Karen just asked me for help locating cozies which have the following criteria:

“…I’m always looking for that cozy that takes place at ‘the old mansion’ where some type of gathering takes place and, of course, a murderer is in the midst. If you could give me any direction on what authors or books deal specifically with that topic I would be extremely grateful. ”

For some reason, I could only come up with Red Christmas by Patrick Ruell (aka Reginald Hill), not to mention a few Agatha Christie novels… but since all of those titles get a little confusing to me, I couldn’t even be sure of those!

I am (again!) asking for help from you all. If you can think of any cozy mysteries that have the old-mansion-with-a-murderer plot, please let us know by posting a comment.

Thanks!

Hi Cozy Mystery Site Readers!

I just received a question from a site reader who also writes mysteries. So far, she has published short stories and is working on a cozy mystery. She would really appreciate our help. Here is her question:

“Do cozies need dead bodies?  Are the stories more exciting when they do have dead bodies or have you never really noticed?

I know there are a couple of cozies that come to mind that don’t have a dead body (there are some in the series, but not necessarily in every book.)  Sometimes that works for me, sometimes, not.  Usually it seems to have more to do with how entertaining the characters and story are overall.

Anyway, I was hoping you’d have an opinion–or maybe even knew of some additional cozies without dead bodies that I could read for reference!!!

If you have any insight, I’d love to hear it!!!

Thanks!“

I must tell you all, as a follow-up with the above author, she said:

“Now just know–there’s a character in my book… her LIFE depends on the answer we get!!!!!“

How is that for motivation?!?

So, please don’t be shy. If you have an opinion, a recommendation, or a thought on this particular query, we’d love to hear from you!

This is a follow up to yesterday’s entry. Bill wrote to thank me for addressing his question, with this:

“P.S. — BY the way, I do read a good number of mysteries with female protagonists…I liked Lonnie Cruse’s “Fifty-Seven Heaven,” for example, and some of the Sue Grafton books and many others….

I certainly did not mean to imply I “NEED” my protagonists to be male….

BUT, though it might sound stereotypical, there are, I suppose, some interests common to men and common to women…It would be a stretch for me to try to be interested in a subtext that involved knitting techniques or quilting or doll-collecting, for example, while my wife might have to strain to work up an interest in a subtext that involved fly-fishing or automotive restoration or NASCAR…”

Well put! I know that in this politically correct world we live in, we aren’t supposed to “notice” differences of any sort between men and women…. BUT, let’s face it, differences do exist! We might feel uncomfortable admitting it out loud, though.

With this in mind, it poses the question “Why do so many Cozy Mystery authors feel like they have to gear their subject matter towards women?”

• Is it because we like to read books that include our favorite interests?

• Is it because publishers push their authors to write themed Cozies with women in mind?

• Is it because we can identify with Cozy Mystery sleuths who seem most like us?

• Is it because the themed Cozy Mysteries that are serialized sell better once they have an established fan base, which is the publishers think should be limited to women?

• Is it because publishers think that ALL men want to read mysteries that include graphic sex, violence, and language – so they keep the non-graphic mysteries for women… focusing on women’s interests?

Hmmmm….. Sounds like I have a lot of questions, and no answers. Doesn’t it?!?