[ SECRET POST #4978 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4978 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 40 secrets from Secret Submission Post #713.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

05. https://i.imgur.com/suHO7Ng.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I always assume 'cozy murder mysteries' were things like... Agatha Raisin or Murder She Wrote, where sometimes it's less about the BLOOD SPLATTER and OMG DEATH than the intricacies of the people involved in the story itself.

It may not be the best wording for it, but it does seem to be a different genre than say, Criminal Minds or Law and Order or something.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, this was my first thought, or things like the multitude of British mystery series (Midsommer Murders, Inspector Lewis, Pie in the Sky, etc.) where the focus is more on the characters and their relationships with each other and how those led to the crime rather than the actual crimes themselves.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, exactly. In many ways, "cozy" mystery stories are far, far less racist (and misogynistic) than "it's about brutal murder! it needs to be gritty to be authentic" stories.

[(Anonymous)]

I accept that "cozy" is a weird word to become a descriptor for the genre - it's really a description of the setting, IMO, more than the genre itself. I think that most of the settings and attributes that we associate with "cozy" are overwhelmingly white (and also, overwhelmingly affluent or at least upper-middle class). And I accept that many of the people who make and consumer 'cozies' are at least somewhat racist (just look at that whole Midsomer Murders imbroglio).

But I reject the idea that there's anything fundamentally racist about the genre. You could tell a cozy in a very wide range of settings, with characters of a wide range of backgrounds. And I personally think that cozies are very good at least in theory, although there's plenty of crap in the genre without a doubt.

[(Anonymous)]

I have a vague notion that there's a novel or series called something along the lines of The Nairobi Ladies Detective Agency which is a group of middle aged African church women solving crime, so there's at least one out there.

[(Anonymous)]

Midsomer Murder imbroglio? Care to elaborate?

[(Anonymous)]

"Cozy mysteries" where the mystery being solved is a murder really bother me too. Nine times out of ten the protag is, like, a woman who owns a cat and runs a bakery or craft shop, and to me that's 1. the least interesting part of the story, and 2. not stuff that meshes well with the inherent violence and trauma or murder. Like, dude. Somebody's dead. Their family is grieving. Stop that cutesy quirky stuff.

[(Anonymous)]

Nobody is dead. They're fictional characters. Preferring stories that focus on the emotional realism of loss and grief, or whatever, is just a preference.

[(Anonymous)]

See, I like that kind of stuff. I don't care about the fictional dead person's family. I want to see some old lady argue with the detective because she's a curtain twitcher who knows everything. Or I have a couple of books by Juliet Blackwell where the woman solving the mystery is a witch, so you get to deal with that kind of stuff as well as a murder mystery.

[(Anonymous)]

Cozy mysteries must be racist? Well that's a take.

[(Anonymous)]

My first thought was Miss Marple, which is ironic because Miss Marple is all about how the darkside of human nature exists everywhere including in somewhere as quaint as an English country village.

[(Anonymous)]

Gee, I hope you didn't pull a muscle reaching that goddamn hard!

[bur]

I always figure it means an English vicarage is involved.

[(Anonymous)]

Er... I don't think that's what differentiates cozy mysteries. It usually refers to a mystery story where the protagonist isn't a cop or law enforcement and tends to be more... well, fluffy. So light on the gore and blood splatter, heavy on the daydreamy settings like bookstore owner, coffee shop owner, lady with a cat whose knitting circle solves crimes, etc.

[nanslice]

I enjoy cozy mysteries and I'd love to know what is racist about them? I'm certain there are some that are (there's one series that is set in the South and has the word Confederate in the name, which is a big red flag) but I don't see how the genre itself is inherently racist.

[(Anonymous)]

As others have pointed out, the "cozy" label is to distinguish a specific type of murder mystery from others in the genre, such as the "hardboiled detective", Nordic crime noir, or the grim realistic procedural (such as Criminal Minds, SVU, etc). (No one is saying that violent crime is ever exactly "pleasant"--in real life or in fiction).

In a cozy, the murder victim is usually an asshole who few will miss, the detective is often an amateur and is usually pretty likable (if charmingly eccentric), darker themes/topics (ex: sexual violence, child abuse, incest, serial killers, etc.) are relatively rare (though not necessarily absent even in a cozy) compared to some of the more gritty crime series, and the specific gratuitous and gory details of the crime itself are also less explored.

Another thing worth noting is that--more so than other types of crime genre--cozies tend to be popular with and marketed specifically towards women, especially middle-aged or older women. Many of them feature female detectives and/or are written by female authors (or at least under a female pseudonym).

So, while cozies are definitely my favorite subgenre, I do have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction when hearing the term--especially when a book intentionally markets itself as a cozy. Since there's underlying subtext of "this thing is softer and popular with women so we must differentiate it from 'real' crime drama which is dark and edgy and therefore more IMPORTANT."

Sort of by default, cozy mysteries tend to be based in more of a suburban small-town type setting, and gentification being a thing does mean the genre as a whole tends to be fairly "white, middle class-focused." But not exclusively, as there are some great series that feature cozy detectives of color (ex: the aforementioned #1 Ladies Detective Agency, the Gethsemane Brown series, and the Sophie Katz series).

And honestly, crime fiction being predominantly created for/marketed to a white, middle class audience...is a problem with that isn't exclusively solely to the "cozy subgenre." ALL of the crime/mystery subgenres can do a lot better with representation.

Why shouldn't it be a thing?

[(Anonymous)]

Cozy as opposed to Hard-boiled. Sex and violence are not focused on and the setting is generally what gives it the 'coziness'. I don't see why it's so strange, there is a huge range within many genres (contrast Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' with Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid' or James Bond with George Smiley or dime novels with James Fenimore Cooper's work). I don't think it is inherently racist, though some foundational authors were (I still can't believe the original title of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None').

[(Anonymous)]

"Cozy mystery" in literary fiction is usually about murder mysteries that are more like "poisoned" or "looks like they fell and died" or other not-gory deaths.

It's also normally starring like, the woman who owns a bakery in a quaint seaside town.

[(Anonymous)]

The Gethsemane Brown series is by Alexia Gordon, who is a black woman.

There is no question that cozies are overwhelmingly by white female authors, but most books published in the first place are by white authors, so it's not like this is especially unusual.

How many black authors write mysteries and thrillers? Not too many.

[(Anonymous)]

Not into the mystery genre, but as I understand it "cozy" mysteries are in contrast to hard-boiled/noir fiction and tend to revolve around a woman solving the mystery rather than a male cop or PI. I think it's like if romcom characters solved murders in one of those little towns from a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie.

[(Anonymous)]

It's ok that it's not your thing.

[(Anonymous)]

yeah i balked when i heard this kind of story was called "cozy" because it sounds completely insane (and boring), buuut i guess it's just not to my taste?? (i have kind of wondered the same thing as you though about any unfortunate implications in the genre but i don't really know enough to say anything)

[(Anonymous)]

Sitting in a nice chair, wrapped up with a blanket, drinking hot cocoa or tea, and reading or watching a quaint and quirky mystery story sounds pretty cozy to me. It's a perfect name for the genre. Not everything has to be so complicated.

[(Anonymous)]

Cozy mysteries:

-Feature protagonists who are not law enforcement, but amateur detectives
-If they feature a murder, it happens offscreen and is not described in detail
-There is typically only one crime (murder) in each book
-The setting is a small town, particularly a rural one
-Protagonists are overwhelmingly women
-The books are either written by women or men using female pen names
Murder She Wrote is considered a cozy mystery.

"Hard" mysteries:
-Protagonist is almost always a LEO
-The setting is frequently a big city, or the protagonists has been sent from a big city
-Murders are almost always described on the page
-Multiple murders in a book are frequent
-Protagonists are overwhelmingly men written by men, with a few notable exceptions
Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith are considered "hard" mysteries.