Any other cozy mystery writers here?

[Sonsie MeadowsParticipant]

Looking to meet others in this genre. Please tell a bit about your stories and yourself (if you want.)

[Sonsie MeadowsParticipant]

So I’ll start. Sonsie Meadows is my pen name because I share my real name with another mystery writer, and I thought it would just be too confusing.
I have written two in my series so far, and I’m writing the third now. They are set in Scotland in contemporary times, and feature my female protagonist, Molly Fraser, and her bloodhound Thurber (don’t ask!) because I have had several bloodhounds in the past and love the breed.

I’d love to hear about your writing…

[Jobie BaldwinParticipant]

Hi Sonsie
I write British cosies under a pen name (Matilda Adler). First in series released and next outlined. One of my cookies will be for my cosy (British spelling). Mine is a female protagonist too (Amelia Ferver) who has two dogs of her own and is about to inherit another one!

[Sonsie MeadowsParticipant]

I am British born, now Canadian, and favour the British spelling usually. But Amazon classifies it as ‘cozy” so that is what I have used here. Interesting that we both have dogs featured! Fun to meet you here and I will look for your books.

[Valerie LaroucheParticipant]

Can I ask: what exactly makes a mystery “cozy”?
To me, cozy mysteries were always lighter and cuter than mysteries. Am I wrong? Cause I’ve read it explained as “amateur sleuths suddenly finding themselves at the heart of mystery in a small town.”
What actually defines a cozy mystery?

I write a mystery series (finished the 1st one, writing the 2nd one) where the protagonist is young woman (late twenties) with trauma in her past and an ability to “connect” with other people in her dreams. There’s a mystery (a kidnapping) in the small town where she grew up. And although my MC is a woman, the book is not light or cute. Odessa (my MC) is gruff and a bit irritable, but has a good heart. She just hurts a lot.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s not cozy….right? :-S HELP! lol

[Sonsie MeadowsParticipant]

It does sound to have more angst than the usual cozy… I don’t know if I have a good definition. Usually the murder is a puzzle, not too much blood and explicit gore. The protagonist is usually an amateur who just happens to get caught up in the mystery.

Cozy or not, fun to meet you and learn about your stories.

[Valerie LaroucheParticipant]

That’s a good definition!😯
I don’t have gore just some trauma and a psychic ability… so I guess paranormal mystery or psychic mystery would be more my genre?
(Honestly I suck at genres. I’m the kinda neat freak who needs everything nice and tidy and genres are anything but! 😂 I’m doomed…)

Hihi fun to meet you too and learn about your stories! 😍

[TammiKeymaster]

paranormal mystery is definitely a thing!

[Valerie LaroucheParticipant]

YAY!!! I just seem to be having the hardest time finding comp authors/books because, well, we all know what happens when we type “paranormal novel” in a search engine…
I write darker things. Kinda like Alex North but even he goes darker than I do lol
And he’s more on the police procedural side of things I guess… (At least, with the Whisper Man) and the elements of supernatural are only hinted at but never fully integrated. (You know, maybe I just read The Whisper Man as being supernatural because that’s what I wanted it to be LOL)

[Jobie BaldwinParticipant]

My sleuth is a youngish woman with childhood trauma! It’s not dark, hits cozy beats of no sex, bad language or on page violence/blood, but it is more reminiscent of the golden age traditional mysteries than the cute culinary or animal cozies.

I think of cozy as being a very broad sub-genre. Too broad for targeting in many ways.

[Sonsie MeadowsParticipant]

Mine is a 40-ish widow, who in the first book, is having a very dark time and goes to Scotland from Toronto for a few months sabbatical… all our protagonists need to to have issue(s) to resolve, as well as the murder mystery, else they would be too perfect and boring.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Sonsie Meadows.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Sonsie Meadows.

[jckeoughworldParticipant]

Hi All,

I am in the last stages before the release of my first cozy mystery. I have an urban fantasy book and a novella out in a different series. When I started the first book for that series I intended for it to be a cozy, but it got away from me and morphed into UF.

My cozy is one of the “cute” ones – fingers crossed. The MC is a woman about to turn fifty who runs a cheese shop and has psychic powers that are on the fritz. I am delaying the release of book one while I write the prequel reader magnet with the hope of pulling in some cozy fans before I push the book out into the world.

[Sonsie MeadowsParticipant]

I’ll look for that when it comes out!

[jckeoughworldParticipant]

Thanks!

[Author]

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