FAVORITE FILMS FOR MYSTERY FANS
We're excited to have mystery and paranormal author Nancy J. Cohen guest blogging with us today - and sharing some of her favourite mystery films. Take it away Nancy!
by Nancy J. Cohen
As a writer, I enjoy a good film featuring a protagonist who’s an author or one that has a whodunit in the traditional vein. If the story has humor, so much the better. No Stephen King type horror story for me about an author trapped by a fanatic fan. I like to laugh and watch a film with a HEA ending. Other than the old classics like Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, these are some of my favorite films in the mystery genre or romantic movies involving writers.
AMERICAN DREAMER with JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti.
My all-time favorite! A romance novelist wins a contest and a trip to Paris. En route to the awards luncheon, she=s in a car accident and suffers a head injury. She wakes up believing herself to be the heroine in the sponsoring author’s espionage books. A spy caper follows that=s all too real, as she teams up with the author=s handsome son who thinks she=s a nutcase. That is, until someone tries to kill them.
DROWNING MONA with Danny DeVito and Bette Midler
A funny whodunit in a small town with a wacky cast of characters.
GOSFORD PARK with Helen Mirren and Jeremy Northam
An English drawing room mystery in the grand fashion that takes place at a country estate. Aristocrats and servants alike have secrets that slowly unravel during a hunting party weekend. Albeit a bit slow-paced, this film requires repeat viewings to catch the nuances.
HER ALIBI with Tom Selleck and Paulina Portzkova
A hilarious escapade wherein mystery novelist Phillip Blackwood falls for a suspected murderess while searching for inspiration to unlock his writer=s block. Did the mysterious and beautiful foreigner have a hand in the victim=s death? If so, is he foolish to vouch for her alibi and bring her home? And are the accidents that ensue truly accidents, or is he next in line for her lethal highjinks?
MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton
A Manhattan housewife thinks her next door neighbor is a murderer. She enlists her friends to search for clues. Probably my favorite Woody Allen film out of all of them.
MURDER 101 with Pierce Brosnan
English professor Charles Lattimore assigns his class to plan the perfect murder as a literary exercise, but when he=s framed for a woman=s death, he has to find the killer before the detective on the case finds him. Will his students help him solve a real murder, or is one of them guilty?
MURDER BY THE BOOK with Robert Hays
A mystery novelist thinks he's hallucinating when his hero appears in front of him and talks back. He's been thinking of changing to a new series and scrapping the sleuth, but now he needs his imaginary detective's help to solve a real murder.
THE BOY NEXT DOOR with Dina Meyer and Christopher Russell (Lifetime Movie Network, 2008). A romance writer goes on a retreat to a small town to seek inspiration for her next story. When her next door neighbor is found dead, the chief of police suspects her. Even when her place is ransacked and someone tries to run her off the road, he discounts her theories and refuses to look into the incidents. It=s up to our heroine to prove her innocence and uncover the killer before his next attack turns fatal.
FLOWER GIRL (Hallmark Channel Movie)
This is really a classic romance with an element of mystery. The heroine has to choose between two suitors: a staid lawyer approved by her mother, and a writer who answers evasively whenever she asks about his work. Guess who she’ll pick? The writer’s secret is reminiscent of the same in American Dreamer.
* * * *
Nancy J. Cohen is a multi-published author who writes mysteries and paranormal romance. She began her career writing paranormal romances as Nancy Cane. Her first title, CIRCLE OF LIGHT, won the HOLT Medallion Award. After four books in this genre, she switched to mysteries to write the popular Bad Hair Day series featuring hairdresser Marla Shore, who solves
crimes with wit and style under the sultry Florida sun. Several of these titles made the IMBA bestseller list. PERISH BY PEDICURE and KILLER KNOTS are the latest books in this humorous series. Active in the writing community and a featured speaker at libraries and conferences, Nancy is listed in Contemporary Authors, Poets & Writers, and Who's Who in U.S.
Writers, Editors & Poets. Nancy=s new release, SILVER SERENADE, is a sexy space adventure and her fifteenth title.
To learn more about Nancy, please go to:
Website: http://nancyjcohen.com
Blog: http://nancyjcohen.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c3YchC
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nancyjcohen
To Purchase Silver Serenade: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/nancy-j-cohen-m-831.html
by Nancy J. Cohen
As a writer, I enjoy a good film featuring a protagonist who’s an author or one that has a whodunit in the traditional vein. If the story has humor, so much the better. No Stephen King type horror story for me about an author trapped by a fanatic fan. I like to laugh and watch a film with a HEA ending. Other than the old classics like Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, these are some of my favorite films in the mystery genre or romantic movies involving writers.
AMERICAN DREAMER with JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti.
My all-time favorite! A romance novelist wins a contest and a trip to Paris. En route to the awards luncheon, she=s in a car accident and suffers a head injury. She wakes up believing herself to be the heroine in the sponsoring author’s espionage books. A spy caper follows that=s all too real, as she teams up with the author=s handsome son who thinks she=s a nutcase. That is, until someone tries to kill them.
DROWNING MONA with Danny DeVito and Bette Midler
A funny whodunit in a small town with a wacky cast of characters.
An English drawing room mystery in the grand fashion that takes place at a country estate. Aristocrats and servants alike have secrets that slowly unravel during a hunting party weekend. Albeit a bit slow-paced, this film requires repeat viewings to catch the nuances.
HER ALIBI with Tom Selleck and Paulina Portzkova
A hilarious escapade wherein mystery novelist Phillip Blackwood falls for a suspected murderess while searching for inspiration to unlock his writer=s block. Did the mysterious and beautiful foreigner have a hand in the victim=s death? If so, is he foolish to vouch for her alibi and bring her home? And are the accidents that ensue truly accidents, or is he next in line for her lethal highjinks?
A Manhattan housewife thinks her next door neighbor is a murderer. She enlists her friends to search for clues. Probably my favorite Woody Allen film out of all of them.
MURDER 101 with Pierce Brosnan
English professor Charles Lattimore assigns his class to plan the perfect murder as a literary exercise, but when he=s framed for a woman=s death, he has to find the killer before the detective on the case finds him. Will his students help him solve a real murder, or is one of them guilty?
MURDER BY THE BOOK with Robert Hays
A mystery novelist thinks he's hallucinating when his hero appears in front of him and talks back. He's been thinking of changing to a new series and scrapping the sleuth, but now he needs his imaginary detective's help to solve a real murder.
THE BOY NEXT DOOR with Dina Meyer and Christopher Russell (Lifetime Movie Network, 2008). A romance writer goes on a retreat to a small town to seek inspiration for her next story. When her next door neighbor is found dead, the chief of police suspects her. Even when her place is ransacked and someone tries to run her off the road, he discounts her theories and refuses to look into the incidents. It=s up to our heroine to prove her innocence and uncover the killer before his next attack turns fatal.
FLOWER GIRL (Hallmark Channel Movie)
This is really a classic romance with an element of mystery. The heroine has to choose between two suitors: a staid lawyer approved by her mother, and a writer who answers evasively whenever she asks about his work. Guess who she’ll pick? The writer’s secret is reminiscent of the same in American Dreamer.
* * * *
crimes with wit and style under the sultry Florida sun. Several of these titles made the IMBA bestseller list. PERISH BY PEDICURE and KILLER KNOTS are the latest books in this humorous series. Active in the writing community and a featured speaker at libraries and conferences, Nancy is listed in Contemporary Authors, Poets & Writers, and Who's Who in U.S.
Writers, Editors & Poets. Nancy=s new release, SILVER SERENADE, is a sexy space adventure and her fifteenth title.
Website: http://nancyjcohen.com
Blog: http://nancyjcohen.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c3YchC
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nancyjcohen
To Purchase Silver Serenade: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/nancy-j-cohen-m-831.html
I already bought your great book and I am in the middle of it right now.
ReplyDeleteWish I had a film that came to mind. All I can think of is movies like Vertigo, and The Birds, more suspense then mystery. But mystery's nonetheless.
I am so engrossed in your story, I just got yelled at by DH, to stop reading and take care of a few things. Horrid how life gets in the way...
I am glad you are enjoying Silver Serenade, Mary. Thanks for visiting my blogs, too. Horror movies are one genre I cannot watch. Too scary.
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy: Thanks for blogging with us today! And cool list!
ReplyDeleteOkay - I love me some mystery movies! Gosford Park - is great! What a stellar cast! I have a fondness for the BBC/Masterpiece Classic versions of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot mysteries. So much fun! I love those older Peter Ustinov Poirot movies too - but no one can touch David Suchet. And bad me! On my to-watch list is the Number One Ladies Detective Agency TV series based on Alexander McCall Smith's wonderful books - that I gobble up like chocolate. And I just watched a terrific TV movie called Place of Execution on Masterpiece Contemporary - starring Juliet Stevenson - based on a best selling novel - and took place in the present day but with flashbacks - so really had two time lines and a whopper of an ending. Now I want to try to write one! I think they'd be really hard to write though - How do you find writing mysteries?
I'll rarely watch a horror film, but I love anything with a good mystery. I love the old Cary Grant mysteries like North By Northwest with Eva Marie Saint, Charade with Audrey Hepburn, and Suspicion with Joan Fontaine. My daughter is suggesting Strangers On a Train - I've never seen the whole thing but now I'll have to find it.
ReplyDeleteNancy, I'm amazed at how you're able to write in both the mystery and futuristic genres, and do both so well!
I always liked Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. Kathleen Turner's character is a romance writer! It's not a classic mystery. It's more of an action/adventure/romance. But there was a mystery in there somewhere. lol!
ReplyDeleteSince the episodes are 2-hrs long, I'm going to count them as a movie : The Midsommer Murder series. Love, adore the show. The twists, turns, interweaving of subplots. I'll drop whatever I'm doing to watch the latest Netflix disc I get in. But if I have to pick something that was in the theatre first...I did enjoy Sherlock Holmes wih Robert Downey. The right mix of action and mystery for me.
ReplyDeleteI also love American Dreamer. But I'll admit to being a die-hard Hitchcock fan with Strangers on a Train at the top but I love almost all of them.
ReplyDeleteThese are all great suggestions, thanks. We do have the Sherlock Holmes series which is excellent. And I'm a fan of Romancing the Stone although I'd classify that as more romantic adventure than classic mystery. Joanna, I love plotting my mysteries and weaving the suspects together. I see it like a spider web with the characters linked to each other.
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Hi Nancy!
ReplyDeleteWow, such a great list! Some I already know and love Manhattan Murder Mystery!! Delicious!! Murder 101 too. Yum. And now there are some new ones I can check out. Thanks so much!
One of my favorite mysteries is Alfred Hitchcock's Rope.
--Chiron