History Main / CozyMystery

** ''Literature/HomocideAndHaloHalo''

Cozy mysteries, or "cozies" for short, are a type of MysteryFiction in which there are few to none of the elements that make a "hard-boiled" mystery (graphic violence, profanity, or explicit sex). Most often, the crime takes place off-stage and death is usually very quick (usually by poisoning or being pushed out of a window). The victim is usually an AssholeVictim, and if there's more than one victim, they are usually connected, though the reader is not aware of the obvious connections until the amateur sleuth solves the crimes. The crime-solver is usually a very intuitive, bright woman with a down-to-earth hobby or occupation, e.g. cooking, scrapbooking, knitting, painting, quilting, working in a teashop, etc. She may or may not be accompanied by a friendly dog or cat. Male crime-solvers in Cozy Mysteries aren't unheard of, but they are less common.

* ''Series/MyLifeIsMurder'' Baker and retired police detective Alexa investigates cold cases that the police can't be bothered with in Australia (season 1) and New Zealand (season 2). And she has a cat.

The crime(s) that trigger a cozy aren't AlwaysMurder -- sometimes the crime might actually be something different, but still something that will warrant explanation and detective work. Sometimes they may even be mundane things like family mysteries or framing. This is especially true in works targeted at younger audiences.

* ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'' series: An herbalist monk solves mysteries in 12th-century Shrewsbury.

Cozy mysteries are considered "gentle" books, with no graphic violence, profanity, or explicit sex. Most often, the crime takes place off stage and death is usually very quick (usually by poisoning or being pushed out of a window). The victim is usually an AssholeVictim, and if there's more than one victim, they are usually connected, though the reader is not aware of the obvious connections until the amateur sleuth solves the crimes.

The crime-solver in a cozy mystery is usually a very intuitive, bright woman with a down-to-earth hobby or occupation, e.g. cooking, scrapbooking, knitting, painting, quilting, working in a teashop, etc. She may or may not be accompanied by a friendly dog or cat. Male crime-solvers in Cozy Mysteries aren't unheard of, but they are less common.

The murderers in cozies are generally members of the community where the murder occurs and able to hide in plain sight, and their motives are often rooted in events years, or even generations, old. They are typically neither psychopaths nor serial killers, and are often rational and highly articulate, enabling them to explain their motives after their unmasking.

On occasion, the crime won't be AlwaysMurder -- sometimes the crime might actually be something different, but still something that will warrant explanation and detective work. Sometimes they may even be mundane things like family mysteries or framing. This is especially true in works targeted at younger audiences.

* Several series have been produced for the Series/HallmarkMoviesAndMysteries channel.

* ''Eagle Eye Mysteries: The Original'' takes place in the fictional town of Richview where the two characters Jake and Jennifer Eagle must solve mysteries where they have to find missing items or track down a guilty culprit.

* ''Literature/HerRoyalSpynessMysteries'': Narrator Lady Victoria Georgiana "Georgie" Charlotte Eugenie, cousin of King George V of England, is penniless, trying to survive on her own in London in 1932, and has been asked to spy and solve mysteries for Her Majesty the Queen.

* Many of the ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' titles take place in small communities where most of the suspects know each other. Only a few titles (Deadly Device and Secrets can Kill) actually involve murder -- usually, the crimes are conspiracies, extortion, or a ScoobyDooHoax. However, the Game Over sequences are quite graphic.
* ''VideoGame/Persona4'' has a few aspects of this -- the main character Narukami is an outsider who moves to a small town in Japan where a murder happens... at the same time portals to a supernatural world [[ItMakesSenseInContext in the TV]] appear.

* AmateurSleuth
* DetectiveAnimal
* FriendlyGhost
* LighterAndSofter
* LittleOldLadyInvestigates
* MagicalRealism
* PsychicPowers
* PunBasedTitle
* RedHerring
* WhoMurderedTheAsshole

** LittleOldLadyInvestigates

** FriendlyGhost
** PsychicPowers

* ''Series/FatherBrown'': The TV adaptation takes the oft-travelling priest of Chesterton's stories and roots him cozily in a tight-knit small town in the West Country with a very large proportion of Catholic residents (and therefore the good father's parishioners).

* Most of Agatha Christie's ''Literature/MissMarple'' stories, which follow a little old spinster lady from England with an occasional tendency to stumble into murder mysteries.

Cozy mystery series frequently have a prominent thematic element or PunBasedTitle introduced by the detective's job, pet or hobby. There are also cozy mystery series with themes of Christmas, Easter, and other holidays.

The cozy mystery usually takes place in a small town or village, to make it believable that all the suspects know each other. The amateur sleuth is usually a very likeable person who is able to get the community members to gossip about each other, and there is usually at least one very knowledgeable and nosy character who is able to fill in all of the blanks, thus enabling the amateur sleuth to solve the case.

* ''Literature/BarkeryAndBiscuits'': Carrie Kennersly lives in a small town where she works two jobs: as a veterinary techician, and as the owner and manager of ''Barkery and Biscuits'', a bakery that makes both pastries for humans and dog treats. She solves various offscreen murders and other crimes that all relate to dogs in some way. There is also a heavy focus on Carrie's personal life, especially her romantic life.

* ''Literature/TheCatInTheStacksMysteries'': A widowed library archivist solves mysteries with the help of his pet cat. The spinoff series, ''Southern Ladies Mysteries'', has the Ducote sisters (whom he knows from the Friends of the Library board) also stumbling on mysteries, both in their hometown and in towns they're visiting.

* ''Literature/DixieHemingwayMysteries'': Chronicles the adventures of a cop turned pet-sitter living in Siesta Key, Florida.

* ''Literature/NickAndNoraMysteries'': Nora Charles, an investigative journalist in Chicago, moves back to her small home town in California to run her late mother's sandwich shop, but finds herself again involved in mysteries after meeting Nick, a cat who belonged to a now-missing and possibly dead private investigator.

* ''Literature/RetiredWitchesMysteries'': A coven of three older witches -- Molly Addison Renard, Elsie Clarrett Langston, and Olivia Dunst -- run a shop in Wilmington, North Carolina, hiding their witchy nature in plain sight. With their powers fading from age, the trio are looking for three new witches to take over and inherit their ancestral spellbook, so they can retire. But when Olivia is suddenly murdered (and returns as a ghost, to the disapproval of the Grand Council of Witches) and their spellbook stolen, the three must work with new coven member Dorothy Dunst Lane (Olivia's long-hidden daughter) and initially reluctant ally Brian Fuller to solve the crime... and then some others that pop up involving witches. It was the last series created by CreatorCouple Joyce and Jim Lavene, with the third book being published posthumously.

* ''Literature/IrishVillageMysteries'': Siobhan O'Sullivan runs her parent's bistro with her five other siblings in the small village of Killbane, Ireland. She gets involved in a murder investigation (and eventually becomes a garda) when a man is found stabbed to death in the bistro.