Friday Fives #8 – Five essentials for your Cozy Murder Mystery Kit

Posted September 17, 2021 by elzaread in Friday Fives / 27 Comments

 Greetings! It’s Friday and this week has been cold and miserable all the way through. Time to have some fun and Friday Fives is the ideal opportunity. Connect Five is hosted by The Book Date and the idea is to connect 5 books in some or other fun way. Theme, covers, authors, genres – you name in.

For today, we will tweak the idea a bit and instead of linking five books, we are going to show you how you can build your very own Cozy Murder Mystery kit with 5 essentials. If you can combine these five elements and have a good murder in mind, you can write the next best seller!

1. A small town / Seaside Town / The Countryside

The ideal setting for a Cozy Murder Mystery, is key. Everybody has to know each other. Your amateur sleuth, who will of course be the crime solver extraordinaire and the main character for the rest of your series, is also not allowed to be a complete stranger. She has to be a long lost relative, or the beneficiary of a forgotten will at least.

 

2. An Inheritance
 
Your sleuth has to end up in Little Town for a reason. An inheritance is a sure win. Oh your options are endless! Your sleuth can inherit an old house (first prize winner all the time), a shop (bookshops are also good to guarantee a 5 star read), a bakery, an inn, or even the whole town! let your imagination run free. Just remember, there has to space to hide a body and a whole collection of Clue characters that are all rather suspicious. Note: It’s never, ever one of the suspicious characters. Rather kill them off if you don’t like them, but don’t let them be the killer.
3. A Cat
 
Your amateur sleuth is moving to the Little Town all by herself. She is either divorced, widowed or unluckily single. She will need company and a crime-solving partner who is non-human. Your ideal option  is a cat. The occasional dog can work too, but only in very, very rare circumstances. You can decide if the kitty moves with, if it’s going to be a rescue kitty (always a sure heart-warmer), or if the kitty is part of the inheritance. You are of course welcome to use more than one feline character. Just never kill them off. Being kidnapped or very slightly hurt, is acceptable and brings a lovely twist in the tail tale.
4. A Gossip Club 
 
You will need a communal area for gossip. A place where you can pick up all the “my uncle’s nephew’s first wife’s, second cousin once removed’s, daughter in law’s, cat with the seven kittens” stories. Both killer and/or murder victim are usually a member, or a loyal patron. Even if it’s only for a short while. Once again, the opportunities are endless. A coffeeshop, a library, a book club, a wine club, a knitting club, a crochet club, a quilting club, a tennis club, a murder club etc. They just have to meet at least once a month and there must be some juicy gossip. Usually regarding the stranger in town. Note: That stranger is 9/10 times the killer. Or the murder victim.
5. A Romantic Interest
 
One of the key difference between a Murder Mystery and a Cozy Murder Mystery, is that the Cozy Murder Mystery normally ends with a warm and cozy feeling. No better way to generate that than with a romantic interest. This love interest is normally someone on the side of the law. Your sleuth’s main purpose is to solve murders. But that is not her job, she and her feline partner are just so clever and witty to solve all the murders. She still needs someone with a badge or a degree or something relevant to do the final paperwork. Yes, a love triangle is allowed and you can stretch this out way into your series.
And there you have it. 5 Easy essentials to put you on the path to writing your own Cozy Murder Mystery. Now, go and find yourself a murder with an interested plot and use our ready made kit. We promise we will be the first to read it!
Have a wonderful weekend ahead!
Lots of Love,

 

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27 responses to “Friday Fives #8 – Five essentials for your Cozy Murder Mystery Kit

  1. I liked learning about the differences between cozy and murder mystery. I like fiction that is more close to true crime so I lean closer to murder mystery reading. Hope your mom reads aloud.

    • Hi Trin! I've never read Cozy Mysteries, but got so many fun recommendations last year when I started my blog, that I started acquiring a few. Now I love it! But yes, I also like my more serious crime for sure. Cozies are good pallet cleansers.

  2. This is perfect! I'm a big fan of the inheritance especially. I'm okay if the animal is a dog instead of a cat (sorry Elza!)but there MUST be an animal side kick!

    • I'm just biased and I know I am! ? About the cat that is. Oh and I haven't read a cosy mystery yet with a dog as a side kick. What can you recommend?

  3. This sounds great. I am not a big reader of crime fiction but I like to watch them on TV and that's exactly what most of those stories need.

  4. I'm just starting to read cozy mysteries and I enjoy them so far. I love your list! I wonder if we can replace the cat with a small dog also? I love cats, but love dogs too.

    • I'm in the same boat as you! Only started reading cosy mysteries about a year ago. I still prefer my more heavier murder mystery, but cosies are good pallet cleansers.

    • I've only started reading cosy mysteries about a year ago and now I'm basically always busy reading one in between my stack of books.
      Always a great escape!

    • I also like a bookstore setting and I am currently busy with Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Not quite a cosy though.
      Small English villages are a sure win yes!

  5. One of my favorite cozy cat mysteries, The Magical Cats Mysteries by Sofie Kelly, just released a new book, and I'll read it this weekend.
    A small town librarian, who has oodles of friends, and a handsome police detective boyfriend, and two cats who have mysterious powers.
    What's not to love?

    • Oh my gosh! That sounds brilliant yes! I am going to take a look right now. Thanks for the recommendation.

      Hope you will have a wonderful weekend. ?