The Enduring Appeal of Cozies

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 that the classification is long overdue, because Cozies have been rapidly growing in popularity, year on year, for a long time.

What is the perennial appeal of the Cozy?

First and foremost, you know what you’re getting! Cozies rarely disappoint, because there’s tremendous consistency in the minds of readers and writers alike as to what a Cozy is.

The sleuth – with a few notable exceptions, such as Steve Higgs’ Patricia Fisher – rarely chooses to solve crimes.

She – it’s usually she, although there are male protagonists in Cozies – is quietly minding her own business and then life throws her a curve ball. As a result, she is forced into crime solving – usually because she has been accused, or a close friend, or family member, is in the hot seat.

We can all easily identify with that because who hasn’t been thrown a curve ball in life? Most recently, the pandemic and the current Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine have been a pretty fierce couple of curve balls for us all. And so we like to find out how the character copes.

WHY DO WE ENJOY THE CURVE BALL ASPECT OF COZIES?

The big thing about Cozies, as the name suggests, is that they are comforting, like being wrapped up in a lovely fleecy with a mug of hot chocolate nearby. So we can reach for the marshmallows, or chocolate (why not both?) and settle back to enjoy watching that curve ball get fielded.

1. Cozy Characteristics Appeal – the comfort of the familiar framework

This has great appeal for both readers and writers, because that particular aspect of the Cozy allows us to explore an infinite variety of murders from the safe ground of being surrounded by “nice” people who usually (again with notable exceptions) are trying to help one another.

Speaking as a writer, I enjoy the freedom to create characters who may have odd ideas about how to help, or about what’s important.

The inadvertent-sleuth in my debut book, Death in Paris gets all embarrassed whenever she cries.

But she’s the stoutest friend anyone could wish for.

The inadvertent-sleuth in my new series, Huntingdon Hart Investigates is rather an odd duck.

2. Cozy People Appeal – the comfort of knowing the cast of characters

It’s easy to get to know the characters, even the very minor characters; and they are always people whom we would expect to meet in those places.

Speaking as a writer, I enjoy the freedom of working with characters whom my readers know – it gives me the opportunity to create outré scenarios.

3. Cozy Discovery Appeal – the comfort of becoming immersed in new worlds.

The appeal of Angela K Ryan’s Sapphire Beach mysteries is very different from the appeal of Jana DeLeon’s Miss Fortune series. Yet most Cozy readers will enjoy both these worlds, because we enjoy exploring the new so long as we feel safe within a familiar framework.

4. Another part of Cozies Appeal – you can get more of the same, only different.

Cozy writers will write many, many, books about the same characters in the same places, doing much the same things, until whoa! there’s a twist, and we learn something new about our faves.

5. A big part of Cozies Appeal – low levels of violence and gore

Many of us just want a nice Clean read, and it’s a rare, rare, Cozy which doesn’t offer that.

6. Another big part of Cozies Appeal – friendship, community, and justice prevail over evil-doers.

When you’re reading a Cozy, you are not unexpectedly going to discover that the heroine’s low key romance is with a Bad Guy. Traditional values prevail. There’s a thread of optimism and hope running through Cozies.

7. Yet More Cozy Appeal – we get engaging characters, intricate puzzles, and charming settings

And so we writers have the pleasure of writing work which we know is eagerly awaited by our readers, where we can let our imagination soar, and write what pleases us, secure in the knowledge that our established characters and their communities will also please the reader.

Long Live The Cozy!

Author: Kate Darroch lives in gorgeous coastal Devon, where she writes four Cozy series, each very different from the other three. The hero may be down to earth: Màiri Maguire Mysteries. Or a laidback rebel, as in: Quick Reads: Huntingdon Hart Investigates. Or living in a world of her own, like ditzy Erin in Found Money. Or classic Hero material, Major Peverel in They Call Him Gimlet.

Most recent releases: The Case of the Manic Magpie: Huntingdon Hart Investigates  and The Case of the Dazzling Duck.

Come talk books with Kate at: https://www.facebook.com/MairiMaguireCozies     or https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22133773.Kate_Darroch

Image by Sofia Iivarinen from Pixabay