I like Miss Read for such times. They are cozy without the murder.

Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers and Ellis Peters are all good for cosy, sit by the fire evenings.

These are not mysteries, but I consider them to be "English cosies": the novels of Barbara Pym and of Laurie Lee, and "Lark Rise to Candleford" by Flora Thompson.

They are very light reading indeed, but I have always enjoyed M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth and Agatha Raisin series.

I really like Joanna Trollope.

A mixture of murder-mystery and horror bordering on the supernatural are Phil Rickman's series of novels with a young, attractive female priest (Cof E) who is also official exorcist to the diocese. Her name is Merrily Watkins and her parish is near Hereford, along the English-Welsh border. Beautiful scenery, good characters, amazing plots, good writing. The Merrily Watkins series of books include:

The Wine of Angels
Midwinter of the Spirit
A Crown of Lights
The Cure of Souls

Dido

ginny,
As I write this, the wind is howling, the trees are swaying and the leaves are shooting across the yard horizontally. A cold sharp rain is falling. I've just filled up the birdfeeders and fired up the woodstove. Like you, a nice cozy fire, my grandmother's afghan and a dog on each side of me is a perfect way to spend well, the whole darned winter, actually.

Some favorite authors in this category are:
Margaret Forster - Lady's Maid (not a mystery, but a great book)
M.C. Beaton
Laurie Graham's Gone with the Windsors (again, not a mystery)
Kate Sedley
Margaret Yorke
Hazel Holt
And no fireside reading list is complete without Diary of a Nobody by Oliver and Wendell Grossmith - again, not a mystery.

And a few new-to-me authors that I want to read more of:
Rhys Bowen
Alan Bennett (not mystery)
E.X. Giroux

But I believe cece is our resident expert on cozies. She can probably provide you with a list of authors to fill several winters with great reading.

PAM

Rouan, I read Ngaio Marsh's Death of a Fool recently. If you remember, it's about a murder that takes place during a Morris Dance. In a strange synchronicity of reading, I'd just read Pratchett's Wintersmith which starts with a young witch joining a Morris Dance and the problems that ensue. Before that, I'd never heard of a Morris Dance. Mummers, yes, Morris, no. Anyhow, I enjoyed Death of a Fool and will probably read more Marsh.

You can't get much more English and cosy than Rosamund Pilcher as mentioned on another thread. And what about Mary Stewart? She used to be very popular, especially her series about King Arthur The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills etc, plus many 'modern' stories, often set in Scotland.

Chris you have never heard of Morris Dancing? You may count yourself lucky. ;-)
A 'tradition' that re-emerged in the early twentieth century. Groups of bearded men dressed in cricket 'whites' dancing to a fiddle or accordion either on a soggy park/ football field or in a town square. Popular with foreign tourists.
To borrow Dido's DH's explanation as to why they only attract sparse audiences "The sound of the jingling bells on their legs gives us time to run away."

Here is a link that might be useful: Morris Dancers

Vee, we have a group of Morris Dancers here, who perform at sunrise on May 1 by the sea. I have seen their dances in my former ballet studio and beg to differ with you. I adore the high leaps and don't mind the bells at all. With all due respect, we differ in our opinion of folk dancing.... ;-)

I'd read that Morris Dancing came originally from the Moorish culture. Thence Moor, Morisco, Morris.

Many thanks for these wonderful suggestions so far. It looks like a good reading winter ahead.

Pam, thanks so much for your good feelings evoked by filled birdfeeders and stacked firewood. Sounds like you are set for the kind of day we had yesterday.

I don't think, alas, that the supernatural and exorcism will work for me as an English cozy and, in fact, would have me awake all night with fright, so I'll have to pass on those.

I'm reading a Ngaio Marsh right now and it is a pleasure after a year with much interesting but intense work-related reading.

Vee -
I laughed out loud when I read you and Dido's description of Morris Dancing. Perhaps it's because it's something we've seen all our lives and familiarity breeds contempt?

I don't know. I don't really get the attraction of the dancing and the dancers, to me, look like.. well, you can imagine.

But I respect others' views of this. Different strokes for different folks after all.

Back on topic: I like to read Barbara Trapido, Barbara Pym and Joanna Trollope with a very rare treat of Rosemary Pilcher every now and then. Not a lot of them, one after the other, but once every now and then as a treat.

Mary, I'm very glad that the tradition of Morris dancing is being keep alive in the US. I hope no females are involved in it; a man-only thing over here.
Our lack of appreciation is probably because we don't take ourselves very seriously and the sight of these hirsute guys prancing about and banging their little sticks together is often more than the average 'Brit' can stand.
When these dances were resurrected in the 1890's along with many very old folk songs, both the dances and the songs were heavily 'cleaned up' All that 'Dabbling in the Dew' undertaken by 'milk maids' would NOT have been approved of by their Sunday School teachers.

Jeanne M. Dams has a short series of English cozies, best read in order.

Carolyn Hart has a modern series set on an island off South Carolina. The heroine runs a mystery book store.

Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott series is set in present-day North Carolina.

I enjoy Anne Perry's Victorian mysteries, as well as those of Bruce Alexander set in the days of Samuel Johnson. Priscilla Royal sets her stories in a medieval abbey.

This is my favorite comfort genre!
You have all ready listed the big girls-Christie, Marsh, Sayers. Add Georgette Heyer, who is more famous for regency novels but did do a set of cozies. Also Patricia Wentworth is considered a peer of theirs.

Elizabeth Daly-set in New York, but she was one of Christie's favorite authors
P.C. Doherty, Margaret Frazer, Michael Jecks- all medieval
Gladys Mitchell
Josephine Bell
Michael Innes
Elizabeth Lemarchand
John Greenwood
Carter Dickson
Elizabeth Ironside
Francis and Richard Lockridge-set in NY
The Little Sisters-used to write in bed and send the pages back and forth between houses
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Anne Morice
Catherine Aird
Marianne MacDonald
Sara Woods
Ruth Dudley Edwards

You can also go to stopyourekillingme.com and find lists of authors' works and other subgenres within the mystery canon. It is a great website-just won an Agatha Award.

I have read one of Louise Penny's books set in Canada, and have ordered the next - I really enjoyed it.

And Vee, no self respecting cricketer (and that most definitely doesn't include the current Aussie team) would be caught dead in Morris Dancer clothes *g*

Kath, you are quite right, but the only white trousers these fellows can easily buy are what used to be called 'cricket flannels' . . .though probably made of polyester these days. ;-) btw are the Indians giving the Aussie's a hard time at the moment?!

Louise Penny is fabulous-I read her blog every day. Her fourth is out in Canada, but not until Jan. here. I feel very tempted to go to amazon canada.