What Is A Cozy Mystery?

Recently, I have used the term “cozy mystery” a good bit in my writing.  This prompted one of my subscribers (my husband Dobby) to ask me, “What exactly is a cozy mystery?”

Lest you think that I am married to a moron, let me clarify, my husband knows a good cozy when he sees one.  He is an avid reader, just as I am, and he likes cozies as much as I do.  His question is really about the specifics.  All of us can usually tell when we are reading a cozy.  Agatha Christie might have written it.  Jessica Fletcher might be the protagonist (and really, how cozy is it when you know someone is going to die every time your Aunt Jess comes to town?).  But how is the cozy truly defined?

I have some definite opinions on the subject.  While these are not hard and fast rules, I think that they provide a good overview of the cozy mystery.

I think that most people would agree that cozy mysteries are family entertainment.  There are few cozy mysteries that you would be concerned about letting your teen or tween read.  You would typically be willing to recommend them to your mother-in-law or grandmother.  They are mysteries that you would feel comfortable talking about at a church social.  But, that’s not really a definition.

I have read cozies since I was a child (yes, a child, I was an advanced reader, so Agatha Christie was in my reading list back in Elementary School).  And I can recite a list of traits that I feel that most cozies contain.  I also searched the internet for some additional resources to help me clarify (I was amazed by how many resources there were for the topic).  In the end, I made my own list, and I would like to share it with you.  I’d also love to hear any opinions that you have on the subject.  As always, you can reach me in the forum on the product information page or via email at unkempt ruminations@comcast.net.  A cozy may not have all of these characteristics, but it will have many of them.

So, what makes a mystery cozy?

First, cozies have an unconventional or amateur detective.  Some of the resources out there also indicate that the sleuth is usually a woman (I wonder how Hercule Poirot or Adrian Monk would feel about that).  These sleuths tend to be highly educated and have a skill set that allows them to be particularly good at solving puzzles.  Think about our Aunt Jess.  She was a mystery writer.  This implies that she has some education in writing, as well as special skills at planning out “crimes” for her book plots.

These sleuths tend to be ignored or even mocked by traditional law enforcement.  This is because they are amateurs, so the pros don’t start right out taking them seriously.  Here, I suggest that we think about Miss Marple.  She is often underestimated because of her age and her gender.  Poirot is frequently underestimated because of his appearance and the fact that he is foreign.  Chloe Boston is underestimated because of her size.

Because of their amateur status, the protagonist does not have a professional obligation to solve crimes.  This means that the protagonist solve crimes out of personal obligation.  That’s right, they do it by choice. 

Miss Marple steps forward because she feels the personal need to help.  Chloe Boston wants to be a police detective, but doesn’t qualify.  She does work for the police department, but not in an investigative role.  She lacks the professional obligation to solve a crime, but she solves it anyway. 

Poirot may occasionally be hired to solve crimes, but he chooses whether or not to take the case.  Sherlock Holmes chooses his cases as well and could be argued to fit into the cozy category for this reason.

J.D. Robb’s character Eve Dallas doesn’t qualify.  While she may have a special skill set that enables her to solve crimes, as well as an unconventional background for a detective; she is a  police detective and therefore has a professional obligation to solve crimes.

Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta is not a police officer.  She is, however, a medical examiner.  This is a professional obligation to solve the crime (although not really an obligation to leave the lab for some unofficial sleuthing).  This rules her out of the cozy category.

This also means that a cozy mystery will focus greatly on character development.  That’s a trait of cozies all on its own.  Without strong character development, we would have a hard time believing WHY an amateur would risk life and limb to solve a crime.  Character development allows us to understand why the sleuth can’t just wait for the police to solve it.  Strong character development is essential to the cozy.

While a murder is committed, cozies do not have graphic violence.  This is another spot where Robb and Cornwell don’t fit the bill (Note, I love the Robb and Cornwell books, I’m not disparaging them, I’m just using them as an example).  There may be some mild gore (a knife sticking out of someone, a pool of blood), but the more gruesome details are left out.  Someone may have died as a result of a knife wound, but there will be no mention of exposed entrails.  A victim may have been poisoned, and their face may be described in detail, but there will be no mention of a pool of vomit.

OK, that’s enough detail on that one.  I’ll move on.

Cozies have limited use of blue language.  Some sources say that they will have no explicit language.  I find this not to be true.  It would be rare to see the “F” word in a cozy.  I don’t think that you could find me one instance where it was.  You might, however, find one or two swear words in a cozy.  An occasional “Damn” or “Shit” might occur.  They are rare, but they do exist.  Personally, I can’t think of a single cozy that I have read that has more than three cuss words in the whole text.

Cozy mysteries tend to occur in a setting with a small population.  Often, villages or towns are the setting.  A school might be the setting.  At least one great cozy occurs on an island (probably my all-time favorite -  Ten Little Indians - also known as And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie).  In some cozies (including some of Christie’s well-known works), the setting may be a large city (like London) but occur in a small neighborhood in that city.  Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody series typically uses a setting of “Egypt” but the population is limited to the archaeological community, thereby making the setting a small population setting.

This point is important for a couple of reasons.  The first is to limit the suspect pool (at least somewhat).  This doesn’t mean that the criminal won’t be an outsider, it just means that the protagonist will personally know one or more of the suspects.  This is relevant because it’s one of the reasons why the hero gets involved in the case (think of how many times Jessica Fletcher had to solve a crime to get her nephew Grady out of lockup - Really Grady, your naïveté is overwhelming).

This limited suspect pool allows for the second reason for the small town setting.  The protagonist needs to have the ability to collect information in the case.  Imagine an amateur sleuth trying to interview complete strangers about a recent crime.  The first thing that they would ask is “Who are you?”  This would be followed by, “I think that I’ll just save my statement for the police.”  That would make for a rather short cozy in which the protagonist just gives up because she’s stumped.

In the small town setting, the amateur detective knows many of the witnesses personally.  When he doesn’t know a witness but needs information, he has a friend or family member who knows that witness.  When the person is a complete stranger in town, the protagonist can ask around for all of the gossip about the stranger.  And there will be gossip, because this is a small town, and everyone is watching that newcomer.

The amateur has some sort of connection to the pros.  This can be a family member or friend who happens to be a cop or coroner.  This can be a good friend who works a the courthouse, so they have access to records.  Your father’s the police chief.  Your boyfriend is the District Attorney.  This allows the author to provide some information that can’t be attributed to direct questioning or gossip.  At least one character can give us the cold, hard facts that corroborate (or contradict) the gossip.

There is no graphic sex.  Period.  This is a fairly universally accepted definition, and according to all of my research on cozies, everyone agrees with this one.  Obviously, Eve Dallas is out on the cozy mystery front.  Even if we could bend the rules for her professional obligation, her use of frequent profanity, the fact that she works in New York City - we still couldn’t ignore the mind-blowing sex that she and Roarke are constantly engaging in (nor would most of her readers want to).

Some of our protagonists are completely asexual (Poirot and Marple, for example).  The protagonists don’t have to be asexual, though.  That’s right, they are allowed to have sex .  Think of Elizabeth Peter’s character Amelia Peabody, she and Emerson have sex frequently during the course of the series (I would hope so, as they are married and the series spans some thirty years).  We just never see that sexual activity.  It occurs behind closed doors.  The reader knows that it happened, they just don’t have all of the details.

Finally, a cozy mystery has a fast-paced timing as well as plot twists.  Cozy mysteries, in general, are filled with red herrings.  The often have MacGuffins to spur on the plot.  They aren’t afraid to have multiple characters with motives.  Sometimes, you may even find that the protagonist is close to the criminal.  Cozies don’t have to have huge plot twists, but they usually have a couple.  These may throw the reader off the track, but they are often the thing that confirms the killer’s identity for the protagonist.

I realize more and more that cozy mysteries are my thing.  I have a deep love for them.  If you have never read a cozy mystery, I would recommend that you check one out.  There is a reason that Agatha Christie is one of the best known and best selling authors of all time.  She didn’t get all of those Guinness world records for no reason.  Check them out, and let me know what you think.

And, as always, happy Kindling!!

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Christy Parker is the author of three blogs:  Ruminations from and Unkempt Mind,  Learn to Crochet - In Minutes a Day,  and You Be the Editor.

For comments, questions, notes or suggestions; Mrs. Parker can be reached in the blog specific forums on the product information pages listed above or via email at unkemptruminations@comcast.net.