What is a cozy mystery?

You might be familiar with the dark, brooding, and sometimes disturbing crime fiction and mystery genres, but did you know they have a lighter, brighter, cozier cousin? 

Enter the cozy mystery: all the murder, intrigue, suspicion and sleuthing of a conventional mystery but with quirky characters, set in a place you’d want to live in, and always with a “happy" ending (more on that later).

What makes a mystery "cozy"?

While there's no formal definition of the sub-genre, below are a few common elements that make a book a cozy mystery:

1. The Amateur Sleuth

   In cozy mysteries, the main character doesn't solve crimes for a living. Instead, they somehow find themselves adjacent to a murder (or right in the middle of it), and due to varying circumstances, are forced to find the killer themselves. Sometimes they'll get help from law enforcement, but the main character of a cozy mystery is almost always the amateur sleuth.

   

   Did you know there's an entire series of Murder, She Wrote cozy mystery books? (image source)

   The amateur sleuth also usually has a "cozy" profession - baker, barista, bookshop owner, etc. The cozier the work, the better!

   
   

2. Cozy Settings

   From the English Countryside to a Shakespeare-loving American art town to the mediterranean coast of the south of France, cozy mysteries usually take place in charming villages or quaint towns. Think of your dream vacation destination: it's very likely there's a cozy mystery series that uses it as its setting.

   That said, cozy mysteries can also take place in big cities and urban locales, for as long as they also have the next cozy mystery element.

   
   

3. Cozy Communities

   It's not just about the place - it's also about the people. What makes a mystery cozy is often its cast of characters.

   
   

   In a cozy mystery, the amateur sleuth is usually surrounded by an ensemble of quirky, colorful characters, and often they're all part of a close-knit community, such as a (paranormal) knitting club, a board game shop or a charming group of forest creatures.

   
   

   Of course, every community has drama and intrigue, and those are often fodder for murder...

   
   

4. A Certain Kind of Murder

   There's nothing cozy about a murder, but in the world of cozy mysteries at least, we don't need to know all the gruesome details. There are no explicit descriptions of crime scenes, and police procedural details are kept at a minimum, if they're ever mentioned at all. In general, cozy mysteries do not depict explicit violence or sex, and foul language is very rarely to never used.

   
   

   Additionally, the victim of the central crime in a cozy mystery is usually an unlikeable character. Meanwhile, small children and pets are off limits and are thankfully never met with any serious harm!

   
   

5. Justice is Always Served

   This is where we talk about the "happy" ending in a cozy mystery. If a romance novel always has to have an HEA (Happily Ever After), in a cozy mystery, the central crime of the story should always be solved and justice should always be served in one way or another by the end of the book.

   
   

Ready to read your first cozy mystery? Search our posts for the right series to get you started, or sign up to our newsletter for cozy mystery recommendations sent to your inbox. We also scour the internet for drink recipes that would make the perfect accompaniment for some cozy reading!