Would you like to get cozy?
I thought this title would be appropriate as I take this blog in a new direction. As a writer of cozy mysteries, I would like to focus on the genre as a whole. I'll include reviews of new cozy releases, as well as some of the old favorites. I'll also lead you on a journey to discover how cozies are assembled - how to find the red herrings among the legitimate clues.
But let's discuss what makes a cozy. If you've never heard the term, you may be surprised to find that this type of mystery has been in existence for a long time. I doubt I could find someone in the U.S. who hasn't heard of Agatha Christie - even if they have never read her. If you ever watched the Murder She Wrote television series which ran from 1984 through 1996 then you enjoyed a cozy. More recently if you saw the movie One for the Money you watched a cozy written by Janet Evanovich.
A cozy is a murder mystery. What sets it apart from other murder mysteries is that there is no graphic violence or sex (don't be too disappointed). In a cozy, the murder occurs "off the page", which means that there is a dead body but the details are vague. We may know how the person was killed and there might even be an autopsy but we don't read the nitty gritty details.
Another key element of a cozy is that the protagonist, or main character, is not a professional who solves crimes for a living. That means our hero or heroine is not a police officer, medical examiner, attorney or a private eye. Although the last example is being used more and more where a person somehow becomes an professional investigator by some turn of fate. For example, the person who was a baker by trade inherits her father's private investigator firm.
Just because a cozy doesn't include the violence doesn't mean it isn't a page turner that will captivate your interest. You might not be able to sleep at night - not because you're afraid of the nightmares - but rather because you can't stop reading.
Happy trails,
Leslie
But let's discuss what makes a cozy. If you've never heard the term, you may be surprised to find that this type of mystery has been in existence for a long time. I doubt I could find someone in the U.S. who hasn't heard of Agatha Christie - even if they have never read her. If you ever watched the Murder She Wrote television series which ran from 1984 through 1996 then you enjoyed a cozy. More recently if you saw the movie One for the Money you watched a cozy written by Janet Evanovich.
A cozy is a murder mystery. What sets it apart from other murder mysteries is that there is no graphic violence or sex (don't be too disappointed). In a cozy, the murder occurs "off the page", which means that there is a dead body but the details are vague. We may know how the person was killed and there might even be an autopsy but we don't read the nitty gritty details.
Another key element of a cozy is that the protagonist, or main character, is not a professional who solves crimes for a living. That means our hero or heroine is not a police officer, medical examiner, attorney or a private eye. Although the last example is being used more and more where a person somehow becomes an professional investigator by some turn of fate. For example, the person who was a baker by trade inherits her father's private investigator firm.
Just because a cozy doesn't include the violence doesn't mean it isn't a page turner that will captivate your interest. You might not be able to sleep at night - not because you're afraid of the nightmares - but rather because you can't stop reading.
Happy trails,
Leslie
I want to get cozy, when's the next book coming?? :)
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