The Book Lover's Corner: Gentle Puzzles or Cozy Mysteries?

How to define the many different "types" of mysteries? Sometimes I'm not sure when a novel is a mystery, a thriller, and/or action. But, the "cozy" mysteries seem to be much easier to segregate and define. While I'm not a great fan of cozies - I have a number of friends who love them. So I keep trying, either to read them myself or just "find" books that I think they would enjoy. I'm the one who said she's addicted to action adventure - and the cozy mystery doesn't lend itself to that kind of thing.

So, I spent a little time looking up "cozy mysteries" on-line...reading other people's descriptions and lists of favorites. There are a number of very good blogs specifically devoted to cozy mysteries, and if you have an interest I would suggest doing a little 'surfing.' What I found was that, for me, reading ABOUT them was more interesting than actually reading them. I love books... as objects that I really enjoy acquiring and collecting. Even though I don't read them, finding a trove of cozy mysteries in some dark corner that are in really great condition is just as exciting as finding that elusive copy of favorite author's book that I don't yet have. It's kinda like finding cookbooks that look interesting (now that's another blog at another time!).

Here's what I found in terms of descriptions about cozy mysteries:

The stories almost always involved solving some form of puzzle. Observation, a keen understanding of human nature, and a heavy reliance on gossip are the tools used in the solving of the mystery. Usually these stories are located in small-town locales - and the characters usually know each other. The sleuth is often female, but not always. If you watched "Murder, She Wrote" on TV, I think that may be an excellent visual of the cozy mystery. No forensics, no technology (generally), and unlikely to have any real access to criminal records. Now that said, the protagonist is intelligent, intuitive and creative in approach to the solving of the mystery. It seems that the actual crime is often "glossed over" so that the attention is focused on the sleuth and the way the crime is solved. Not a standard to read the "blood and gore" of any crime in these books. Nor is "hard edged" ever a term that could be applied. Good books for a quiet and relaxing read.

But I grew up reading my dad's books, you know the ones that the kids weren't supposed to pick up and read. I read his Raymond Chandler mysteries and Dashiell Hammett - and a host of others that have long since disappeared. Heck, I was the 7th grader who's mom got called in for a conference because I turned in a book report on "Battle Cry" written by Leon Uris. How was I to know that the book was "an adult" novel and not for my young eyes??