# What makes a book a "cozy mystery"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-book-a-cozy-mystery/967742>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [July 11, 2022, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-book-a-cozy-mystery/967742 "2022-07-11T03:46:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

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**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-book-a-cozy-mystery/967742/7 "2022-07-11T06:42:30Z")

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We just had a [thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-cozy-mysteries/944806) about this.

I stand by my post in that thread. For it to be a cozy mystery, the crime solver absolutely can not be in law enforcement of any kind. There can be a secondary character who is in law enforcement, like a bumbling police chief etc. If a LEO solves the mystery, it’s not a cozy.

To me, _Murder She Wrote_ set the stage for the popularity of cozy mysteries. _Lifetime_ took it and ran a bunch of cozies based on book series.

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