Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

sunala — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 03:26:11 GMT

I just learned what a cozy book is from this email I received. I subscribe to dearreader.com and I receive a really nice article or story every day, written by Suzanne Beecher, who runs the site. I'm just going to copy and paste it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author is John Clement.

John is the son of author Blaize Clement, who originated the
Dixie Hemingway mystery series. Before my friend Blaize passed away,
she collaborated with her son on the plots and characters for
forthcoming novels. Blaize lived nearby me in Sarasota, Florida for
many years; her son John lives in New York City. The latest book in
the popular Dixie Hemingway series is "The Cat Sitter's Nine Lives,"
and John has just finished the revisions for the tenth book, "The
Cat Sitter's Whiskers" due out next spring.

Welcome to the book clubs author John Clement (his mother would be
so proud!) . . .

"Recently, I was asked to speak on a panel at a writers conference.
The topic was "What is a Cozy Mystery?" If you don't know what a
cozy mystery is, welcome to the club. I don't either, even though,
technically, I write them...

I didn't plan on being a cozy writer. My mother, Blaize Clement,
didn't either. In fact, she didn't plan on writing cozies until
she'd already written one. It was "Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter,"
the first of what became a very popular series set in Siesta Key, a
sleepy island off the west coast of Florida. The books follow the
adventures of Dixie Hemingway, an ex-sheriff's deputy turned
professional cat sitter, and much like Jessica Fletcher and Miss
Marple before her, Dixie has a curious talent for tracking down
murderers.

My mother passed away in 2011, just as she was putting the finishing
touches on her seventh book. She had asked me to continue the
series, and because I'd been taught to mind my mother, that's
exactly what I did.

The eighth book came out last year, the ninth is in stores this
month, I've just finished final edits on the tenth, and I'm
currently hard at work on the eleventh.

The point is: I ought to know what a cozy is by now.

The panel consisted of six authors, all of whom had been chosen
because they supposedly write cozies, and all of whom when given
half a chance denied it (albeit with varying degrees of certitude).
We all agreed that the term "cozy" is just plain terrible, but we
did manage to come up with a basic set of rules that defines the
genre:

1) The main character is female;
2) She lives in a small, quaint village;
3) She is an amateur sleuth, not a detective or officer of the law;
4) The amount of s*x and gore, on a scale of Zero to Zilch, is Nada;
and
5) The maximum number of curse words is (see #4).

The problem with all these rules, of course, is that every one of
them has been broken, often very successfully and by very successful
authors, chief among them Agatha Christie, the grandest of the
grandes dames of cozy writers. And while I've gotten a few letters
accusing me of using certain "naughty" words my mother would never
have approved of, she herself broke rules #4 and #5 on a regular
basis--way more, in fact, than I have.

But one idea that came up during the panel has stuck with me. It's
that in a really good cozy, the writer creates an intriguing world
where, simply put, the reader wants to be--a world you want to go
back to again and again and again. A world that feels like home.

I love that idea.

I think it explains the popularity of cozy mysteries perfectly,
especially given how uncertain the "real" world feels sometimes, and
it's exactly why I've gotten so much joy writing about Dixie. And
since I'm now in the habit of thinking like an amateur sleuth on a
regular basis, I can't help but take an even closer look. It occurs
to me that I myself am living in an intriguing world created for me
by my mother--the world of the cozy writer.

I still don't know what the heck a cozy is, but it's a world I'm
very, very happy to be in."

So, that's what a cozy book is!

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

smoky22 — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 03:54:36 GMT

Great article, sunala. Thanks for sharing it. I've often wondered why some books are deemed cozies and others aren't. This is as good an explanation as any.

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

sunala — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 05:13:08 GMT

On 8/7/2014 smokymtngal said:
Great article, sunala. Thanks for sharing it. I've often wondered why some books are deemed cozies and others aren't. This is as good an explanation as any.

smokymtngal, I agree; at least now I know what a cozy is. And you know what else? I like cozies! I've read several and really enjoyed them.

I would say that the Covington books by Joan Medlicott are a series of cozies. I loved them!

I'm glad you enjoyed. I know it was a long letter but it explained so much. John is a good son!

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

mewsmomtoo — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 11:18:03 GMT

Thank you Sunala - I really enjoyed reading his explanation. And now I have another set of ""cozies"" to check out

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

insomniac — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 20:21:25 GMT

I also thank you for this description. It certain tells everything I enjoy in a mystery!

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

AuntG — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 12:14:48 GMT

One other thing I'll add, is that the main character has often left a relationship, and finds a new one with the local detective.

topic Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author in Community Chat

Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author

Re: Interesting Story about Cozy Books from Male Author