In this book the character goes from a large city to a small community where she needs to not only learn about her new neighborhood but she also has to find a murder. This new community connection happened in the cozy Bait and Witch by Angela Sanders. This gets interesting because the amateur sleuth has to get to know the community in order to find the killer, before they are next. Not only do they have to learn a new job but also learn about their community as well. In more recent cozy mysteries there is also the character picking up their life to move to a small community. We all have a connection to a community that we either live in or grew up in. This allows for the reader to not only grow with the character in the community but it also gives a sense of familiarity as well. Active community members happen on occasion, like in Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs, where the protagonist has an established business in the community and is roped into solving a crime that happened. The homegrown sleuths are pretty common in a lot of cozy mysteries, such as Twisted Threads by Lea Wait. In most cozy mysteries the protagonist is a female who is educated and either she is coming back to a hometown she left or is an active member of the community, either born or raised, moved to the location, or has been there for a few years. This is something that is very important to cozy mysteries - the protagonist’s relationship with their community. In her article she talks about how the amateur sleuth, who can be anyone, doesn’t just take on solving a crime because they have to, they do it because they want to make a difference in their community. With her books selling so well she was able to make the decision to leave her job and write as a full time author. Until a couple of years ago she was working as an academic librarian in Ohio. In case you are unfamiliar with Flower she is the author of The Magical Bookshop Mystery series, Amish Candy Shop Mystery series, and Magic Garden Mystery series. Amateur Sleuth and Supporting CharactersĪmanda Flower wrote a great article for Publisher’s Weekly on the topic of cozy mysteries. ![]() So what is it about these books that have recaptured our readers? Is it the quirky community? The delicious food or amazing crafts that the amateurs take on? Or is it the murder itself? Honestly, it is all of this and more!Ĭozy mysteries can be defined by these characteristics: an amateur sleuth and support character, location, suspect lists, and clean story. The genre did die down a little in the early 1900s but it became popular again in the 1990s, before dying down once more. They have been around since Agatha Christie started writing. Agent: Nicole Resciniti.Cozy mysteries are nothing new. Amish cozies can work, but Flower needs to work on making characters credible and compelling. Flower offers imaginative touches: pets with character (a crabby cat named Gigabyte). The bad guys are cartoony (“he grinned at me, tobacco juice trailing down his lower lip”) the theology of the Amish implausible (“there is not one right way to be obedient to the Lord”). Unfortunately, the characters are cardboard. Thus begins the novel’s central relationship, soon complicated by Chloe’s work environment, a car accident that kills an Amish bishop, and Becky’s hunky brother Timothy, who has left the Amish but is still righteous enough to be a Mennonite. Driving to her new home in Appleseed Creek, Chloe meets a young Amish woman, Becky, who needs rescue from two local thugs harassing her as she walks down the road. ![]() A sad family history is packed in her baggage. The premise promises: Chloe Humphrey is a 24-year-old geek hired to direct technology services at a tiny college in Ohio’s Amish country. Flower (Maid of Murder), a librarian, diversifies the popular Amish niche with this unsuccessful cozy.
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