I'm sure there are almost as many defintions as there are books, but for me the cozy mystery has two common elements i) a close, tight-knit community, often an English village, and ii) a cast of ordinary everyday life characters.

New here and hoping it's okay to jump right in.

The two main things for me that 'cozy mystery' is that the mystery-solver/main character isn something other than a detective by career and that there's a friendy rather than ominous tone to the book.

Yes I agree on this latter point about the tone of the book, it should be relaxed and friendly. I would even go as far as to say that a streak of humor, or at least light-hearted unconcern for the nature of the crime, should run through the plot. I very much enjoy mysteries where the author is able to use comic devices to good effect. The work of Edmund Crispin is a prime example.

Does it have to be in a village? I've read quite a few set in towns (like the Donna Andrews' books) and in smaller regional cities. I think the key may be the 'can to get to know everyone' ability of the amateur sleuth. And the violence has to be off screen and not horrific.

(04-03-2009 07:09 PM)goggles Wrote:  Yes I agree on this latter point about the tone of the book, it should be relaxed and friendly. I would even go as far as to say that a streak of humor, or at least light-hearted unconcern for the nature of the crime, should run through the plot. I very much enjoy mysteries where the author is able to use comic devices to good effect. The work of Edmund Crispin is a prime example.

Interestingly, I fit my book MAYNELY A MYSTERY into this genre and there is no murder in my book and no slueth. There is a mystery and there is humour. Maynely is also set on an island not in a village.

(05-23-2010 01:17 AM)Leanne on Mayne Wrote:  

'goggles' pid='16' dateline='1238749796' Wrote:Yes I agree on this latter point about the tone of the book, it should be relaxed and friendly. I would even go as far as to say that a streak of humor, or at least light-hearted unconcern for the nature of the crime, should run through the plot. I very much enjoy mysteries where the author is able to use comic devices to good effect. The work of Edmund Crispin is a prime example.

Interestingly, I fit my book MAYNELY A MYSTERY into this genre and there is no murder in my book and no slueth. There is a mystery and there is humour. Maynely is also set on an island not in a village.

Having written mysteries for television and as a writer for hire, in both, the conventional murder mystery and the upbeat fun mystery, genres, I would like to add there has to be the element adventure to both types of stories, for without something to find or some puzzle to solve, you do not have a mystery. In addition, there has to be a protagonist that has to be moved to action, either through curiosity or be dilemma and that protagonist has to have a character trait that is liked, by the reader or the viewer, and has a quirk in their personality that makes them stand out from others. Without either, the story is put down because of the boredom. That being addressed, the cozy mystery is best defined, in a reflective manner, as a fiction that gives you a warm and happy feeling, drawing your imagination to the situations that occur, warmly read while you sit, wrapped up in a nice cozy blanket, occasionally sipping a cup of nice hot cocoa with marshmallows floating on the top, inside your nice, warm home, on your favorite chair or sofa, with the cat sleeping in your lap, as the saucy wisps of fire dance in fireplace nearby, while fluffy white snowflakes descend from the wintery heavens above.