Defining the Traditional or Cozy Mystery Novel Genre

Agatha Christie's novels and the long-running television show Murder She Wrote are good examples of cozy mysteries. Cozies are the kind of stories one might read while curled up on the couch with a cup of tea.

What is a Cozy Mystery?
The Agatha Awards, sponsored by Malice Domestic, defines the traditional mystery, also often called the cozy mystery, as one that "contains no explicit sex and contains no excessive gore or gratuitous violence".

A cozy mystery is one written in the tradition of Agatha Christie. It usually takes place in a closely-knit setting with a limited group of suspects. A small town or English village where people are well-acquainted is a common setting for the cozy. An amateur detective is usually responsible for solving the crime. The cozy is light-hearted in tone rather than heavy. The murder often takes place offstage, as opposed to the hard-boiled mystery which contains a professional police officer, graphic violence and a sense of gritty reality. There may be a body and blood in the cozy mystery, but the murder is introduced with the minimum of gore or descriptions of violence. The main focus of the book is a puzzle and always centers around "whodunnit."

The Cozy Setting
Many cozy mysteries are set in a small town or small section of a larger city, and have a local business as their base. The story may center around a tea shop, a bed and breakfast, or have a more unique setting such as a hairdressing salon, laundry or even a tattoo shop. Others may be set at a special event such as a meeting of archaeologists or a writer's convention, where all the attendees are suspects. The sleuth's occupation often plays a strong role in solving the crime.

Culiinary mysteries, such as Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery Series, are very popular cozy themes. These books focus around a cooking or a catering business. Cozies of this type often offer recipes at the end of the book. Some examples of books with culinary themes are Catering to Nobody, the first in the Mott Davidson series, The Chocolate Cupid Killings, JoAnna Carl, (Chocoholic Mystery Series #9), Death Takes the Cake, Melinda Wells, (The Della Cooks Mystery series #2), and Carrot Cake Murder, Joanna Fluke, (The Hannah Swenson Mysteries #10