Cozy Mysteries

Last year we had zombie books, a huge and overwhelming tide of them. This year the trend seems to be for the cozy mystery, normally with a side order of cats and cooking and even ghosts. We've had Southern Bound, Southern Spirits, Murder at the Lighthouse, The Counterfeit-catching Cat and I can spot several more on the free page now!

Let's get chatting. A few hints to get things started:

• So, what it it about this genre?
  
• Will this be the breakout for this year?
  
• Do you enjoy it, or hate it?
• Any books in particular that stood out for you?

 

There seem to be a few distinct groups emerging inside Cozy Mystery. I think my favourite so far has been Southern Spirits, because it has a sense of humour which most of them don't. It also has a distillery, and alcohol is good (No my work isn't going well right now, why do you ask?)

 

Answering 1 & 2) Possibly, because 2016 is such an awful year that people need light escapism.
3) Only if there's something unique about it. People chatting over tea just doesn't work for me unless there's something interesting going on, like ghosts or whatever.
4) The Storage Ghost Murders series have been keeping my spirits up. They're fast and really light and great reading on the train after work.

 

Oh I think the genre has been around a for a little bit longer than the current trend of books - but I believe they are catching for precisely the same reason. People are looking for something different that isn't, well so depressing.

There always seems to be an escalating battle in the crime stakes to stake out even more fantastical, complex and barbaric plot devices (usually with women as the victim) in an attempts to gain that all important selling point to attract the readers.

Cozy mysteries almost hark back to the earlier detective novels, where although a nasty deed is done, the novel is about the detection and not the revelation of how depraved the culprit is.

My current favourite cozy mysteries are the Lizz Lund books that may contain a mystery, but are as much about the situations the protagonists find themselves in.

The only other note I would have is that so many of the ones I have seen are part-time sleuths a' la Jessica Fletcher, where they seem to have the strangest run of luck when it comes to murders.

And yes I certainly consider, Murder, she Wrote, to be a cozy mystery series.

 

Amazing how she didn't get caught.

Not my genre, really, I like a bit more blood and action. The one with the Maine Coon wasn't bad though, and the bit with the cat in the bar was flippin' hilarious.

 

It isn't my favourite genre, but there certainly seem to be more coming through.

 

It's aimed at a definite audience and seems to be popular enough.

They're pretty harmless if you ask me and we're due for an upbeat genre for a while.