What is a cozy mystery?
Featured book: Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Welcome to Sleuth Hero Alien! In these weekly posts I share:
What’s making my reading life enjoyable this week
Deep dive topics on cozy mysteries, cozy fantasies, and quiet sci-fi
A cozy book recommendation
What I’m reading this week
What’s making my reading life enjoyable this week:
It’s the middle of summer, and this week I finally set up my lawn chairs in the garden. Yesterday, I sat outside reading The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson (a baseball-themed romance). I felt truly luxurious as I read and dozed, with a cup of hot chocolate by my side. Reading outside in the summer is one of my greatest reading pleasures!
Bookish Deep Dive: What is a cozy mystery?
To start things off on Sleuth Hero Alien, I’m doing a series on what makes cozy books cozy. Today, we’re focusing on mysteries. The first cozy mystery I remember ever reading is Howliday Inn by James Howe. This is the sequel to his classic middle grade book, Bunnicula.
I reread Howliday Inn recently, and I realized it met all the check marks of a cozy mystery:
Punny Title
Non-violent crime / murder that happens off the page
Amateur sleuth, who becomes highly invested in solving the crime
A cast of quirky characters, who aid or hinder the investigation
In Howliday Inn, Chester (a cat) and Harold (a dog) get dropped off at a pet hotel. Things become immediately mysterious when Chester believes two of the dogs are werewolves. Then pets start disappearing, and Chester has to figure out who, of all the pets and humans at the hotel, has done it.
I have such fond memories of reading this book as a kid, and when I reread it this year, I realized how much I’ve always loved cozy mysteries!
So, how is a cozy different from other mysteries? The biggest difference is that gore and violence usually happen off the page. There might be mentions of violent acts in a cozy, but you don’t have to sit through each gruesome detail as you read.
Authors also go out of their way to amp up the cozy vibes with a small town or a getaway location that feels small, comfortable, and safe.
Then, there is an amateur sleuth, who the reader can follow as they investigate the crime. In modern cozies, the sleuths often have an entrepreneurial spirit. They run coffee, book, or yarn shops. Think of the coziest stores you love, and that’s what the sleuths love, too!
The amateur sleuth usually has to investigate a cast of quirky characters. These are neighbors in their town or other guests at their getaway location. These are mostly decent people, except that one of them is a murderer or a thief! And that’s where the fun comes in. Who, of all these characters, did it?
In non-cozy mysteries, the comfy vibes usually aren’t so present on the page, and things get more gruesome and scary as the investigation goes on.
I love cozy mysteries, because I enjoy an investigation, but I don’t enjoy violence or thrillers. These books give me the joy of a whodunnit without all the stress. I also love a good pun, so I get hooked by the titles. Here are a few I’ve read and enjoyed recently:
On Skein of Death by Allie Pleiter (There’s a knitting shop!)
Dead and Gondola by Ann Claire (There’s a bookstore!)
Lady Violet Investigates by Grace Burrowes (There’s a Victorian England house party!)
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (There’s a quirky but peaceful retirement village!)
If you, like me, want the stress turned down with your mysteries, then a cozy might be just the thing for you. Have one you’d like to recommend? Share it in the comments!
Cozy book recommendation: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
In a quiet retirement village in a small town in England, a group of four friends get together every Thursday to discuss cold cases from the local police. The friends are absolutely thrilled when an actual murder happens that affects their community, and they’re ready to do what it takes to find out who did it.
This is one of the most popular cozy mystery series being published today. It came out in 2020, when everyone needed those cozy vibes. The fourth in the series released this year. If you read this one, you can expect:
Funny hijinks, as the friends always get what they want
A complex and multi-layered mystery
A more literary vibe, with beautiful and thoughtful writing
A loveable cast of characters
I especially recommend this one for folks who usually read literary fiction, but who want to dip their toe into mystery.
What I’m Currently Reading:
These are all the books I’m reading right now. Some are cozy, some aren’t. For content warnings, you can look the books up on thestorygraph.com. Note: If there’s a romance on the list, it’s probably spicy.
Northanger Abby by Jane Austen (Genre: Classic): I’m reading this on audio, and so far it is giving me the most Bridgerton vibes of all the Austens.
Cozy Scale: 4 out 5 tea cups.
Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon by Nancy Atherton (Genre: Cozy Mystery): Aunt Dimity is one of my favorite cozy series. In this one, a renaissance fair comes to the village of Finch, but so does murder!
Cozy Scale: 5 out 5 tea cups.
The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson (Genre: Romance): A baseball themed rom-com with misunderstandings and lots of heart.
Cozy Scale:?? I haven’t read far enough into the book to know how cozy or spicy this one gets. I’ll let you know next week!
The Book of Eels by Patrick Svensson (Genre: non-fiction in translation): This is part science history and part nature memoir about…you guessed it…eels!
Cozy Scale: 3 out 5 tea cups.
What are you currently reading? Let us know in the comments!
Hi! I’m Emma Veritas. I’m a voracious reader and writer. As a reader, I enjoy all things cozy. I love dropping into the world of a small town, with found family, and murder or dragons or aliens! As a writer, I love sharing my reflections on reading at Sleuth Hero Alien and on creating a soul-nourishing writing life at enchantedwriting.com. When I’m not blogging, you can find me playing with writing fiction in my notebooks, hanging out with my pet bunny, and drinking lots of hot chocolate.