What is a Cosy Mystery?

Quaint English villages are the typical settings for Cosy Mysteries, but any small, interesting community will suffice.

I admit that I’d never heard about Cosy Mystery novels until I attended a wonderful presentation by Morgana Best at the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Adelaide 2024. Cracking the Cozy Mystery session opened my eyes to this delightful, popular genre.

I personally love crime books, especially Nordic noir, the darker the better but even this avid reader sometimes finds the desperate situations, vivid descriptions and awful outcomes too much to bear. Waking up in the middle of the night with detailed images of beheadings, disfigurements and accompanying gore is unsettling. Psychopathic villains can haunt my nightmares and leave me looking for a good romance at the library the next day.

Maybe it’s time to read some Cosy Mysteries instead? A murder without mess, a whodunit solved by an untroubled, clever amateur sleuth with a happy outcome.

But there are conventions for writing these very popular tales.

• The sleuth must be likeable, unexpectedly clever and an amateur. They might want to hide their brilliance under a bushel.
• The investigator must have a strong motivation to solve the crime; a sense of justice, a desperate relative, someone falsely accused or police incompetence.
• The mystery must be cleverly crafted with copious red herrings, but the reader discovers all the clues in the end.
• Good research is essential into murder techniques, police procedures, coronial enquires, autopsies and medical assessments.
• No blood, gore or graphic descriptions of the crime.
• No blasphemy, cursing or coarse language.
• No sex but a touch of sweet romance is allowed.
• The victim must be flawed and/or unlikeable but must still engender some sympathy to warrant the investigation.
• The setting is a small, appealing community with lots of quirky residents.
• No animals or children should be harmed.
• You can add smart dogs, strange cats and unusual but endearing pets/wildlife.
• The police should not be involved unless they get it wrong and need to be enlightened.
• The mystery/murder must be solved, and everyone live happily ever after until the next victim bites the dust.

These books sell in their millions every year. There are many sub-genres including romantic, historical and paranormal themes. Many Cosy Mystery writers do a series of books and get a following of avid fans.

The genre can be traced back to Agatha Christie, who introduced readers to her clever sleuth, Miss Marple in the 1930s. Other famous historical mystery writers are Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. These four ladies were the Queens of Crime in the early to mid-twentieth century.

Cosy Mystery books have engendered many television series: Death in Paradise, Agatha Raison, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Father Brown and Sister Boniface to name a few.

I certainly will be looking out for some cosy entertainment at the local library. As for writing one, the ideas are circling. A murder of crows over a distant field …

For more reading, I found the following articles informative:

Ingram Spark—What is a Cozy Mystery and why is it so popular? An article by Debbie Young September 2019

Crime reads – Cozy Mysteries aren’t going anywhere, in fact, There’re as Popular as ever. By Olivia Blacke February 2021.

And please have a look at the cat inspired web site of Morgana Best – writer of paranormal cosy mysteries and the lovely lady who inspired this blog.

https://morganabest.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopE7umy0DbgeDXb3F0C4yuAqH6y3eLB3fsmUOsVcLyuNJRh2cd-

Cheers Elsie King ©2024

Photo by L.C. Wong ©2024 – North Lew Church – Devon