Cozy Mysteries - Fast Growing Fiction Genre

Cozy Mysteries are one of the fastest growing areas of the fiction market. Readership is up. New authors enter the field each year and publishers are delighted to have a line that lends itself to titles that turn into a series sought by loyal readers. "Have you any good cozies in stock?" has become a byword in bookstores and libraries.

Much of the formula for Cozy Mysteries was set by Agatha Christie. A typical cozy has an amateur sleuth, often but not always, a woman. The setting is usually a small town, village or possibly a neighborhood in a large city. If the protagonist travels, as does the likable Mrs. Pollifax, she always has a stable contact community,in the background. Local communities thread through each mystery and create one of the mainstays of a cozy: a cast of likable characters who mature as the series progresses.

It is the cast of characters in Cozy Mysteries that draw readers to buying the next book. Readers enjoy the people and look forward to each new development in their lives. Mma Precious Ramotswe, (First Ladies Detective Agency) starts off living alone and setting up her new business but as the series progresses, she marries, adopts children, watches her secretary grow in confidence. In her later adventures Mme Ramotswe even begins to share some detective responsibilities with others. Sheila Mallory, a widowed writer living in Devon, England has a son who finally marries. Sheila becomes a grandmother, is involved with the grandchildren, all the while interacting with friends and associates in town....and solving some local murders. The retired Sister Mary O'Halloran of San Francisco ages with each new title and like all the other protagonists of well written Cozies, she has a 'real life' in addition to sleuthing. It is this development in character that makes readers coming upon a new 'Cozy' want to start over and read from the first book in the series onward so they do not miss the changes and events as they occurred in the past.

Another hall mark of Cozy Mysteries is the absence of overt sex, violence and foul language. Some analysts believe it is weariness with so much blatant violence, casual sex and foul language that draws readers to this genre. Readers never witnesses anyone getting beat up, raped or stabbed. Of course, violence is not absent. How else did the body wind up in the library? But murders always takes place off stage. This is true even when the main character is connected with a criminal circle. Melita Pargeter, the Widow of a successful thief. is surrounded by her husband's former employees - people with names like Concrete Jack. But her husband's criminal occupation is never stated plainly. The plot offers no fights and no gory murder scenes. And if Melita Pargeter calls upon one of her husband's former employees to help her secure access to some files or set a trap for a criminal, it is done with the finesse and decency of a woman of her age and refinement. If fact, few ever know of her involvement in solving the crime.

Many cozy Mysteries do include romantic lines. Agatha Raisin, the retired advertising exectutive who moved to a Cotswold village is 'Most interested' in her next door neighbor and Phryne Fisher, a baker in one of Melbourne's 'transition neighborhoods', finds David, of the nightly social services bread run, especially attractive but there are no scenes of graphic sex in these books. Instead there is well written dialogue, internal musings and a few remarks about especially happy mornings. The focus of Cozy Mysteries is the particularieties of a small community and the daily events in the lives of the characters. The books include so many neighborhood sights and sounds that you feel the place exists and that you would recognize it if you happened by.

Here are some recommendations of a few more popular authors and their characters. But new titles and new characters come into existence with each publishing cycle. And if you want to start with the first book in a series, search by author and then locate the earliest publication date and you are likely to find what you are looking for.

List of authors, characters and settings
More cozy Mysteries
Cozy Mysteries - authors and titles continued

There are other authors but the authors listed above should help get you started.