Cozy mysteries (also referred to ascozies) are a sub-genre ofcrime fiction in which sex andviolence occur offstage, the detective is anamateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small socially-intimate community. Cozies thus stand in contrast tohardboiled fiction, in which more violence and explicit sexuality are central to the plot. The term "cozy" was first coined in the late 20th century, when various writers produced work in an attempt to recreate theGolden Age of Detective Fiction.^[1]

The detectives in such stories are nearly always amateurs and are frequently women. Village policemanHamish Macbeth, featured in a series of novels byM. C. Beaton, is a notable exception.^[2] These characters are typically well educated and intuitive, and hold jobs that bring them into constant contact with other residents of their community and the surrounding region (e.g., caterer, innkeeper, librarian, teacher, dog trainer, shop owner, reporter).^[3] Like other amateur detectives, they typically have a contact on thepolice force who can give them access to important information about the case at hand, but the contact is typically a spouse, lover, friend, or family member, rather than a former colleague.^[4] Dismissed by the authorities in general as nosy busybodies, particularly if they are middle-aged or elderly women, the detectives in cozy mysteries are thus left free to eavesdrop, gather clues, and use their native intelligence and intuitive "feel" for thesocial dynamics of the community to solve the crime.^[3]

The murderers in cozies are typically neither psychopaths nor serial killers and, once unmasked, are usually taken into custody without violence. They are generally members of the community in which the murder occurs and able to hide in plain sight, and their motives (greed,jealousy,revenge) are often rooted in events years or even generations old. The murderers are typically rational and often highly articulate, enabling them to explain or elaborate on their motives after their unmasking.

The supporting characters in cozy mysteries are often very broadly drawn and used ascomic relief. The accumulation of such characters in long-running cozy mystery series, such as those ofCharlotte MacLeod, frequently creates a stock company ofeccentrics among whom the detective stands out as the most, perhaps only, truly sane person.

One subtle joke in such series is how the main character constantly becomes embroiled in so many high-profile cases, often by accident. A long-running joke about the seriesMurder, She Wrote was how the main character/detective (Jessica Fletcher) had to be the actual murderer in every case: "No matter where she goes, somebody dies!"^[5]

Cozy mysteries do not employ any but the mildestprofanity. The murders take place off stage, frequently involve relatively bloodless methods such aspoisoning and falls from great heights. The wounds that are inflicted on the victim are never dwelt on and are seldom used as clues. Sexual activity, even between married characters, is ever only gently implied and is never directly addressed, and the subject is frequently avoided altogether.

The cozy mystery usually takes place in a town, village, or other community small (or otherwise insular) enough to make it believable that all the principal characters know and may well have long-standing social relationships with one another. The amateur detective is usually a gregarious, well-liked individual, who gets the community members to talk freely about one another. There is usually at least one very knowledgeable, nosy, yet reliable character in the book who is intimately familiar with the personal history and interrelationships of everyone in the town and can fill in the blanks of the puzzle to enable the amateur detective to solve the case.^[3]

Cozy mystery series frequently have a prominent thematic element introduced by the detective's job, pet or hobby.Diane Mott Davidson's cozies, for example, revolve around cooking,Parnell Hall's around crossword puzzles, andCharlotte MacLeod's "Sarah Kelling" series around art. Other series focus on topics including fishing, golfing, hiking, fashion, antiques, and interior decoration. Cat-lovers are well represented among the ranks of cozy-mystery detectives, notably in the work ofLilian Jackson Braun andRita Mae Brown; herbalists appear frequently (of whom the best known isEllis Peters' medieval sleuthBrother Cadfael). There are also cozy mystery series with themes of Christmas, Easter, and other holidays.^[6]

While de-emphasis on sex and violence, emphasis on puzzle-solving over suspense, the setting of a small town, and a focus on a hobby or occupation are characteristic elements of cozy mysteries, the boundaries of the subgenre remain vague.^[7]

• Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity novels feature American Lori Sheppard, who settles in an English village thanks to an inheritance from "Aunt" Dimity (an old friend of her late mother's). Dimity communicates with Lori, via a magical journal, to help solve mysteries involving Lori and her neighbors.
• Lilian Jackson Braun'sCat Who... series began as a more "hardboiled" mystery series in the late 1960s but transformed into cozy mysteries when the author resumed writing them almost 20 years later.
• Rita Mae Brown wrote three cozy mystery series:^[8]
  • The Foxhunting Mystery Series, set in Virginia, features "Sister Jane" Arnold, a 70-year-old Master of the Fox Hunt.^[8]
  • The Mags & Baxter Mystery Series, set in Nevada, features Mags Rogers, ex-Wall Streeter; Baxter, Mag's wirehaired dachshund; Jeep Reed, Mags' Grandmother Rancher; and King, Jeep's German Shepherd cross.^[8]
  • The Mrs. Murphy series of animal cozies, set in theDeep South, is "co-authored" with Sneaky Pie Brown, the talking cat whom the main cat character, Mrs. Murphy, is based on.^[8]
• Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar Series features Professor Hilary Tamar, and a cast of clever and trouble-prone young London barristers.
• TheMiss Marple character, created byAgatha Christie, appears in 12 novels which have been adapted numerous times for film and television.
• Blaize Clement's Dixie Hemingway Mysteries chronicle the adventures of a cop turned pet-sitter in Siesta Key, Florida.
• Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mysteries featureGreenwich Village coffeeshop owner Clare Cosi, who sleuths with help from her coffee-hunting ex-husband and her staff of quirkybaristas.^[9]
• Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple detective series follows the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple and her "copper" husband DCI Alec Fletcher. Many of the murders occur in aristocratic country houses Daisy is visiting to write articles about, in her 1920s "modern-woman's" career as a journalist. The usual cast of best friends and relatives make cameo appearances, as do members of Alec's faithful team of detectives who are always on Daisy's side when Alec is trying to keep her out of the case.
• Joanne Fluke's novels about Hannah Swensen, a young baker and amateur sleuth living in the fictional town of Lake Eden, Minnesota. The books include recipes for baking.
• Carolyn Jourdan'sOut on a Limb concerns a desperate search for a young woman who mysteriously vanished from theGreat Smoky Mountains National Park during a gathering of world-famousbiologists andbotanists. The middle-aged accidental amateur sleuths are a female home health care nurse and a male park ranger.
• Frances and Richard Lockridge'sMr. and Mrs. North novels feature an ordinary couple who live inGreenwich Village with their cats Gin, Sherry, and Martini and solve mysteries.
• D.M. Greenwood's 9 Theodora Braithwaite novels written between 1991 and 1999, each an 'Ecclesiastical Whodunnit' set in a church or cathedral.

• Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is a British drama starringPatricia Routledge as the eponymous elderly pensioner who solves mysteries around herLancashire neighbourhood.
• Murder, She Wrote is an American series starringAngela Lansbury asJessica Fletcher, a mystery novelist who finds that her work often has parallels with her own life.^[10]
• Pie in the Sky is a British mystery television series that combines sleuthing and cooking. A police detective and gourmet runs his own restaurant in between solving crimes.
• Rosemary & Thyme is a British mystery television series that combines accidental amateur sleuthing and gardening. A few episodes have been adapted and expanded as full-length novels.
• Father Brown is a British television series set in the early 1950s, with thetitle character of the same name byG. K. Chesterton, a priest in a small village who doubles as an amateur detective.
• Grantchester is a British television series set in the 1950s in theCambridgeshire village ofGrantchester, with theAnglicanvicar Sidney Chambers, and subsequently vicar William Davenport, each of whom develop a sideline in sleuthing with the help of Detective Inspector Geordie Keating, based onThe Grantchester Mysteries, written byJames Runcie.
• Agatha Raisin is a British television series with thetitle character of the same name byM. C. Beaton, a frustrated, yet endearing, middle-aged public-relations agent who moved fromLondon to Carsely in theCotswolds when she sold her public-relations firm inMayfair and took early retirement, but sets up her own detective agency to solve crimes and murders.
• Partners in Crime is a British television series set in the 1950s, and the era of theCold War againstStalin, with an everyday family doing their everyday jobs while solving crimes at the same time, based on twoPartners in Crime stories,The Secret Adversary andN or M? byAgatha Christie.
• The Madame Blanc Mysteries is a British television series about aCheshire antiques dealer, Jean White, who helps solve an array of mysteries and deaths in the fictional village of Sainte Victoire in theSouth of France.
• Sister Boniface Mysteries is a British television series about aCatholicnun at St. Vincent's Convent in the fictional town of Great Slaughter in theCotswolds. In addition to her religious duties at the convent, she makes wine and has a PhD inforensic science, allowing her to serve as a scientific adviser to the local police on investigations.^[11]

The radio adaptations ofA Charles Paris Mystery have been characterised as "cosy crime".^[12]

• Cosy catastrophe

• "Welcome to the Cozy Mystery List TV and Movie Section!".Cozy Mystery List: A Guide to Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books and DVDs.