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 this really insular environment where everyone knows everyone else…and then have one of those well-known residents be the local killer.
Another cool aspect of small town settings for cozies is the dynamic where the town itself sort of chips in to unmask the killer. Here are a few ways that happens:
How Small-Town Residents Collaborate with Cozy Sleuths
A common goal. With small-town cozies, you start with this idyllic locale. Then something terrible happens (or two something terribles happen) and everything becomes cloudy. All the residents want is for their idyll to be restored. Everyone is gung-ho to get rid of the person who’s created this problem.
Residents supply backstory and context. If the sleuth wasn’t well-acquainted with the victim, the residents are more than delighted to fill her in. Whether it’s at the salon, in the diner, or at the grocery store, residents of small towns are happy to offer context for the killing and help compile a list of likely suspects.
Gossip provides clues. Not only are residents filling in backstory on the victim, they’re also giving information about all kinds of things: overheard arguments, observed assignations, and phone calls they’ve eavesdropped on while in the post office line.
Gossip provides red herrings. Small town residents can also supply your cozy mystery novel with more complexity and length by sending your sleuth out in the wrong direction and after the wrong people. Because gossip isn’t always true…and even if it is true, someone who had an argument with the victim didn’t necessarily murder .
Lots of eyes, ears, and general nosiness. With the common goal mentioned above, the small town in your cozy is on high alert. Everyone is offering their own ideas, poking their nose into everyone else’s business, and delving into others’ secrets. It’s a recipe for drama, or at least some subplots.
Alibis can be tricky. If a suspect wasn’t at home with his wife, where was he? With neighbors on the lookout and small business owners happy to dispute erroneous accounts, suspects are going to have a tough time offering a foolproof alibi.
Do you write small-town settings? Read them? What aspects about small-town life do you find appealing?
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Hi Elizabeth – you’ve described a small town / village setting perfectly … with all the comings and goings possible. Bus timetables, train journeys – well at least here in the UK they provide more ‘opportunities’; people coming back having been away for years, or people looking for relatives – understanding their own personal backstory.
Excellent ideas here … cheers Hilary
I loved reading all the Agatha Christie books with timetables and trains! Good points here. Hope you have a great week!
I can see how it would be both helpful and not helpful, with the gossip sending the sleuth in so many directions.
The red herrings can definitely be helpful in terms of sending the sleuth on a tangent!
You’ve brought up some of the great things about having a small town as a setting, Elizabeth. People know people in a place like that, so there are all sorts of ways that can be worked into a plot. There are, as you say, eyes and ears that can share gossip, provide red herrings, help with a case, or even just provide a sense of the local culture (which can also be used as clues). There are also those ‘small town with secrets’ plots, where the sleuth has to find out what everyone in town already knows. It’s a flexible sort of setting!
Excellent point about the local culture itself as a clue. :) Small towns with secrets are the best!
I LOVE small-town settings! Having recurring characters who light up the page when they return in a new story is so much fun!
It is fun! And small towns provide the perfect backdrop for them. :)
I’ve never seen it explained as well as this, Liz. Now I’m really intrigued. To your question, I haven’t used small-town settings in the past, but my latest WIP might. 😊
Hope it works out for you, Gwen! They can be a lot of fun.
And the recurring characters who live in that small town are some of the most fun to read/write!
They definitely are! They add a lot of personality to a book. :)
I’ve been watching Only Murders in the Building. As I was reading this, I realized they took the small-town peculiarities and created a “small town” inside NY by limiting the setting to an apartment. So, all of these rules could apply to any setting, if you shrink the world to a cozy level.
I just watched that! An excellent show. And great observation, Elizabeth. Cozy writer Cleo Coyle has done the same thing with her coffeehouse series that’s set in NYC (centered around a coffeehouse). All you need is a cast of regulars (in the case of Only Murders in the Building, residents) and you’re good to go!