Cozy Mystery Writing: Trying New Things

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 think my octogenarian sleuth would likely love Paris and I’m not totally ruling it out, there are problems with taking Myrtle there…or anywhere that isn’t her small town that she usually lives in.

I have taken Myrtle on a little field trip…a cruise a few years ago.   What I discovered, though, was that sometimes readers like the idea of a change.  But when the change is made, sometimes they’re not as enthusiastic.

Here are ideas for shaking things up a little in a long-running cozy mystery series (and some likely pros and cons for doing so):

Taking Characters On A Trip

This can be fun to write and also to read. The pros are that you’re taking your characters to a different setting and seeing how they act in that different environment. They’ll meet new people along the way and will experience different and interesting places.

The big issue here is that you probably can’t move your whole story world.  Although I did get some positive feedback from readers when I took Myrtle on vacation,

Trying a Manor House/Country House Approach

How do these work? The ingredients are pretty simple: a large, remote home; a house party; and a murder.  Extra points if bad weather keeps the guests confined.  The field of suspects is limited and tension runs high.

One of the potential problems with this approach is the same as the issue with taking the characters on a trip:  are you going to move your entire cast of characters to the country house? If so, what’s the occasion (and just how big is that house?)

To read some examples of these stories, check out this post by Stephen Giles of Crime Reads and this one on Cross-Examining Crimes. 

Introducing New, Recurring Characters 

This is one way to inject something a little different into a long-running series. Maybe it’s a character who rubs your protagonist the wrong way and can add some conflict to the stories. Maybe it’s a love interest for your protagonist or another character.  Whatever it is, they add a new element to the series.

A con of this approach is that you’re adding to your cast of characters…which may be fine, or may be a problem if you already had a large cast.  Also, this is another character you’ll need to write for so it can add to a work load if it’s a recurring character you’re going t o keep up with.

Lesley A. Diehl has a good post on this, specific to cozy mysteries.

As a reader, what do you like to see as a new element in a long-running series?  As a writer, do you look for ways to keep a series from feeling stale?

Photo on Visualhunt.com