What's a COZY Mystery -- and A Chance To WIn One

Cozy Mysteries…What are those?

I’m a new member here at Suspense Sisters, so I would like to introduce myself and then talk about cozy mysteries. What defines cozy? And why should you read them?

First, I’m the author of the Lily Gayle Lambert mystery series. It’s a cozy mystery series set in a small fictional town in North Mississippi; and has a multi-generational cast of characters who are a bit older than some of the cozy series out there.

Lily Gayle is fifty, and so is her best friend (and sidekick) Dixie. But there’s also Miss Edna who is eighty. She’s the town busybody who’s always wearing her ‘bird watching’ binoculars and never misses anything that goes on in town. In Book 3, I brought in Harley Ann. She’s Miss Edna’s great-niece and is in her mid-twenties. I love to create interaction between the women of different generations! And they get into some truly funny situations.

Here’s the cover of the first book in the series, Death of a Wolfman.

So, what defines cozy mysteries? They are a sub-genre of crime fiction with the most prevalent description being a mystery with all of the violence and gory happening “off stage”. Some cozy mysteries don’t involve a murder at all, they use theft as the mystery instead. Most are humorous and take place in a small town. All of them involve an amateur detective.

 In other words, in a cozy mystery, you don’t read anything about the actual death of the character or theft of the object. You come into the story when the body or theft is discovered and try to determine who did the murder or theft based on the clues in the story. And the amateur detective could be a next door neighbor or a family member who is not a law enforcement officer although many of the amateur detectives in cozy mysteries work with law enforcement officers.

The majority of cozy mysteries don’t involve any sex, out in the open or behind closed doors, although some do have a background romance building between characters. Cozies are considered clean reads. You may find a few mild cuss words scattered in some, but not all of them. They are family friendly humorous books that readers of all ages can enjoy.

If you enjoy the Hallmark Mystery channel, you’re enjoying cozy mysteries on the screen. One of my own favorites series was the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries based on the books written by Kerry Greenwood. That wasn’t a Hallmark Channel series, but it’s very, very good if you can find it on reruns. AND, they’re going to make a movie based on the series soon! Be on the lookout for it, if you enjoy 1920s shows.

Disclosure to potential readers/viewers, while this series is a cozy mystery series, it’s also a bit racier than most.

Many cozy mysteries have baking or cooking as a theme and Ruth Hartzler writes some excellent cozy mysteries utilizing the baking theme! Here’s the cover of one of her books.

Some cozy mysteries have paranormal elements as the theme rather than food. Leighann Dobbs writes a great paranormal series with a main character who sees ghosts.

Whatever your favorite kind of mystery, you can probably find a cozy mystery series that incorporates that element in it somewhere. Baking, cooking, animals, and lots, lots more!

This blog only begins to cover the themes contained within cozy mysteries. What’s your favorite theme in cozy mysteries and what books do you recommend?

Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy Death of a Wolfman. Please leave your email address as well. The print copy will be for US residents only, eBook for outside the US. I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday July 3rd.