Cozy Murder Mysteries - Whodunit?
These books are from the series Blue Moon Murder Mystery
All are available in Kindle or paperback
All are available in Kindle or paperback
What is a Cozy?
Jim Parsons talks about cozy mysteries
The Sleuth
Most of the time the sleuth is an amateur, usually a woman, and somehow they hold some kind of job that will draw them into contact with the community. Another aspect is how they may just come upon a dead body like chance opportunity to sleuth.
The Characters
Quirky characters with strange habits and a sense of humor makes up the majority of the main characters.
The Setting
The thing about cozies that makes them so appealing is that they are usually set in a small community where everyone knows everyone and secrets are hard to hide. That's what makes the dark secrets so appealing. How did they hide it for so long? This also helps set the book series to carry across the setting from one character to the next, all the while intermingling some of the main characters.
The Puzzle
All cozy mysteries offer a plot as more of a puzzle for the reader to try and solve, even if they are not given 100% of the clues, but rather given hints of the clues.
Red Herring
The reader is often pulled in different directions with the sleuth as the main character, often being wrong at some point in the book.
Murder, Sex, and Violence
Sorry folks! It's all G-Rated. All the blood, guts, gore are kept to a minimum. There is no outright explanation of sexual scenes, rather hints of it. The same goes for any violence in the books. A cozy is kind of like a metaphor for wearing lingerie for the reader. Nothing it outright exposed and the reader has to picture the background history and inside story lines throughout the book.
The Victim
Most of the time the victim is not well-liked by the majority of the characters. Therefore, the murder is understandable, even though murder is never justifiable.
The Murderer
The villain may be smart or downright sneaky, but not smart enough to fool the sleuth.
Humor
The book has occasional quips and quirks of humor thrown in to help lighten the mood. The general overall feeling when reading the cozy is that you want to cuddle up with a blanket, in your favorite chair, ignore the real world or unfavorable weather and just get absorbed into the book, feeling good when it is done. You want to crawl into the book and become one of the characters, preferably not the murdered one.
BUT WHY?
There is nothing more sinister than the real world. If someone is murdered, the community mourns for the loss of a beloved friend and family member. It creates a feeling of emptiness, loss, hope, despair. To make matters worse, the news will give us more examples of disparity and depravity of mankind. Movies and television will reinforce it, giving us more reasons to feel like we are living in void chasm, being sucked into eternal darkness.
So what is left to look forward to?
There are those who dream, perhaps a little too much, putting pen to paper, or fingers to keys. Unable to control their own life or at least some part of it, they have the imperative need to have power over something. They create imaginary worlds, where there is less state of confusion and suffering. However, even here in this fictional world, there is darkness and murder, yet it is polite and more refined. Solving crime is mystifying, yet never unsolvable. In fact, it is usually left to a meager character of amateur status, who suffers inner conflict.
There is a quirky friend to help out and adds humor in a strange way. Story settings are charming, smaller communities have people of lower paying jobs, but yet they dress up for dinner. Even the criminals are more sophisticated, never even uttering a curse word, leaving out the blood, gore, and even explicit sexual scenes. Nevertheless, there is emotion and love, often revolving around love triangles.
In a horrific world, it is authors, especially cozy mysteries, who write up a sanctuary for readers, who want to enjoy a solvable murder, where justice is always served in a timely manner, bringing peace and tranquility back to the community. No worries. The hero notices every little detail that could be a possible clue. Even though this sleuth may find a way to break into places after dark, slipping past crime scene tape, disturbing evidence, and going against police orders, the repercussions are slim to none. Everything will be fine in the end. The reader already knows it.
Mostly likable characters and a few disagreeable ones help create the peculiarities of small town life, filled with bake sales, church meetings, book clubs, and other social gatherings. Even when a murderer on the loose, the townspeople rely on the one who will restore harmony... the amateur sleuth, often a woman, with little to no training, and done by volunteer status.
So, if you require sanctuary from reality, may you enjoy a cozy mystery and revel in a predictable, yet tangled plot with convoluted clues. Curl up with a soft blanket, in a comfortable chair, under the warmth of a reading lamp. Sip from your coffee cup, or better yet from a wine flute, and let your troubles float away in the cozy mystery author's words of conciliatory conundrums.