The World Of Cosy Crime
Patricia-ann Young learns what’s behind our love of these feel-good mysteries.
COSY crime may sound a bit like an oxymoron, but it’s one of today’s most popular book genres.
These crime capers are usually set against picturesque backgrounds and feature well-to-do characters, but underneath the perfect sheen lies something murkier.
A huge joy of the cosy crime novel is working out what that murk is.
“People want to work out the puzzle; they want to solve the crime alongside the detective,” Lydia Travers, writer of the cosy crime series “The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency”, explains.
“It sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it? ‘A light-hearted murder’. But people want to enjoy mystery and intrigue without being frightened.
“There is still that curiosity and love of twists and turns. Readers ask themselves, ‘Can I solve this?’”
Lydia, who got her start writing romance stories for “The People’s Friend”, was inspired to write a story about two plucky young women in the 1910s solving murders in the Scottish Highlands.
“There’s a little romance in there, too. I’d written romance for so many years – I had to put it in!
“I like reading, I like puzzles – putting together a puzzle is what appealed to me,” she explains.
The genre also gives readers a sense of justice. The perpetrator, no matter how clever or dastardly, almost always get their comeuppance in the end.
In a time when the news seems relentlessly bleak, there’s something ironically comforting about disappearing into a world of cosy crime.
And while the murders at the heart of these books immediately create exciting stakes, there’s no salivating over the grislier details, as was popular in the gritty crime thrillers that dominated the 2010s.
“Nasty things are happening to people, but you don’t see it – the horrible stuff happen offstage.
“And I try to make sure I only dispose of people who aren’t very nice,” Lydia jokes.
So when you pick up your next cosy crime yarn, rest assured that you will encounter characters who represent the worst of humanity – but also that you’ll encounter those who represent the best of us, too.