Cozy Mysteries on the Edge by Susan Calder

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Last month, at Calgary's Bouchercon World Mystery Convention I sat on a panel titled "Deep in the Heart of Cozies: what is it about traditional stories that still speak to the heart?"

Prior to the convention, my fellow panelists and I exchanged emails and met online to discuss how we would tackle our assignment. I confessed that I don't identify as a cozy writer and was surprised when three of the other panelists said the same. The fourth declared her books cozy but admitted that in one of her stories she had killed a dog, which is forbidden in cozies. 

We decided to steer the panel discussion toward the edge of cozy, that is, mysteries that dip into the cozy genre but don't entirely fit. We also agreed to focus our comments on our most recent books. Fortunately, my latest release, A Killer Whisky, is cozier than most of my previous novels. 

To prepare for the panel, I created a checklist of cozy mystery traits derived from our discussion and judged A Killer Whisky on each cozy point. 

A Killer Whisky aced these cozy features:

• Minimal violence and gore. Story relies on solving the puzzle and the characters.
• Focus on community dynamics and the sleuth’s interactions with others.
• Lots of tea drinking.  

 I rated A Killer Whisky borderline cozy in these areas: 

• Female amateur sleuth protagonist, but I have a secondary police detective narrator.
• Takes place in the City of Calgary rather than in a charming village, but the main location is a street with closely-involved neighbours and small business owners.
• No sex appears on the page, although illicit sex is implied.
• No swear words, but characters use words that were shocking in 1918, the time of the story.     
• There are no cats, but a dog plays a small role in the plot.
• The story has some typical cozy supporting characters: the romantic interest, local policeman, local shopkeepers, and family. Missing are the best friend and nosy neighbour (aside from my sleuth).
• Social comment doesn't drive the story, but it touches on issues such as social class, war, and female emancipation.      

One feature pushed A Killer Whisky over the edge of cozy:

• Tone. Cozies are typically lighthearted and humourous. I don’t think A Killer Whisky has a cozy tone, although I like to believe there is subtle humour.

From my checklist, I would say A Killer Whisky isn't a true cozy but has aspects of the genre. I call it a traditional murder mystery, which leads to the second part of our panel topic: what is it about traditional (mystery) stories that still speak to the heart?

At the panel, we shared a few thoughts:

• The puzzle. Readers enjoying figuring out whodunnit along with the sleuth.
• Justice is served. In real life, bad things happen randomly and unfairly and there’s often no satisfying resolution. Traditional mysteries, especially cozies, provide justice and meaning.   
• An ordinary person in an extraordinary situation. Haven't we all felt out of our depth sometimes? 
• Quest for truth. The clever sleuth, along with the reader, solves the unsolvable (better than the experts).
• Who can you trust? As the story evolves, you can't trust anyone until the truth is revealed. 
• Interesting, different, and/or charming settings. Cozy settings bring us back to a simpler time.  

In the end, I think our panelists put on a pretty good show at Bouchercon. We learned as much as the audience, and we all came to think of our writing as a little cozier than we had thought it before.