People sometimes ask me why I write cozy mysteries. It’s not a hard question to answer. At least I didn’t think so the first time I was asked. My response was I wrote cozies because that’s what I read. Yet that’s only partially true. I also read other types of crime fiction. But in the end, I always return to cozies.
In writing cozies, whether historical or contemporary, I want the reader to be able to leave the real world behind. In Deadly to the Core (January 16, 2024), I take the reader into the world of Orchardville, Pennsylvania. Apple orchards, a café, a candle shop, a tea shop, and the somewhat mysterious, handsome owner of a neighboring orchard—who wouldn’t want to go there? There’s a murder of course, but the reader knows it will all turn out in the end.
What is it about cozy mysteries that so many readers love? For me, it’s the non-scary factor. I confess that I hate to be scared. I can’t watch horror movies or anything that’s too intense. Some people relish that adrenaline rush and pounding of the heart. Not me. I’ll close my eyes, or if I’m reading, skip those parts. When I read a cozy, I know I won’t be terrified. I know it’s just a matter of time before the sleuth figures it all out. Unlike real life where justice doesn’t always prevail, in cozy mysteries the villain always gets their comeuppance. Readers like the fact that the bad guys aren’t going to get away with their crimes. There’s comfort in that, especially in the crazy world we live in these days.
Out of curiosity, I posed the question of why cozy mysteries are important and got some great responses.
“I love cozies…it’s like visiting friends. I’m not always as interested in the mystery as I am the characters. As long as the author stays true to the characters, I am willing to read any story about them.”
–Kimberly Hon Kurth-Gray, author of North by North Pole Beach, a Christmas novella
“It is a form of escape. With a series, we’ve built a relationship with the characters and each book we see their progress, especially their sleuthing.”
–Dru Ann Love, Dru’s Book Musings
“I feel cozy mysteries offer a place where we can escape, exercise our brain a little with the mystery, but know the dog isn’t going to die. A safe scary place.”
–Anne Tiller
“I read a lot of different genres, from really dark thrillers to romance to horror. I always come back to cozies for comfort. You never have to worry about the characters you love and you have the comfort of knowing everything will be resolved in the end.”
–Amber Camp, author of the Horse Rescue Mysteries
“…these are the literary equivalent of comfort food. Yes they are formula, but with each having its unique twist or flavor. The formula is done well. One knows they are going to get appealing characters, a fun, engaging story, and a good resolution at the end.”
–Rigel Ailur
“The cozy is a family friend to me. Not too many books can give me emotion when I read them, but cozies do…It’s something to escape in (all books are), but the cozy feels real, because you get to know the elements in the book on a personal level. They feel real, like you can imagine them living in your town, maybe even next door to you.”
–Tammy Barker
“Really good cozies can elevate your mood, teach you about locations or jobs or just totally suck you into a type of relationship that other genres don’t really do. And I read a lot of genres, but since the pandemic, I have more respect for cozies, I couldn’t take anything too brutal or realistic during all that…the cozies have remained.
–Louise Pierce
“I read cozies as a palate cleanser from all the other genres I read that are grittier. They are in an odd way peaceful. It’s a quaint location. The characters aren’t inherently evil. There is a murder, but there isn’t a graphic description… There is satisfaction in knowing justice will be neatly served and the story resolved and the village is once again safe and everyone goes back to life as usual at the end.”
–Diana Hurwitz, author of Story Building Blocks
“Murder, especially in a cozy kind of setting, brings chaos to a peaceful world. And solving that murder makes the world feel safe again. The fact that the sleuth is usually an amateur empowers me by making me feel that an average person–bookseller, baker, mother, teacher–can step up during perilous times. When the world is chaotic, and I feel powerless, a cozy comforts me and encourages me to take whatever action I can.”
–Toni L.P. Kelner, author of the Laura Fleming and the Family Skeleton series
I love the quote that cozies are the literary equivalent to comfort food. I wholeheartedly agree. When the whole world is going crazy with wars, wannabe dictators, oppression of anyone who is perceived as different, and just general chaos, it’s easy to lose hope. Cozy mysteries show us an alternate world. A world that can be fixed in three hundred pages. Cozies give us characters we can fall in love with and root for. They show us places, real or imagined, where we’d like to live or at least visit.
Some of my best friends can be found within the pages of cozy mysteries. Maybe yours are waiting for you.
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