# Cozy mystery recommendations wanted **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938 "2016-07-14T23:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/21 "2016-07-15T19:43:07Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > It’s not one of the Tommy-and-Tuppence ones I was thinking of when I wrote that, but why don’t you think it technically fits the OP’s criteria? > > (Er, with spoilers, of course; no reason to spell out _why_ for the OP, just _whether_.) _The Secret Adversary_ was a spy thriller. I enjoyed it – 40-some years ago? – but it’s no cozy. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/22 "2016-07-15T19:45:41Z")
It’s a COCKEYED spy thriller, of course. Tommy & Tuppence are comic characters. I believe they were battling a _faux_ Fu Manchu, an ersatz Moriarty, a phony Fantomas…parodies of earlier Evil Geniuses. But it HAS been 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/23 "2016-07-15T20:39:03Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > _The Secret Adversary_ was a spy thriller. I enjoyed it – 40-some years ago? – but it’s no cozy. Well, look, the thing is that while it’s a lighthearted and breezy spy thriller [spoiler]where the case is locating sensitive government documents, they approach it like amateur sleuths (tailing folks through city streets, sneaking into place to eavesdrop on a conversation, conning people into revealing stuff, interrogating the occasional suspect, offering a potential informant a cash bribe, and so on) and soon realize they can solve the mystery by solving a kidnapping – which they can do in its own right, or by solving the murder of someone the kidnapper silenced – or they could simply realize what that kidnapped woman meant by her cryptic remark, which we readers heard too. Tommy _does_ realize what that kidnapped woman meant by her cryptic remark, which means he _doesn’t_ actually need to solve the kidnapping in general or the murder in particular, since he and the reader can then deduce the location of the documents; but, great guy that he is, he instead goes for bonus points by solving that kidnapping by solving that murder, by process of elimination, by spotting the discrepancy we readers also get to see, sure as we also have the same Which-Suspect-Would’ve-Made-That-Error knowledge that Tommy has.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/24 "2016-07-15T20:48:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > As is often the case, [Wikipedia has an article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cozy_mystery).I think of them as the kind of mystery novel a little old lady of delicate sensibilities would read. (Their readership is not limited to this demographic, though I suspect it does skew female and older.) As an aside, I do not fit that demographic. 😉 And what I was looking for was much closer to this than RealityChuck’s definition. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/25 "2016-07-15T20:49:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Mysteries have a zillion subgenres. Fenris seems to be using “cozy” to mean a “fair play” mystery, where the reader gets all the clues. Cozy has a different meaning these days, usually a small town setting with a woman as the detective. Those may or may not be fair play. I want a cozy that’s also a “fair play”. 🙂 Ever read the Mrs Pollifax books? They’re sort of cozy spy novels. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/26 "2016-07-15T20:50:26Z")
I second the recommendation for the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Archie Goodwin has much more personality than Hercule Poirot. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/27 "2016-07-15T23:08:33Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [Here are the twenty rules Van Dine laid down for a cozy mystery to follow](http://web.archive.org/web/20120106125010/http://www.sfu.ca/english/Gillies/Engl38301/rules.htm); reading them gives a good idea of how artificial the stories are, which is, of course, a large part of the point: This is escapist fiction, not a fictional exploration of social problems which lead to homicide. It’s a logic problem in a top hat and tails, and at its best it dances like Fred Astaire, performing a delicate magic trick with suspects and clues galore. That was true then, but not now. My wife has a cozy placed with an agent. **Exapno Mapcase** gave pretty much the current definition, to which I’d add that the lady amateur detective has some business which she runs and which does not get in the way of detecting. Examples are pet sitting, cheese shops, muffin shops, and crossword puzzle constructing. Cozies are also relatively unrealistic, with the police not getting very much in the way of the detective. A characteristic of the cozy is that the detective can make a living selling muffins in a small town - so as I said, unrealistic. Cozy fans gobble them up. I just read the 17th in the Puzzle Lady series, which my wife got for my from the library because Will Shortz did the puzzles. The puzzles were good, if easy - the book really, really sucked. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/28 "2016-07-15T23:24:15Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > When I was much younger (mid teens) I went through a brief period where I read a ton of “cozy” mysteries. I’m not sure what you mean, but “cozy” is how I would describe the Brother Cadfael mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/29 "2016-07-15T23:42:25Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > It’s not one of the Tommy-and-Tuppence ones I was thinking of when I wrote that, but why don’t you think it technically fits the OP’s criteria? > > (Er, with spoilers, of course; no reason to spell out _why_ for the OP, just _whether_.) As others have pointed out, the Secret Adversary is a) more of a spy novel than a detective story; and b) although there are clues and a major twist, it isn’t really fair play in that it’s more a villains vs. good guys thing than a “group of ordinary people, one of whom is the murderer” story. But it is cozy in the sense that it’s very genteel, without a lot of blood and gore, and suitable for reading by little old ladies. Tommy and Tuppence were more spies than detectives, except in _Partners in Crime_, the short story collection, which is extremely dated because it parodies the popular fictional detectives of 100 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/30 "2016-07-16T00:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > lady amateur detective has some business which she runs and which does not get in the way of detecting. Examples are pet sitting, cheese shops, muffin shops, and crossword puzzle constructing. > Cozies are also relatively unrealistic, with the police not getting very much in the way of the detective. when there were only a few dozen of these series lots of them were worth reading. now we have twenty bazillionty and so many are not, too much chaff in with the wheat. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/31 "2016-07-16T02:07:11Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I recommend Louise Penny’s Three Pines mysteries, starting with _Still Life_ and read in order. The town and its inhabitants are as important to the series as the plot, but there is enough genuine mystery to keep the books chugging along. > > I’m a desert dweller and hate the cold, but I’d live in Three Pines, Quebec (despite the fact that an inordinate number of townsfolk wind up dead). Another vote for these, and I’d add that if you like audiobooks, this series is particularly great. Ralph Cosham is the narrator for the first ten books (unfortunately, he died a few years ago) and his voice is perfect. When I actually read the books, I “hear” them in his voice. Also, Louise Penny pretty reliably releases a new book in the series every August. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/32 "2016-07-16T10:38:54Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean, but “cozy” is how I would describe the Brother Cadfael mysteries. There’s a very specific definition of Cozies. But, _in a way_, they are just Traditional mysteries–before the Noirish Hard Boiled Crime Tales got popular. So Brother Cadfael would count. (I’ve been reacquainting myself with Lord Peter.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/33 "2016-07-16T16:20:33Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > As others have pointed out, the Secret Adversary is a) more of a spy novel than a detective story; and b) although there are clues and a major twist, it isn’t really fair play in that it’s more a villains vs. good guys thing than a “group of ordinary people, one of whom is the murderer” story. But it is cozy in the sense that it’s very genteel, without a lot of blood and gore, and suitable for reading by little old ladies. > > Tommy and Tuppence were more spies than detectives, except in _Partners in Crime_, the short story collection, which is extremely dated because it parodies the popular fictional detectives of 100 years ago. Still, the twist in **Secret Adversary** is that Tommy and Tuppence don’t in fact have official credentials from the British government – and so they explain away their acting-like-private-eyes hijinks by just _introducing themselves as private eyes._ (And that’s leaving aside how Tuppence enlists the aid of a detective-novel-loving bellboy by passing herself off as an American detective passing herself off as a Brit while tracking down a jewel thief – complete with a reassuring promise that the aging oilman footing the bill for her detective work will reward the wide-eyed kid who’s truly impressed by how well she’s apparently faking an English accent.) I mean, yes, Christie obviously takes the joke further in **Partners In Crime** , where the government (a) has them go undercover as private detectives, and (b) again, doesn’t actually care whether they solve murders that come to their attention while they’re on the job – but, again, both stories get to a weird place where the couple who call themselves private eyes while acting like private eyes succeed at private-eye work, and at some point I figure that technically counts. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/34 "2016-07-16T16:41:52Z")
BTW, Tommy and Tuppence break up another spy ring in the second novel, _N or M_, although that is more of a standard who’s the bad guy? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/35 "2016-07-16T23:52:15Z")
As far as classics, Dorothy Sayers’ “The Nine Tailors” is a wonder. It’s just plain fun, all the way through. And it’s completely honest with the reader: the necessary information is right there in front of your nose. **Reality Chuck** mentioned “Death in Paradise” and “Midsomer Murders,” which are really spiffing TV shows. Another lovely TV show is “Miss Fischer Mysteries,” and the books, by Kerry Greenwood, are also a delight. The TV show captures the spirit of the books beautifully; one of the most loyal adaptions from book to drama ever. (Hm… I just looked, and someone named Robert Thorogood is writing “Death in Paradise” tie-in novels, to good reviews on Amazon. I’ll grab one and see.) ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/36 "2016-07-17T01:36:09Z")
Since there seem to be a lot of people with knowledge of Agatha Christie in this thread, can I ask a question that isn’t worth its own thread? The other day, I was looking for something to read myself to sleep with, and by random chance picked her story, “The Bloodstained Pavement.” It’s the first AC story I’ve read, unless I read one so long ago that I’ve forgotten it. You would think that with a title like that, the bloodstains on the pavement might be important. The narrator says she thought she saw them from a distance, but wasn’t sure she could trust her eyes. She asked a fisherman standing next to her, and he said there were none, but it was strongly implied that he misunderstood the question. Shortly afterward, she walked down and examined the pavement, and there were none. [spoiler]The thing is, they should have been there. The crucial fact of the story was that blood was dripping off the red bathing suit hanging from the balcony above the pavement, and that’s obviously why she saw the bloodstains. There was no indication that anybody cleaned the pavement in the short time it took her to walk down and examine it. And there was no explanation about why there were no stains there. Isn’t that cheating? It’s the title of the story, for chrissake. I took that to mean I was supposed to figure out where the bloodstains went, and the answer was — they just disappeared.[/spoiler] I’ve googled around looking for an explanation, or for someone to agree that maybe it was a mistake, but all I found were people giving their opinion of how good a story it was, without mentioning my question. Any help? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/37 "2016-07-17T01:51:24Z")
Can’t help with that specific book…but Agatha Christie does sometimes play games with her readers. She’s played the “untrustworthy narrator” game more than once. She’s good, but she doesn’t always play fair with us. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/38 "2016-07-17T02:05:17Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > I second the recommendation for the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Archie Goodwin has much more personality than Hercule Poirot. Or Perry Mason. I don’t really have the sense that **Fenris** hasn’t already read Wolfe, though. On the off-chance that he hasn’t, however, I’ll assume he also hasn’t read Ngaio Marsh, Christie’s contemporary and a superior mystery writer in every respect, so her. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/39 "2016-07-17T02:33:23Z")
Recommending cozies can be hard because even the ones I like are often quite flawed. Cozies for me are for when I want something very simple and easy to read. Here are a few series that I enjoy, in no particular order. I think they play fair, though my apologies if I just gloss over that sometimes. I do tend away from the cloying, but I think most people would call these cozies or cozy-esque. Firmly cozy: The Henrie O books by Carolyn G. Hart, starting with _Dead Man’s Island_, though I found that book both enjoyable and really, really stupid. The Amanda Pepper books by Gillian Roberts, starting with _Caught Dead in Philadelphia_. Cozy-esque: Because you mention Mrs. Pollifax, I thought you might like the Vicky Bliss books by Elizabeth Peters, starting with _Borrower of the Night_ (not the best book in the series, but fluffy and enjoyable). The Trudy Roundtree books by Linda Berry, starting with _Death and the Easter Bunny_. May not be cozy enough because Trudy is a cop, but the feeling is very cozy. Cozies, but with more of an edge: The Bailey Weggins books by Kate White, starting with _If Looks Could Kill_. And in the same-ish vein, the Sam Jones books by Lauren Henderson, starting with _Black Rubber Dress_. It’s not the first book in the series, but last time I looked the first two were not available in the US (this may be different now). I’m also addicted to the Melanie Travis books by Laurien Berenson, starting with _A Pedigree to Die For_. Though I’m hooked, they aren’t necessarily very good! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938/40 "2016-07-17T04:12:59Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > . . . The Henrie O books by Carolyn G. Hart, starting with _Dead Man’s Island_, though I found that book both enjoyable and really, really stupid. . . . Could you maybe put in a spoiler box why it’s both enjoyable and stupid? You’re pulling me both ways here! (I feel like a wad of taffy!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cozy-mystery-recommendations-wanted/759938.md?page=3)