I love reading and writing cozy mysteries! Reading a cozy mystery is like taking a vacation in a book. They are such a delightful escape from everyday while providing rich entertainment and a mental puzzle to solve.
“What’s a cozy mystery?” You ask. You’re not the first person to ask me that. Probably not even the first today. So let’s go answer that age-old question – What exactly IS a cozy mystery?
And for the record, I write Quirky, Unconventional, Character-driven cozy mysteries, so I bend as many rules as possible!
Cozy mysteries are set in quiet, quaint locations – a B&B on the beach. A coffee shop in the mountains. KILLER CONTENT by comparison is set in New York City – not exactly quaint OR quiet. However, the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg does have it’s own personality and flavor, making it an ideal setting.
Cozies revolve around an amateur sleuth, usually a female, who’s doesn’t work for law enforcement. KILLER CONTENT’s Odessa Dean is a waitress at Untapped Books & Café, with a penchant for real crime podcasts and a nose for trouble. However, unlike the majority of cozies, our intrepid heroine is young – only 23 at the start of KILLER CONTENT. Or, as one Instagram reviewer called her, “a millennial Miss Marple.”
I always like to say that cozies are books you can share with your mother-in-law without getting embarrassed. If books had ratings like the movies, cozies would have a very strict PG. There is no cursing. No sex. No overt violence. Even the death at the center of the plot is bloodless and usually takes place off screen. KILLER CONTENT is faithful to these rules for the most part, but bends them in such a way that the BROOKLYN MURDER MYSTERIES would likely earn a PG-13 rating.
Cozies shouldn’t subject readers to a gory description of a murder scene, which is ironic considering how many classes on blood splatter patterns, body decomp, and other forensic sciences I took to complete my Criminology degree.
Lastly, cozy mysteries all have a “hook,” a theme which usually revolves around a sufficiently cozy hobby like baking, reading, drinking coffee, or knitting. A central location of KILLER CONTENT is the hip Untapped Books & Café, where Odessa and the other employees serve artisanal sandwiches and cold, craft beer, but Odessa isn’t much of a cook herself. Instead of spending her free time reading, she can be found watching YouTube videos or listening to true crime podcasts. She does sew her own clothes or alter clothes she finds in second-hand stores, but she is more adapt at a sewing machine than a knitting needle. Like most millennials, Odessa Dean isn’t just one thing. She is a collection of hobbies and interests. KILLER CONTENT doesn’t have one single, defined hook – which allows Odessa to explore her options and learn new skills.
So, I guess if you really look at it, I don’t actually write cozies. I write cozy mystery’s weird, tattooed cousin.
For more on Cozy Mysteries, check out: COZY ON UP
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VINYL RESTING PLACE (Volume 1)
"It's a winning combination." - The New York Times
The first book in the Record Shop Mysteries, VINYL RESTING PLACE blends murder, music, and macchiatos in a delightful cozy mystery. After a dead body falls out of the closet during the grand opening of Sip & Spin Records, and their prank-loving uncle pulls a disappearing act, Juni & her sisters must catch the killer before the trail – and the coffee – goes cold.
VINYL RESTING PLACE is available now from St. Martin's Press!
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A FATAL GROOVE (Volume 2)
The Frappuccino hits the fan in A FATAL GROOVE, the second book in the Record Shop Mysteries. When the mayor drops dead at the Cedar River Bluebonnet Festival, the Jessup sisters find themselves in hot water. With death topping the charts and a good old-fashioned treasure hunt traipsing through the bluebonnets, Juni will have to pull out all the stops to find the killer.
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RHYTHM AND CLUES (Volume 3)
It's raining murder in the third book in the Record Shop Mysteries, RHYTHM AND CLUES. It’s been months since Juni Jessup and her sisters solved the last murder in Cedar River when disaster strikes again. After a sketchy financier dies outside Sip & Spin Records during a torrential Texas thunderstorm and the overflowing river spits out a macabre surprise, can they catch the killer without missing a beat?
Kirkus says that Rhythm and Clues is "A well-paced probe into a messy death highlights the rewards of joining ingenuity with persistence." Read the entire review here.
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KILLER CONTENT
In KILLER CONTENT, spunky Louisiana native Odessa Dean has three months in the Brooklyn to make new friends, explore all that NYC has to offer, and solve a murder. While Odessa is waiting tables at Untapped Books & Café, her co-worker plunges to her death in the background of a flash mob proposal video gone viral. Determined to prove that the waitress's death is no accident, Odessa embarks on an investigation that meanders through Brooklyn, getting to know its quirky residents as she searches for the killer.
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NO MEMES OF ESCAPE
In a modern twist on the locked room mystery, Odessa Dean and her friends are trapped in an escape room with a dead body…and a killer. With time running out before Odessa leaves Brooklyn for good, she navigates the demands of waiting tables at a popular bookstore-slash-café and the perils of internet dating, all while hunting a murderer. In NO MEMES OF ESCAPE, Odessa discovers the only thing harder than finding her way out of a killer escape room is finding an affordable apartment in NYC.
AVAILABLE FROM: Berkley / Penguin Random House
Want a personalized, autographed copy of NO MEMES OF ESCAPE? Of course you do! Order now from One More Page Books.
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COZY CASE FILES Volume 17
In the new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of ten charming cozy mysteries publishing in Winter 2023 for free for easy sampling.
Authors: Ellie Alexander, Jean-Luc Bannalec, Olivia Blacke, Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles, Anastasia Hastings, Diane Kelly, Olivia Matthews, Korina Moss, Gigi Pandian, Paige Shelton
Check out the FREE Cozy Case Files e-books featuring samples from new and upcoming cozy mysteries!!
Cozy Case Files #17 ☕️(available now!) features:
💀 Olivia Blacke – Vinyl Resting Place
💀 Ellie Alexander – Muffin But the Truth
💀 Jean-Luc Bannalec – The Body by the Sea
💀 Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles – All That is Hidden
💀 Anastasia Hastings – Of Manners and Murder
💀 Diane Kelly – Primer and Punishment
💀 Olivia Matthews – Against the Currant
💀 Korina Moss – Curds of Prey
💀 Gigi Pandian – The Raven Thief
💀 Paige Shelton – Fateful Words
"Cozy Case Files as Classic Cocktails" - in Criminal Element, January 24, 2023
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COZY CASE FILES Volume 18
More Cozy samples in a free e-Book!
Cozy Case Files #18 🍸 features samples from:
💀 Olivia Blacke – A Fatal Groove
💀 Meri Allen – Fatal Fudge Swirl
💀 Donna Andrews – Birder, She Wrote
💀 Vivien Chien – Misfortune Cookie
💀 Leonard Goldberg – The Wayward Prince
💀 Carolyn Haines – Tell-Tale Bones
💀 Olivia Matthews – Hard Dough Homicide
💀 Allison Montclair – The Lady from Burma
💀 Korina Moss – Curds of Prey
💀 Mindy Quigley – Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust
💀 Katharine Schellman – The Last Drop of Hemlock
COZY CASE FILES Volume 20
Looking for a new cozy series? In the latest edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of nine charming cozy mysteries publishing in Winter 2024 for free for easy sampling.
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