine who wrote a series with a P.I. named Moroni Traveler. All the stories had something to do with the Mormon church in one way or another, so I learned something with ev..."

Glad you're enjoying the Moroni Traveler books and have been able to get them through your library system. It's a really good series and greatly overlooked.