by Sierra Cross, @SierraCrossBook Hi all! I’m Sierra Cross, author of the Blue Moon Bay Witches series, and I’ve been writing about magic since the early 2000s, when the dominant trope in urban [...]
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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’ve written here before about cozy mystery victims and how tricky the process can be. It’s tough to make the victim a genuinely good person when you need [...]
by J.R. Lancaster, @jrlauthor For those of you who don’t know me yet, mysteries are my jam so there couldn’t be a more perfect topic for me to chat about. More so, let’s [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Today I’ve got a quick tip for mystery writers to help keep readers questioning the killer’s identity until the end of the book. It’s a pretty simple one, [...]
by Kate Darroch, @BooksBonanza For the first time in decades, BISAC has recently created a new Book Trade Category: Cozies. It’s easy to see why that choice was made, and many would say [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I have the luxury now of uninterrupted reading time, when I didn’t as much when my kids were little. But I still notice that I have the ability [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Happy Halloween, everybody! On this day of spooky celebration, I thought I’d take a quick look at scares in cozy mysteries, known as being gentler reads than other [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Hi everyone! I’m guest posting at David Farland’s blog today on the process of writing a Christmas cozy mystery. Hope you can pop over and join me! Tips [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Cozy mysteries offer a very quiet approach to death for mystery readers. The crimes are never described in gory detail. The methods aren’t ordinarily very grim (I’ve [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig After writing about fifty cozy mysteries, I think I’ve used just about every story opener possible. I’ve opened with the dead body a few times. Sometimes I’ve had [...]
By Debbie De Louise (author of the Cobble Cove and Buttercup Bend cozy mysteries), @Deblibrarian Cozy mysteries are popular among those who prefer less graphic books with clean language and quirky characters. [...]
by Mike Martin, @Mike54Martin Greetings to our American cousins and many thanks to Elizabeth for giving us the opportunity to tell you about an exciting event happening north of your borders. From [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I started reading the cozy mystery master Agatha Christie at a very impressionable age and loved the construction of her books and the characters she created. There were [...]
by Elizabeth Spann Craig, @elizabethscraig Cozy mysteries have a host of different settings, but one of the most popular, for writers as well as readers, is the small-town setting. It’s fun to have [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I spend a lot of time reading blog posts and sharing them. I’ve noticed there are tons of posts on crafting better story openers. The posts usually talk [...]
by Elizabeth Spann Craig, @elizabethscraig I realized a couple of years ago that any time I’m interviewed for a podcast or anytime that a writer asks me about writing cozies, I immediately try [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig You probably wouldn’t think of funerals in cozy mysteries as having an important part in the story. But I know the time I left funerals out of a [...]
by Gayle Carline, @GayleCarline I have a confession to make: My mysteries have humor in them—I just don’t advertise it. I don’t like to talk about my mysteries being funny because if a [...]
by Yolanda Renée, @yolandarenee When I decided to sit down and write a mystery — I did just that. I sat down and started writing. It’s what I’ve done with every story I’ve [...]
By Libby Ware and Charlene Ball, aka Lily Charles A bibliomystery is a mystery where books are involved. The stories can take place in bookstores, libraries, auctions, or old houses, and can involve [...]
by Saralyn Richard, @SaralynRichard The heart of any mystery novel is a good story. But when writing a police procedural, having a good story is not enough. A police procedural is a form [...]
by Ellen Jacobson, @Ellen_Jacobson One of the quintessential hallmarks of a cozy mystery series is a hook such as the amateur sleuth’s hobby (knitting, quilting, gardening), profession (real estate agent, florist, archaeologist), place [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig In every cozy mystery, there comes a time when the sleuth puts together various clues and realizes who the perpetrator is. But the timing of this revelation can [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Red herrings, or false leads, can add a lot to a mystery and serve different purposes. How red herrings add to mysteries: They make the mystery more complex. [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig When I came back from my France trip in July, several people asked me if I was planning to ‘take Myrtle on a trip to Paris.’ Although I [...]
by Jane Bennett Munro Medical practice, particularly pathology practice, is rife with jargon. I can’t not use it; that would destroy the authenticity. I don’t want to dumb it down; that would be [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld Wow. We’ve covered a lot of ground in this four-part blog series on how to handle the stakes in a cozy mystery. (By the way, although the illustrative [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld Standalone or series. It’s a dilemma that many novelists face. But for authors of cozy mysteries, the decision’s almost a foregone conclusion: series. By all accounts, that’s what [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld Handling the stakes in a mystery with an unlikeable victim isn’t entirely a straightforward affair. On one hand, when the victim is unlikeable, you’ll have puh-lenty of suspects, which [...]
by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld Here’s the scenario: You’re writing a cozy mystery. And your victim is unlikeable. Your suspect list is, as they say, healthy. You’re having a blast coming up with motives [...]
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