How to Write a Cozy

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. They usually take place in a small town and may feature recipes and/or pets. Main characters often have unusual occupations or hobbies and a pension for solving crimes as amateur sleuths.

My first published book wasn’t a cozy, and I didn’t write the second one as a cozy, but A Stone’s Throw became the first of my six-book Cobble Cove cozy mystery series. Since then, I’ve learned a few tips for writing cozies and suggest the following method for penning your own.

Before you start, you need to know the type of cozy you want to write and would enjoy writing. There are several kinds that include but are not limited to culinary, gardening, pets, paranormal, historical, etc. These types can be combined. It also helps to create catchy titles for your books, series, and places, as well as appropriate names for your characters.

1. Start with the setting. You can use a real or fictional small town or city. I prefer a fictional small town, although I sometimes refer to real places in the area to give readers a sense of location. For instance, my new Buttercup Bend series takes place in the Catskills, but I created the town of Buttercup Bend. I set my Cobble Cove series in upstate New York near New Paltz. I’ve been to these places, but it’s not necessary to have lived or traveled to the towns where you set your series, but it helps to at least research the area.

Setting isn’t just place. It can also be time. For instance, a historical cozy takes place during a different time period.

2. Populate your setting with quirky and interesting characters. I’m not a big plotter, but one important thing I do is create a character list or chart. As you write books in your series, you will want to add and remove characters. There are some characters who are usually featured in each book. The most important character, of course, is the main character. He or she should be described in detail. They can have a friend or someone who helps them solve the crime. They should also have a backstory that includes their family, marital status, age, education, hobbies, habits, and anything that makes them special or a candidate for being an amateur sleuth.

As a series continues, you also have to remember to age the characters. This is especially important if you include children. Depending on how much real time elapses between the publishing of your books, you need to decide how much fictional time has elapsed in each book.

As a side note, keep in mind that a character can also be an animal. Cat and dog cozy mysteries are popular. In some cozies, the cat or dog is the pet of the main character and helps find clues in a pet-related way, such as a dog sniffing an area where a body is located or a cat yowling at a suspect who may be the killer.

3. Determine the Crime or Crimes. The crime is usually murder but doesn’t have to be. There can be more than one crime in each book. I have two murders in The Case of the Cat Crazy Lady, the first book of my new Buttercup Bend series. There are also several crimes and a murder in Between a Rock and a Hard Place, the second book of my Cobble Cove series. The main thing about the crimes is that they shouldn’t be gory and can happen off stage. In other words, someone can find a body but doesn’t witness the murder.

4. Create a suspect List, Motives, Clues, and Red Herrings. Depending on how you prefer to write, you can do this ahead of time or as you go. I’ve changed my killer in some of my books and then gone back and added the clues. A red herring is a clue that points to someone who isn’t the murderer and can allow readers to go in the wrong direction, but you need to give enough real clues so the readers aren’t terribly surprised at the ending.

5. Add Subplots. Besides the crime, you should have various smaller plots that may involve a romance, another mystery, or a conflict. Romances that occur in cozies are kept clean. Any sex takes place behind closed doors. Subplots add depth and interest to the book and may be resolved at the end of the story or brought into the following book or books of the series. In my Buttercup Bend mysteries, my main character, Cathy Carter begins dating two men in the second book of the series that I’m currently writing. Her involvement with these men began in book 1 and will continue until I decide the one she chooses.

6. Research and Added Bonuses. Readers enjoy learning things from their reading, so it’s a good idea to include interesting facts. Historical cozies can include details about different time periods and events. Culinary cozies should feature recipes or information about cooking or baking.

7. Twists and Endings. If you’ve included enough red herrings and subplots, you need to tie them up in a way that surprises but doesn’t shock the reader. With a series, you only need to wrap up the current crime or murder because each book will feature a new one. However, as I stated above, there are subplots that may continue throughout the series and need not be resolved in each book.

Some people also write their cozies ahead of time, so they can include a teaser to the next book. I have never been able to do this, but I still leave something hanging at the end or write a story using the same characters to publish in between the books. This is the method I used in my Cobble Cove series. The five stories I wrote are now available in a new collection, Sneaky’s Supernatural Mystery and Other Cobble Cove Stories. This book is on tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours from July 18 to July 25.

8. Publish and Promote. For space considerations, I haven’t included information on how to publish your books or how to design their covers. These are both important considerations that you can find elsewhere.

Once you publish your cozy, you need to promote it. If this is your first book, make sure you have a social media following and a blog. If you have a publisher, network with the other authors. I mentioned my book tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. The host for these tours is Lori Caswell. She is a big promoter of cozy mysteries and runs tours for those authors for free. Other ideas for promoting include taking over on many of the cozy mystery Facebook groups. I have a takeover scheduled on the Cozy Mystery Party group on Saturday, July 23, at 11 a.m. I’ve also taken over on the Cozy Mystery Village group and run my own cozy mystery character group called Debbie’s Character Chat Group.

If you want to write a cozy, I hope you’ve found my tips helpful. If you already write a cozy series and have additional tips, please share them.

Debbie De Louise is a reference librarian at a public library. She’s the author of the Cobble Cove cozy mystery series featuring Sneaky, the library cat, and the new Buttercup Bend cozy mysteries featuring the owner of a pet cemetery and rescue center. Debbie’s other books include standalone mysteries, a paranormal romance, a time-travel novel, and a collection of cat poems. She also writes for Catster.com, is a member of the Cat Writers’ Association, and lives on Long Island with her husband, daughter, and two cats. Learn more about her and her books by visiting https://debbiedelouise.com.

Pick up a copy of Sneaky’s Supernatural Mystery and other Cobble Cove Stories here: mybook.to/CCcollection

Image by Melk Hagelslag from Pixabay