#GuestPost – Author Kirsten Weiss: 7 Things Every Cozy Reader Can Relate To

7 Things Every Cozy Reader Can Relate To

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What makes a cozy mystery? They have definite tropes, such as amateur detectives and the violence taking place off the page. Here are a few other tropes you may recognize:

1) You want to hang out with the quirky book characters. A cozy mystery is almost always populated by eccentric characters – maybe a punk-rock cousin who’s obsessed with UFOs or an old lady convinced conspiracies are everywhere. Nutty or not, your new book friends are people you want to spend time with, because these quirky characters are never boring.

 

2) You’re ready to move to the book’s bucolic small town, even if it does have a terrifyingly high murder rate. Reading a cozy is like taking a virtual vacation. The locale is always charming. Everyone seems to know everyone. And even though the town is small, there’s no shortage of cupcake and yarn shops. And murders.

 

3) You fantasize about chucking it all and opening a bakery/bookstore/tearoom like your mystery-solving heroine. Cozy heroines may be quirky, they may be complicated, but they figure things out and get the job done – whether it’s baking a hundred cupcakes or solving a crime. What’s not to love about these independent heroines?

 

4) You start seriously thinking of adopting a pet just like the one in the cozy. Cozies love pets! In fact, an animal on the book cover is a big hint you’ve just picked up a cozy mystery. And the animal in the story usually isn’t just window-dressing, it’s somehow involved in the story. The pet may even have a character arc.

 

5) You get a crush on your new book boyfriend. Cozies tend to have strong subplots, and the number one subplot in a cozy is a romantic interest. He may be a cop, a suspect, or just the guy next door. Just don’t expect a lot of bedroom action – romance in cozies tends to move at a glacial pace and stay behind closed doors. (Though this rule is changing.)

 

6) You carefully review the clues. And if you figure out whodunnit before the murderer is revealed, you feel both satisfied by your success and disappointed the puzzle wasn’t puzzle-y enough. And if you don’t figure it out, you feel satisfied the puzzle was tough and disappointed that you couldn’t figure it out.

 

7) You feel a glow of satisfaction when the killer is brought to justice because they’re ALWAYS brought to justice. But even though you know whodunnit once you’ve finished the book, you start the story over again, because the characters were just that fun.

Photos 1,3, 5, 6 and 7 are courtesy of Unsplash. 
Photo # 4 is from Canva. 
Photo # 2 the author took herself.

 

What do a stolen lemon curd and alien abductions have to do with the death of a retired Air Force Colonel? Read about the new cozy mystery by Kirsten Weiss, “Close Encounters of the Curd Kind: A Doyle Cozy Mystery (A Wits’ End Cozy Mystery)” READ HERE

Book Links: Kindle /  Author affiliate  /   iBooks  /   B&N  /   Kobo   / Google Play  /  Video

 

About The Author:

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