Getting Cozy
Let’s talk about cozy mysteries for the next writer roundtable. This time I’m looking for you mystery writers, particularly writers of cozy mysteries.
What sets a mystery apart (in your mind) as a cozy?
Marian Allen: A cozy has the murder take place off-stage. The sleuth is an amateur detective or, at a stretch, a private eye. Cozies are lighter than not, and the danger shouldn’t be TOO acute, or at least not treated as acute. You should always know the sleuth is going to get out of any danger. An animal involved and NOT KILLED is a plus.
Lucy Blue: I can’t think of a better definition than Marian Allen’s. All I would add is that usually the murder victim pretty much deserved what they got — very rarely do good-hearted people get murdered in a cozy.
Ernest Russell: So far, I have tried my hand at one murder mystery. It is a locked-room mystery. The detective never leaves their home. All information about the case is brought to the detective.
The mystery has some marks as a cozy, but it isn’t. The detective is sociopathic because of PTSD brought on by one of the other characters. And he is employed by NYPD.
If this were truly a cozy, my detective would be brought to the case in some different ways.
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