A little while back, I got an interesting question from Patti. Rather than rephrase it, I’m going to just quote some of Patti’s letter:
What types of cozies do you and your cozy-mystery loving friends like the best: Thought provoking? Darker? Lighter? Silly? Nothing but humor? A mixture of humor, seriousness, dark and character warmth?
I like a mixture of everything but find that lately I’m turned off by cozies that are way, way, way too silly or ones where the protagonist is too stupid to live. I can take a little bit of the too stupid to live thing, but sometimes it’s way out of control. Silliness with little to no depth of character bugs me! I kind of wish we had more gothic-like (Victoria Holt-ish!) cozies that give the reader a feel for time and place and characterization, but still move at a great pace.
For my own response, I’ll say that I do appreciate both comedic and dramatic elements as long as they are done well. I try to see the best in all the books I read, and there are plenty of great Cozies that lean strongly toward one end of the spectrum or the other! That said, all of the authors that I consider my particular favorites tend to mix lighter and more serious elements in various amounts >>> after all, it is hard to portray something as serious as murder in a purely comedic light, but it is also hard to hold a reader’s attention for a long period of time without a bit of a lighter element to relax the mood a bit as well.
So I guess I would have to say that I prefer a balance. A good example of this would be Agatha Christie‘s Poirot mysteries. While Christie deals with the actual crime in a very serious manner, there are always interesting, comedic elements that are thrown into her novels. At the same time, I love Anne George‘s Southern Sisters series, and those are pretty funny all the way through.
So,
What types of cozies do you… like the best: Thought provoking? Darker? Lighter? Silly? Nothing but humor? A mixture of humor, seriousness, dark and character warmth?
Please post a comment below. Thank you!
Here is the list of new release for March 20 to March 26, 2017!
I know a lot of you follow Turner Classic Movies channel’s mystery movies, as well as their terrific classic movies. And, let’s face it, anyone who enjoys that channel knows how absolutely phenomenal Robert Osborne’s terrific special conversations with actors, as well as his even more terrific introductions and wrap-ups of movies were. Unfortunately, Robert Osborne passed away on March 6, 2017. Because of his recent death, the Turner Classic Movies channel has rescheduled their showings for this weekend to include “Private Screening” with different actors as well as the 20th year anniversary tribute for Robert Osborne, along with his “Live from the TCM Film Festival” conversations with actors.
Finally, 