A thriller-writer friend of mine from England once asked me in his fabulous British accent, “Why do you say you write cozies? I don’t like cozies, but I love your books.”
My reply? “I never said I write cozies.” But that’s the label my mysteries have been given. It’s the shelf on which you’ll find them. It’s the tag the online booksellers have placed on them. Meanwhile, many readers don’t really understand what it means. What’s the difference between cozy and traditional? Mystery, suspense and thriller?
The answer? It depends.
If you read twelve articles on the subject of crime fiction (that’s another label!), you’re likely to find twelve different sets of definitions. Allow me to offer my own.
“Cozy” mysteries usually take place in small village or country settings. They’re generally light, fluffy, escapism reading. There’s no blood, violence, or sex on the page and no or little swearing. The sleuths are just plain folks, not law enforcement. These days, most cozies encompass recipes, hobbies, or interesting professions outside of those who normally solve murders.
I use such qualifiers as “usually” and “normally” because there are series, like mine, that don’t quite check all the boxes. My Zoe Chambers mysteries take place in a rural setting, but Zoe is a paramedic with a side gig at the coroner’s office, so she’s out there on the front lines. Her love interest, Pete Adams, is the Chief of Police, so there’s a heavy dose of police procedure throughout the pages. There’s some violence, but out of respect for my cozy readers, I keep it to a minimum. Zoe has two cats and a horse and caring for them is as much of a hobby as she’s got. There are no recipes. Plus my topics are often too dark to be considered fluffy escapism. And my characters do tend to swear. A little.
I consider my books to be “traditional” mysteries, which offers more wiggle room for all those not-quite-cozy ingredients.
“Police Procedurals” have law enforcement taking a lead role in the stories. Think Ed McBain, Robert Parker (Jesse Stone), and Craig Johnson, to name a few authors who fit solidly in this category.
Along the same line, “Legal or Medical Thrillers” (or mysteries) focus on those professions.
The “Amateur Sleuths” label is self-explanatory. Most cozies merge into this category as do any number of darker styles, providing the person working to solve the crime isn’t a cop or a private investigator.
Which brings me to the “P.I.” category. Robert Parker’s Spenser series is the one that immediately jumps to mind.
“Historical,” as the label implies, is a mystery of any of the other sub-genres that takes place in the past, from a couple decades to a few centuries ago.
The label “noir” takes a mystery to the dark side of the spectrum. Gritty, grimy, inner city settings with down-on-their-luck heroes tend to be key to these stories. Think Mike Hammer.
Mysteries aren’t the only type of crime fiction.
With a “caper,” instead of a protagonist trying to solve a murder, the protagonist might be the one planning a heist. Think Ocean’s Eleven. These tales also frequently lean heavily on humor.
“Suspense” and “thrillers” veer away from whodunits. In a mystery, the reader learns the clues along with the protagonist. They might suspect the identity of the real killer, but they don’t find out for sure until the hero does. In suspense and thrillers, the reader is a step ahead of the hero. The reader might even know from page one who the villain really is, so the question becomes will the hero fall prey to the killer? Or will the hero find the bad guy and disarm the bomb in time to save the world? The difference between suspense and thrillers is the stakes involved. If the hero is trying to save himself or his family, it’s suspense. If he’s trying to keep the bomb from blowing up the nuclear plant, it’s a thriller.
There are other sub-genres. Paranormal. Romantic suspense. Spy thrillers. Animal mysteries. And new ones crop up all the time.
Yes, almost any crime novel can fit into more than one category. Even without the sub-genre confusion, many of my mystery novels (including Under the Radar) also slide into suspense territory. Once the whodunit is solved, the reader has to worry about whether the clever villain will harm or kill the hero before being brought to justice.
If you’re thinking that many of these categories and sub-genre designations are subjective, you’re absolutely right. Which is why I don’t argue (much) when mine are tucked into the cozy shelf at the bookstore.
A mystery by any other name is just as much fun.
Annette Dashofy is the bestselling author of the Zoe Chambers Mystery Series. Her books are available at your local book stores, on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.