Who Put the Cozy in Mysteries? By: Kimberly R. Thorn
Some people credit ‘Golden Age’ authors like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers with writing some of the very first considered cozy mysteries. Others credit the genre as being more of a modern return to stories like these Golden Age writers wrote. Ones with the murder not being as deep, dark and bloodthirsty. Where the writers present the mystery as more of a puzzle for the reader to solve in real time with the sleuth.
What Ingredients Are Needed for a
Cozy?
~ Includes an amateur sleuth. It helps is they at least are considered a
suspect at least first, as the actual police or detective do not like our sleuth
meddling in their work.
~ Usually takes place in a small
town, with a very tight knit community.
Everyone knows everyone.
Sometimes a small business is included.
~ Can include specific interests,
hobbies or businesses. Many include
cooking, bookshops, knitting or even wine clubs.
~ There can be a character that
includes the sleuth’s pet.
~ There is no violence or blood thirstiness. The murder is usually revealed when the body
is found so the reader is not privy to the actual violent death.
~ The characters are likable, so
much so that this is why there are so many books in one series. Readers generally want to learn more about
the characters as they grow and develop along through the course of the series.
~ There’s usually a short timeline
that the sleuth has to solve the murder before a big event happens. For instance, a festival, a book launch, or a
restaurant’s grand opening.
Have You Noticed?
A couple of observations that I
have made are as follows:
1)
Have
you noticed that while the amateur sleuth seems intelligent, they never actually
seem to figure out who the culprit is?
Not until they get themselves into a predicament and are left stranded
with the murderer or are threatened directly, only then it starts to make sense
to the sleuth.
2)
Have
you noticed that the main police officer or detective of the story never seems
to ever have a weapon on them? Some
television shows that come to mind for me are: Columbo, Midsomer
Murders, Father Brown, Sister Boniface.
Maybe these observations need to be
added as a requirement in addition to the above ones to be a cozy mystery.
First Cozy Mystery
My first cozy mystery series that I
read and fell in love with is the Desiree Shapiro series by Selma Eichler. Desiree is a New York PI that is not what
Hollywood would consider a female PI to be.
She’s a later in life widow who loves her food and cooking. But she always gets to the bottom of a case (like
she gets to the bottom of her food bowl) and gets her man, or woman, whoever is
the guilty person. Desiree takes you on
a wild ride with her hilarious mishaps, funny failures and well… her day-to-day
life. If you haven’t checked out this
cozy mystery series, please, please do yourself a favor and do so. I promise you that you will NOT be disappointed!
What are some of the things that you notice in cozy mysteries? What are some of your favorites? Have you read Selma Eichler’s Desiree Shapiro series? What did you think? Let me know in the comments. I am always looking for new books to go on my North American sized TBR pile!
Resources:
The History
of Cozy Mysteries. By Sam Parker. December 18, 2024.
https://www.pinereadsreview.com/blog/the-history-of-cozy-mysteries/
A Brief History of Cozy Mysteries By: Emily Martin.
https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/novel-investigations-a-brief-history-of-cozy-mysteries/
