Having just done a post last week about the gentleness of Alexander McCall Smith's marvelous No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, I was interested to see this article in Friday's Wall Street Journal about "gentle reads and cozy mysteries."
I can't testify to Cynthia Crossen's non-mystery recommendations, but I can enthusiastically endorse some of the cozy authors she talks about - though I'm surprised she didn't mention Smith among them. But I am also a fan of Rhys Bowen, Laurie R. King and Nancy Atherton, among others, and it's good to see an endorsement of their books in the Journal. Some violence is pretty well unavoidable in a mystery, but most cozy authors will keep the violence well out of sight, unless it is such an integral part of the book that they have no choice but to make it more prominent.
And, of course, cozies are the natural heirs of the traditions of Golden Age mysteries. In fact, I was a bit surprised to see Josephine Tey listed as a "cozy" author. Tey began writing during the Golden Age and continued into the 1950s; her books generally have the necessary qualities shared by cozies, but they certainly predate today's true cozy authors.
Do you have some favorite authors in the cozy genre? If so, please feel free to leave a comment.
A few 'cozy' type books I've read and enjoyed in the past year or so.
SOME LIKE IT HOT BUTTERED by Jeffrey Cohen
INDEX TO MURDER by Jo Dereske (I love the entire series by Dereske, featuring Washington
state librarian, Miss Zukas.)
DEATH OF A COZY WRITER by G.M. Mallet (a terrific debut)
BEWARE FALSE PROFITS by Emilie Richards
BLESSED IS THE BUSYBODY by Emilie Richards
LET THER BE SUSPECTS by Emile Richards
THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan Bradley
THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN'S BAG by Alan Bradley
HIGH RHYMES AND MISDEMEANORS by Diana Killian (All the books in Killian's Poetic Death series
are pretty good.)
And I don't know if you'd count Ngaio Marsh as a 'cozy' writer, she was very much a Grand Dame in
the same vein as the great Agatha Christie. I recently reread all of Marsh's books and LOVED them all over again.
Posted by: Yvette | July 24, 2010 at 06:19 PM
I agree with your idea that Josephine Tey is not really a 'cozy' writer.
I think hers and Laurie King's work too elegant to qualify.
Not that I'm taking away anything from the 'cozies' I read and love.
But there IS a difference in tone. At least to my eye.
Exception to the rule:
Ngaio Marsh had elegance and was inclined to reveal truly awful ways
of killing off the victim (not off stage), but I still think of her books as 'cozies'.
Posted by: Yvette | July 24, 2010 at 06:25 PM
Interesting list, Yvette - there are some names there which are new to me and others are in the ever-growing pile of "To Be Read" books on my dresser.
I don't think of Ngaio Marsh as a cozy writer - she is, as you say, one of the Grand Dames of the mystery, with her earliest books quite solidly in the Golden Age. Yes, her violence can be on stage - certainly the murders in Death of a Peer are truly unpleasant and quite closely described, yet it's one of my favorite mysteries.
One book not yet in my pile, but to be added, is Alan Bradley's "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie," which is on your list. It has been nominated, I think, for just about every major first-timer award and has won several already.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Posted by: Les Blatt | July 24, 2010 at 07:57 PM
I believe these would qualify. I enjoy each of them.
The Mrs. Malory series by Hazel Holt
The Vish Puri series by Tarquin Hall
The Chet and Bernie series by Spencer Quinn
The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer (a YA series with Sherlock's young sister - only going to be six in all I think)
Posted by: Nan | July 25, 2010 at 10:09 AM
Thanks, Nan. The only one of those I have read is Nancy Springer - the Enola Holmes books are excellent. I'll have to add the others to my list.
Posted by: Les Blatt | July 25, 2010 at 12:00 PM
Les, I linked your site to my blog and mentioned it in yesterday's post which was, not so coincidentally, about cozy mysteries. Reading about them here gave me the idea, and since I've always loved them, I decided to expand a little. Added more to my list of good ones. Here's a link to it (hope you don't mind, I'm not quite sure of the etiquette of all this yet since I'm a new blogger), if you'd care to read it.
http://yvettecandraw.blogspot.com/2010/07/cozies-up.html
Posted by: Yvette | July 27, 2010 at 09:04 AM
Good list, Yvette. I hope other readers here will check out your link.
Posted by: Les Blatt | July 27, 2010 at 04:12 PM