National Cozy Mystery Day

National Cozy Mystery Day is an annual event held on September 15 each year. This also happens to be Agatha Christie’s birthday. While Agatha and several other authors from the 1920-1940 era were considered to be on the leading edge associated with cozy mysteries, they were not the front-runners. 

If you take a look at Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, it is thought that his mysteries weren’t overly violent or graphic. And, perhaps because of this, he and others of his writing ilk at the time, were laying some groundwork for what would become the cozy mystery. Also, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s book The Circular Staircase, was the American woman’s first cozy mystery, and was released long before Christie’s books came on the scene. It is documented, however, that the term cozy mystery as we know it, is very possibly styled after the Agatha Christie generation of wordsmiths. 

Cozy mystery is one of the most popular sub-genres of the modern-day mystery books that is being written. The book synopsis promises some predominantly amateur sleuthing, intrigue and characters who might remind you of someone you think you have crossed paths with. The description doesn’t allude to blood, guts, gore, sex and profanity (except for the odd darn, dang, or dammit). Cozy mysteries will provide plot twists and occasionally the innuendo of a character’s feelings. The story’s scenes could take you to places you think you have been to or want to travel to. And, there is a great possibility that you find yourself immersed in reading a story you don’t want to put down. All of this, and more, drew me to start writing cozy mysteries.

Doing research for the near as possible correct genre to use as a description for my first novel, I came across a podcast based in Australia. An author was chatting with the host about her latest cozy mystery book. As they talked, they ticked off the majority of the criteria for a book to be tagged a cozy mystery. They had my attention, and I was more than happy to realize that my book, The Quiet Spirits, matched the checklist and had found its genre. 

Those days and weeks following took me further into refining keywords, descriptions, meta tags, hashtags, etc., to ensure my book fit the genre. Homework, homework and more homework, including reading other author’s cozy books continues as I go forward on my journey of writing. The evolvement of cozy mysteries over the years has exploded. However, its genre description platform, in my opinion, remains the same. 

Part of the homework process is reading other books in the same genre. Over the years, there have been a few beneficial things that have come to light to guide my cozy mystery writing: 

• I don’t want my books to be mass-produced cookie-cutter stories. 
• I am not interested in writing books that aren’t true to my style and brand.
• Each of my stories is unique. 

Steve had a saying that holds true here. “No sense getting older if you don’t get wiser.” In other words, keep doing your homework if you want to keep learning your craft. 

The Quiet Spirits and Bloodlines are books one and two of my Brandi Westeron Mystery Series. They fall in line with the cozy mystery genre, using a combination of intrigue, clues and red herrings, along with a dusting of romance and humour, and, of course, the end result answers to the questions. Everything needed for me to create a cozy mystery series for you to enjoy, to want more.