The Death of the Cozy

[Will Parish]

Is the mystery cozy dead? There are fewer and fewer cozy stories being published. Why is that? Any good cozy writers out there?

[Jack Getze]

I think any Agatha Christie novel would fit. And most of the ones I've read are wonderful fun--nice puzzles. Jeff Markowitz, Neil Plakcy, Susan Goodwill, and Chris Grabenstein are some other writers who lurk here.

[Jeff Markowitz]

Thanks Jack.

[Jeff Markowitz]

No offense taken. Frankly, I don't spend a lot of time worrying about genres or sub-genres, or cross-genres. I have always believed that what readers want is a good story, well told. The rest is marketing.

[Jack Getze]

Well said, Jeff. I think most of us writers have a story we want to tell, and where it lands in the bookstore is all marketing, not pre-design.

[Rosemary Harris]

I don't think it's dead, but I think some writers are quietly rebelling and calling themselves traditional mysteries, or humorous mysteries. I don't know what your definition of the genre is, but I thought it was - no serious sex, most violence off the page, don't kill the damn cat. Not horrible things if the story is good, but the word cozy makes my flesh crawl. It sounds like Geezer Lit.

[Laura Root]

I agree Rosemary. Another good "cozy" type writer is Elizabeth Peters - she has the Amelia Peabody series, about early 20th Century archeologists in egypt, and her older Vicky Bliss series has been reprinted. I think Michael Pierce's Mamur Zapt series could be described as traditional, if not cosy (set in late 19th Century colonial Cairo)

[Jackie Houchin]

Geezer Lit can be funny. One I reviewed at the end of last year was hilarious. "Retirement Homes are Murder" by Mike Befeler. It was like an aging James Bond, with a blind side kick! Addressed some interesting issues too.

[Jacki]

I don't think it is dying because from what I can see there are literally hundred's of Cozy's out there just waiting to be read, It's just another Media Hype , and if it is True that the Average Cozy Reader is a Middle Aged Woman then we Media Baby Boomers are growing in leaps and bounds with the Spending Power behind us and maybe the Publishers should take note of this.

[Kevin Allman]

I think there are probably fewer than there were a generation or two ago...but I also think there are plenty out there, and they just don't get the mainstream press reviews. You can read the NY Times, Wash Post, L.A. Times book reviews sections, and even when they do review mysteries, the reviewers and editors just don't seem interested in the cozy.