#eb's mystery recs

[e-b-reads]

[master list here]

Cozy mysteries - if you’ve read one you know the genre! Often follow the plot pattern of: [single young woman/divorcee] returns to [hometown/other important location of her childhood] to [take over family/start a new] business. Someone is murdered! Because [the murder hurts her business/she’s a suspect/her bestie is a suspect/…] she must investigate extra-judiciously. Luckily she is successful, and also a romance is developing with the hunky [detective/co-worker…it’s usually a detective and/or cop tho].

Despite the similarities, many cozy mysteries I’ve read do have a thing or two that sets them apart! Read on for some recommendations based on what kind of experience you might be looking for! (In order of how recently I read them; this is by no means an exhaustive list, just some things I read and thought worth recommending.)

Are you looking for a cozy mystery series that…

…has recurring characters that may become future murderers/victims?

Local Foods Mystery Series, by Edith Maxwell!

Otherwise a fairly typical cozy mystery experience, but I did like the setting and the journey to end up with the love interest - who is not, for once, described mainly as “handsome,” but is given physical traits that have no inherent value, but which the heroine obviously likes. (It’s a small thing, but worth noting!)

…has characters of color as the main cast?

Noodle Shop Mystery series, by Vivien Chien

In this mystery, when the main character moves “back home” it means she’s working in her parent’s noodle house again, in a shopping center full of Chinese-American owned businesses. This is the community she mostly solves mysteries in. Cute and funny at times!

…has a love interest who isn’t a cop?

Melanie Travis mystery series, by Laurien Berenson

As you can hopefully tell from the cover, the sort of business/special interest driving this cozy series is dog breeding and dog shows! The main character’s aunt gets her into helping show standard Poodles. Aside from the fascinating look into the world of showing dogs, the mysteries are fairly standard, but I do like (as said above) that the love interest isn’t a cop for once - and also and maybe more importantly, the main character is a single mom who really loves her six-year-old and has to deal with logistics like child care before diving into dog shows and mysteries.

…has a more experienced amateur detective?

Coffeehouse Mysteries, by Cleo Coyle

She’s not experienced at solving crime, but she’s a 40-something divorcée with an adult daughter who, in book 1, is about to take back over a coffee house that she has several years of experience running. In other ways, not dissimilar from the standard cozy series outline - except that they take place in NYC instead of a small town somewhere! Also good if you like a slow burn romance - it takes several books for the main character to get with the main love interest.

…has characters more complex than they seem?

Cajun Country Mysteries, by Ellen Byron

These also have a strong, fun sense of place deep in the heart of Louisiana, though in a fictional town. Though essentially light-hearted, they do acknowledge the history of plantations in the area, as well as giving the reader a look at various true funky Cajun Country traditions. The recurring characters are a little over-the-top at points, but they’re saved by the added complexity: for example, the mean sheriff character who is nowhere near as handsome as his detective cousin (guess who the love interest is…) turns out to be a still annoying but OK guy who is able to acknowledge when he was wrong. Also, as someone who works in hospitality: the people staying in the main character’s BnB are unfortunately not super over-the-top, people can really be like that. (Except with less murder, in my experience.)

…has a Marple-ish (older, underestimated) protagonist?

Deadly Edits series, by Kaitlyn Dunnett

There is no love interest here! (At least, not in the ones I read.) A retired widow moves to her childhood hometown and opens a copy-editing business, then starts solving murders. It’s a nice change of pace from the young businesswomen looking for love, if you’re still looking for an essentially cozy plot.

[tackyink]

This was supposed to be for @asususasa but in the middle of writing I thought this could be useful for someone else, so here's Tacky's general list of otome recs. It took me over an hour to write so I'm not proofreading it.

DS

Not much to say here because back in those days otome games didn't get localized. The stand outs are Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Season, who have English fan translations. Slice of life games where you play as the protagonist through her three years of high school. And if you feel like a student-teacher romance that would make Sakura Kinomoto's mom proud, these are your games.

PSP

Still well into the no localizations era with one exception: Hakuouki Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. Not recommending it on PSP because there are better versions. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story Premium also has a fan translation and should be played over its DS counterpart because it has added functionalities. Sadly this time around the teacher is a secret character and a shota.

3DS

There's Hakuoki Memories of the Shinsengumi. Still not recommended because we can do better.

PS3

Hakuouki Stories of the Shinsengumi includes the original game and the fandisk with some neat animations added. This is the version to play if you want the original experience. If you want even more routes, go for another version.

Vita

Hakuoki Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, Collar x Malice and Amnesia are the best games you can get for the Vita imo. Some people dig a lot the Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk and Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (I've only played BB, it was good but wasn't the best; wouldn't rate it as high as the others). There's Code Realize and its two fandisks (Future Blessings and Wintertide Miracles) and many people swear by them, but while I liked the common route in the first game, the rest didn't do it for me. You can find all of these except CxM and the CRs on Steam, and the Hakuoki games get dirst cheap on sale. Best bang for your buck of the saga. The CR games have PS4 ports and CxM has a Switch one, which you already know.

Switch

*rolls up sleeves* LET'S GO.

To get it out of the way: Hakuouki KW and EB are getting a Switch rerelease and a new translation and will be released as a single game, Hakuoki Chonicles of Wind and Blossom, on August 1st.

Collar x Malice fucking nails the mystery and lowkey horror vibes with and excellent plot that's interconnected in every route. CxM Unlimited is its fandisk and only recommended if you really have the CxM itch, because it's mostly fluff and the little plot there is is at most functional. It has a route where Ichika joins Adonis and you get to see its inner workings though. That was very interesting.

Bustafellows is 100% found family vibes with a very assertive protagonist. It's a mystery/action story and the team dynamics are sort of Ocean's 11-ish. Hilarious, heartbreaking at times, I've never felt more dread in a game than heading towards the basement in a certain's guy's route. There are two unlockable stories after you finish the routes of the guys, one of which I thought was glorious, another which sets up a sequel and is a big downer but I also really liked. It gets heavy at times with murder, suicide, sexual assault, human trafficking, among other kinds of violence, but despite it, it's generally a very funny and upbeat game. We're getting the sequel next year. Also available on PC.

Café Enchanté baits you with the premise of being a girl who manages a coffee shop patronized by handsome supernatural beings, so it's a real surprise when the cannibalism shows up. Anyway. Great game, but I'm afraid saying more would kind of defeat the point. Reminds me of Megami Tensei games, so if coffee shop AUs with supernatural world-ending threats are your thing, go for it. Just be warned that the fandom has kind of collectively agreed that poster boy's route never happened.

Birushana is a hidden gem that goes on sale super cheap and is also probably a hit or miss thing. You play as the legendary Yoshitsune, who in this game is a girl disguising her gender, but she's an amazing warrior as in history. It has the best otome couple I've ever seen, bar none, with Yoshitsune and Noritsune. The game is worth the price just to see them fall in love on the battlefield and watch Noritsune chug down Respect Women Juice all the way through it. The thing is... the rest of routes aren't great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed how utterly unhinged they got at times, but the plot got worse as it deepened. Still. Noritsune. And I loved that most of the guys respected her as a warrior and were aware she was as capable or a better warrior than them and she didn't need a man to protect her. Very refreshing. One of my faves got done dirty by the translation because they started pulling lines out of thin air to make him creepier. Just him. Why. It's not like he needed the help.

Virche Evermore Error Salvation is also a good one if you can handle continuous drama and see egregiously bad science and say, "You know what? It's magic. Humans in this world are just built different." The worldbuilding is really interesting and the characters very enjoyable, though they don't feature a lot in each other's routes or aren't that friendly with each other. The continuous tragedy may tire you out, or maybe it'll work and emotionally destroy you. It didn't get any emotional reaction out of me until a certain point near the end, but I enjoyed the game a lot, nevertheless. We're getting the sequel this November and I'm really looking forward to it.

Variable Barricade: a fun romp where a young heiress has to chose a fiancé among the four disaster bachelors her grandpa has selected. It's not really similar to Ouran, but it reminded me a little of it at times. It's a pretty light game. The BFF is a gothic lolita otaku who has the time of her life shipping you with the guys, and the butler... oh boy the butler.

Amnesia, as I mentioned earlier, has a PC port as well as the Vita version, as well as two localized fandisks for the Switch (Amnesia x Crowd) that I can't speak of because I haven't played them yet. The protagonist has supernatural amnesia and must piece together her life while avoiding that other people realize she's lost her memory. It's a super intriguing game the first time you play, really nailed the being completely and utterly lost in the protagonist's shoes. A required play to get in on the cage jokes. It's sort of a rite of passage for otome gamers.

Jack Jeanne has probably the best group dynamics of any otome I've seen. I think some people have issues with the protagonist because they find her passive, but to me she felt the complete opposite. Everybody is adorable. A sentimental story of hard work, being young and and fighting for your dreams, 10/10, no notes. I lied, there's a note: Tanakamigi deserved a route! Where is our Tanakamigi route! щ(゜ロ゜щ)

Last but not least at all, the two Piofiores. Mafia games where all trigger warnings you can think of apply. Well, maybe not the cannibalism, that's still Café Enchanté's crowning glory. Fated Memories, the first one, has its ups and downs, but has very enjoyable characters, rock-solid worldbuilding, an amazing atmosphere set in 1920s Italy with a jazzy soundtrack that ends up living rent free in your brain. The last routes of the first game, Gil's and Finale, are worth the full price of the game alone. Piofiore Episodio 1926 is a masterpiece of the otome genre. It doesn't have a single boring route, and the final stretch (Advent Calendar-Alternativa-Secret Character route) has the best writing I've seen in an otome. Lots of points of view and situations interconnecting, an excellent final couple, top notch interactions between the main characters. Just the best.

[lmanberg]

hello jason mickey truth. thank you for the song recs they are all bangers.

something ive been thinking about recently is how much is gonna come out (no pun intended) once ebs meet up. being online is so so much different then in person- you tend to be more confident/say things you normally wouldnt when youre not actually talking to someone face to face. if they can break that first awkwardness of meeting up, itll be interesting to see if/how their dynamic changes. if it doesnt change (or is even more sus...) they will probably have that realization of "wow this is not how normal friends act" if they haven't had that already.

also... r is a very nervous person- he hasnt gone outside in months- but hes willing to take a transatlantic flight for this boy?? whenever the uk trip is brought up r kinda sighs and goes "yeah.. i cant wait for it... for all the content". but there HAS to be more to it then just content- im sure that thats also a big factor in it, but the wistful way he talks about it and the mysterious "document" of things they wanna do while r is there sounds more like date plans that they've just disguised as "content". overall it really feels like r wants to confirm his feelings/sus out how t feels before going forward. also they just wants to spend time together in general bc there is really nothing like watching a movie together irl huddled under the same blanket :]

God you’re so right Blue you never miss

[postproductionsoftwarekenh9-blog]

10 Apps to Help You Manage Your how to create a schedule for film post production workflow

What does media asset management mean?

How can I send large files?

Apple is the latest company to get on board, currently offering Final Cut Pro X free for 90 days – voted by us as one of the best video editing software programmes around. Final Cut Pro previously came with a free 30-day trial, but Apple has extended this amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

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Publitio offers URL-based API for on-the-fly transformations & high-quality media processing and transcoding solutions for fast content delivery and repurposing. With Interplay

After you deliver the final movie, you can delete source files. By default, Premiere Pro stores rendered previews, conformed audio files, and captured audio and video in the folder where you store the project. Moving a project file later may require moving its associated files as well. Premiere Pro creates a folder on your hard disk at the start of each project. By default, this is where it stores the files it captures, the preview and conformed audio files it creates, and the project file itself.

MAMs Integrate Video Production Applications

This is the best option when a project is complete and you are prepping it for archiving. If you have manually synced VFR footage in previous versions of Premiere Pro, resync that footage when opening the project in Premiere Pro 12.0.1 or later versions.

Is Dam it a bad word?

Content management (CM) is the process for collection, delivery, retrieval, governance and overall management of information in any format. The term is typically used in reference to administration of the digital content lifecycle, from creation to permanent storage or deletion.

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What is a DAM solution?

Types of assets. The two main types of assets are current assets and non-current assets. These classifications are used to aggregate assets into different blocks on the balance sheet, so that one can discern the relative liquidity of the assets of an organization.

See how "hearting" a project can help get your team started and move forward. Apple's XSAN (Apple platform) Quantum Stornext (Redhat Linux / SUSE Linux / Windows 2003 platform) as the sharing of SAN management software. The above nine workstations and server through a 10Gb NT-HBA and optical cable are connected to the high-speed ExaSAN Switch. Xsan and metadata management requires separate metadata spaces.

Through Curator, a proxy is generated and stored on EBS storage, and a Curator asset is created which records the location of the proxy, hi-res and technical metadata for the hi-res. The project file meanwhile is automatically stored by Curator in its AWS RDS database and can be retrieved at any time. So far, we’ve majored on the opportunities from a proxy workflow, however, we can’t forget about the need to complete some aspects of an edit against the original high-resolution files.

This business needs some new ways to ensure that people get consistent colors.

Other frequently-used tools can be pinned as well to create a custom working space.

Data Production and Process (DPP) Management software securely collects data from multiple sources in a variety of formats, then merges the data and readies it for the card personalization process.

It also offers easy-to-use brand templates for users to create new marketing content right on the platform.

Understanding Standard Projects

Can I buy Adobe Premiere?

Open the Effects panel (Shift+7), enter change to color in the search field, and drag the Change to Color effect to the clip. Open the Effect Controls panel (Shift+5). In the Change to Color section, use the From eyedropper to sample the color you want to replace. The color changes to red by default.

Issuu Story Creator enables InDesign users to transform any part of their InDesign file into a Story playable on social media (Instagram, Snapchat, FB) or web (via AMP). Motion Factory is a Project Management tool with a powerful Media Browser to make asset management and working with MOGRT a lot easier. Get any Pantone Color into your design file, with loads of other helpful and team-ready features to save you time.

A broad review of a 30-year history of film by Miller and Shamsie showed a shift in both film consumerism and the film business, where the Golden Age of film experienced a period of stable success and then a downturn. Continuing the focus on the economic perspectives of film projects, in studies by De Vany and Walls , the commercial successes of films were assumed to be a primary indicator of film project success. Further, De Vany and Walls documented the unpredictable and extremely high financial risks of pursuing a film project.

As the Mystery Box post makes clear, Premiere Pro is anticipating you to be working in a Rec. Premiere, After Effects, Encore, Prelude, Media Encoder and Photoshop all use the same memory pool so the RAM is assigned between them. Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown. Premiere Pro lets users render previews based on a number of selections, like Work Area, Selection, or just Effects. They are America's number one computer builder and they offer customized workstations for Premiere Pro.

Desktop Film Scheduling Software

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[maximovs]

Here i collect in a list the best movies i saw during the last month and you should see too. And just a reminder that i’m always open (and i would really love) to discuss about films, tv shows, recommend some or take recommendations, just send and ask (or a message)!

Coco (2017) rewatch

Director: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt Plot: Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family’s ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to work out the mystery.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Director: Martin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson Plot: A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.

Black Panther (2018)

Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o Plot: T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T'Challa's father's mistake. 

+ Tv Show Rec:  Altered Carbon (2018) ★★★★☆

→ All the recs

[e-b-reads]

Cozy Mysteries Edition

Historical Mysteries Edition

Non-Cozy Contemporary Mysteries Edition

(Coming soon! If any of the above lines aren't links yet, it's cause I haven't made the posts, or because someone reblogged an earlier unedited version.)

[e-b-reads]

Book(s) of the month: April 2022

Plus: April Library Readathon wrap-up!

OK, the wrap-up is: thanks to a slightly ridiculous binge of one series in the middle of the month + the library’s ebooks system, I finished 29 books in April, 28 of which were library books (!). (A couple of those are technically novellas/short stories, but they still count on StoryGraph, so they get included.)  I didn’t actually finish all of the physical books I checked out during April (or even some of the ones I’ve had since March!) but this is pretty normal for me, just more noticeable with the end-of-month deadline.  I’ll get to them at some point!  For now, here’s my books of the month for April (all library books, which I guess was pretty statistically likely):

- Loot (Jude Watson): This middle grade heist book (and it’s sequel) are so readable. It’s like the adrenaline rush of an adult thriller, except you can be very sure the kids won’t die, so instead of seriously worrying about that, you’re wondering how the heck they’re going to work this issue out.  (The main character’s father does die in front of him right at the beginning of this book, which I was a little startled by just in terms of this being a children’s book, but it wasn’t incredibly graphic.)  There’s some sweet moments (and some drama) drawn from the found family relationships between the kids, but also there’s ridiculous, skillful hijinks.  Not a super deep book, but a very fun read.

- The Witness for the Dead (Katherine Addison): I wrote in an earlier librareadathon post that this reminded me a little of a Tamora Pierce book, in the way the worldbuilding is detailed and intense, but also revealed in ways that are directly relevant to the plot.  Also (like, it seems, everyone who’s read this) I want to shake Celehar and say “People care about you!” and then give him soup.  I look forward to the sequel!

- Death Comes to the Village (Catherine Lloyd): OK, bear with me here: I actually read 4 of the 8 books in this Kurland St. Mary Mystery series this month, and I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m liking them so much.  The mysteries are guessable but not too simple, twisty but light.  The regency romance between the two main characters that plays out in the background of the series is fun.  But there’s also something about the dynamic between those two that I really like; I think that in some way, despite some of the generalizations all the characters make (in a fairly period-typical way) about gender and gender roles, the two are way more equal than a lot of regency hetero couples.  This is, in a way, forced onto them by main guy’s permanent injury and PTSD from the Napoleonic Wars, and it took all 4 books for me to really decide, but I think it holds up so far.