Cozy Mysteries as Comfort Food

Kasey Cox

Sigh. It’s Sunday night, and I’ve worked all week. I had a meeting with the accountant on Wednesday night, and I finally got back to my exercise class on Thursday night. I was supposed to take some time off on Thursday afternoon, but I had a meeting with a local author I’m helping. The dishes have been piled up in the sink for several days, and there’s laundry to be done, including extra sheets from the massage room. My sister and I have been playing phone tag for at least a week.

When I check my facebook account, I see some friends talking about John Updike. Updike, arguably one of the best American novelists of the last century, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, died on January 27th of this year. My academic, well-read, bibliophile friends are lamenting his death, as well as how few people are reading Updike these days. I silently beat myself with my own personal “YOU SHOULD BE READING…” cat-o-nine-tails, telling myself I should be as “well-read” as people think I am. The guilt washes over me. For our last book club meeting, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the book. It’s a shame, because I’ve wanted to read “The Other Boelyn Girl” for quite some time. Philippa Gregory is not John Updike, but she’s provided us with several good, solid reads in historical fiction, backed by a ton of research on life in medieval England. I read Updike in college. I usually love historical fiction. So what’s wrong with me? (besides the Seasonal Affective slump that hits most of us in this area from January to April…..)

Thank God for a little fluff, and for friends who understand. When I confessed to my book club that I just couldn’t seem to stay with “The Other Boelyn Girl”, one of the women reassured me that she couldn’t read much of anything when she worked full time. Now that she’s retired, she’s happy to join a book club, and tackle some meatier books: she’s been reading our book of the month in addition to re-visiting many of the classics. Another woman I know – well-educated, intelligent, articulate – saunters into the bookstore regularly, boldly asking for her dose of “smut.” She has three very busy children, teenagers each involved in his own activities, to which she chauffeurs them on a daily basis, while running the household, helping with the family business, and being actively involved in local charities.

When your brain is completely consumed with keeping your life (not to mention the lives of your family, boss, clients, pets, church, favorite charity, etc.) going forward with at least a modicum of balance, it can be difficult to keep track of a list of characters and their heart-wrenching struggles. At this point, some women turn to bodice-rippers. I have discovered my brain comfort food in “cozy mysteries.” Although I do enjoy the forensic science fad that has swept the country over the past few years, watching countless episodes of “CSI” on TV and reading Patricia Cornwell along with half the U.S. population, cozy mysteries don’t go into much detail on science, blood, or sex. A cozy mystery is one that you’d be comfortable having your teenager read. According to this wonderful website I found, www.cozy-mystery.com, “cozy” readers are usually intelligent women (or men!) looking for a fun, engaging read. (Once again, words to soothe my literary ego.)

A cozy mystery draws the reader in with a spunky or eccentric protagonist, usually a woman who is not by profession a police officer or private detective. This amateur sleuth often finds herself accidentally associated with a murder investigation, and, being the intuitive, curious, social person she is, ends up helping to solve the crime. Why the term “cozy”? I’m not sure if it refers to the discreet references to violence or sex, or the fact that most of these stories take place in small towns, or if a cozy is usually murder among friends. As much as the reader might enjoy and identify with this spunky lady, you wouldn’t want her to move into your town, because the next one to turn up dead just might be you! Do you really want Jessica Fletcher or Miss Marple to be your new neighbor?

Hobo says don’t worry about the new neighbors; he and Gypsy are on Neighborhood Watch. He also promises not to write any of those cozy mysteries about a lady who solves crimes with her cats. Search for other clues about the mysteries of small town life at Hobo’s blog, http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com