The Sleuth in a Cozy Mystery
The sleuth is the protagonist of every cozy mystery.
Everything we see is from their perspective. If they know about a clue, we should know about it too. If they don’t know something, we shouldn’t either.
They’re the person we should identify with throughout the book.
Everyone has their own rules about who the sleuth should be.
Here at CozyMystery.com we have created a set of rules for the sleuth (see below on how you can get a copy). These are the rules we use to judge any book, but like all good rules they’re subject to interpretation. Some you’ll agree with and some you might not.
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Let’s take a look at our rules for the sleuth.
What is the goal of the sleuth?
The critical question for the reader is why the sleuth is there in the first place.
The fundamental answer is to have someone to root for and identify with.
We read cozies to place ourselves in their shoes, and to solve the mystery along with them (or better, just before they do).
This is why we have a rule about the sleuth being a single person. We want to follow them and their logic, and not know things they don’t know. The mystery is of prime importance in a cozy mystery, and solving it is the biggest thrill a reader can have.
On the other hand, there are many mysteries where a couple or a team is the sleuth, such as the Thursday Mystery Club. In cases like these books, they work as cozies as long as the team shares the clues between them. If one member keeps things from the others, the idea of the reader having all the clues starts to break down.
She’s a she. Sorry guys, but it’s true
Our sleuth is almost always female.
There are men who are the protagonists of cozy mysteries (Jim Qwilleran of the Cat Who… series is probably the most famous). Still, ninety percent of the main characters in cozy mysteries these days are women.
We’ve written about this elsewhere, but it largely comes down to both history and the audience.
When the mystery genre began, authors wrote about police officers and private detectives. In those days these occupations were dominated by men. As the amateur sleuth genre came along, they were largely written by women, and they saw a role for women as the amateur.
Over the years this led to women readers coming to dominate the genre. We now have a situation where the cozy mystery genre is largely written by women, about women, and for women. That’s not to say men can’t be involved in every aspect, but so far at least it hasn’t happened in great numbers.
How old is a sleuth?
You know Jessica Fletcher was old, and Miss Marple aged as her books went on. But how young can a sleuth be? Nancy Drew was a teenager, but does she count?
There’s really no limit to the age of a sleuth. There seem to be two main ages for cozy mystery sleuths, with our stars often being around thirty or in their sixties. These are just popular ages though, not hard and fast rules.
The fact is a sleuth can be any age.
We just mentioned Nancy Drew, but for various reasons unrelated to her age, her books are not really cozy mysteries. At best she’d be a middle grade or possibly YA version of a cozy. Her books are enjoyable, and definitely a gateway to cozies, but not cozy themselves.
You can find cozy sleuths in any age group, but the modern cozy seems to be coalescing around middle age as the sleuth. They tend to be someone who has gone out in life and done some things, and is now returning home for a fresh start. These are the people who become sleuths in modern cozies.
That’s not to say every cozy is like that. The paranormal cozy tends to have slightly younger sleuths, people in their twenties. This is perhaps because of the subgenre’s popularity among younger people.
On the other hand, the classic little old lady sleuth is still going strong across the genre.
What does an amateur sleuth do for a living?
The amateur sleuth is fundamental to the cozy mystery, but it’s their day job which really sets their story apart.
The vast majority of cozy mysteries star a regular person who is dragged into a situation they don’t want to be in. Their job is to be a baker, a librarian, an antique store owner, a writer, or even a reporter. They are not involved in crime on a day to day basis (Jessica Fletcher notwithstanding).
In short, every amateur sleuth has their own thing they’d rather be doing than solving a murder.
Having said that, the sleuth’s occupation will become a recurring theme in all parts of the book: if they’re a librarian, we’re going to hear lots about books. You can bet a writer will spend plenty of time with a notepad in the coffee shop. And a baker means you’ll get bonus recipes in the back of the book. Not only that, but the cover and especially the title are going to reflect on the theme, too.
The theme of their occupation is a major selling point for the book. You will often hear of people who read every cozy about a bookstore, or who loves any book which includes knitting. We have a whole list of themes to help people find the cozies they love to read the most.
How do they get involved?
Our sleuth is often new to town at the start of a series.
They may be returning after a long absence. They may be coming to take over a business from a family member (an inheritance is a common reason to come to town, as well as to bring in all kinds of problems). They may have broken down and gotten themselves stuck there.
Whatever the reason, they are strangers, mistrusted by all the locals. Our sleuth is usually the suspect by default when a body is found. If they found it, even more suspicious.
So they’re thrown in at the deep end of a murder. Who among us wouldn’t start investigating the crime for themselves? None of us, of course. We’d call the police.
But that’s why we read cozy mysteries. We live vicariously through the heroine, rather than going out and getting involved in murder investigations. That’s our hook to identify with the protagonist.
Can they be a police officer?
Being a police officer normally rules out the story being cozy.
Another basic rule of cozy mysteries is that of the amateur detective solving the crime. As noted, they’re the person we identify with. If they have specialized knowledge of investigations, they’re much harder to empathize with in a cozy.
The advantage of being police also means a big team around you. Need forensic work done, there’s someone there for you. Several people chasing down leads? Much easier when you’re part of the murder squad.
When the protagonist is a police officer, you’re almost certainly reading a police procedural novel rather than a cozy.
Or a private investigator?
Most of the same rules apply to a private detective, such as Sherlock Holmes. He may not be part of the police force, but he has access to them and the things they find. There is a big market for detective stories, but they’re usually not cozy. Interestingly, his brother Mycroft Holmes is much cozier than Sherlock is.
As for Hercule Poirot? I’m never really sure where he stands. He’s very much on the boundary between a traditional detective and a cozy mystery, and either side has a good claim.
Speaking of boundaries, we come to the question of the retired cop. They have the skills of a police officer, and that sets them a little apart from a regular amateur sleuth. In these cases it often depends on how much interaction they have with current police. If there’s someone on the force helping them, they may lean away from being cozy. Their independence from former colleagues is usually the determining factor here.
The policeman exception
There is one exception to the no-police rule though. It’s the style of story where there’s a single police officer in a small village, usually in the middle of nowhere, who handles the entire crime and has hardly any contact with other officers. Yes, I’m talking about Hamish Macbeth in particular, but there are a few similar types. We consider these types to be cozy, because of their very nature. They don’t tend to have a large force of police working with them.
The Sleuth: In Conclusion
You can see there are many rules, both concrete and flexible, for an amateur sleuth.
- there’s probably only one protagonist
- they’re almost certainly female
- they can be pretty much any age
- they can do almost any job
- they’re somehow dragged into the crime
- they’re almost never a police officer or detective
With this set of rules we can easily tell which character we’re supposed to identify with and root for as they try to solve the mystery.
Do you have anything to say about this article? Agree or disagree with what we have to say? Let us know in the comments below.
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Good morning,
A question has been bothering me and with hope you’ll have the answer.
First, though, your article is excellent–very interesting. At some point, I intend to return to work on my website’s blog and would love to feature an interview with you- (you could choose the topic). I’ve lined up a few authors for interviews, but the primary purpose of my website is to offer instruction to writers and teachers.
A few months ago, I ended my contract with an agent and will soon submit the first novel of my cozy series to several houses. So, finally here’s my question: the sleuth is an artist who becomes a forensic artist after she’s assaulted– would an occupation that assists law enforcement agencies (they contract her to sketch a victim or assailant) remove her from the parameters of the typical cozy? In the stories, she continues her focus on watercolors (renderings and landscapes).
Thanks, Maureen.-
How amateur is a person in a police-adjacent profession? If a person is self-employed and does work for the police as and when needed, I think they’re still an amateur. If they were employed full-time by the police, the lines would begin to blur. I think it all depends on how much police assistance they have solving the crime, and from the sounds of it, your sleuth has little or none, so they would still be an amateur sleuth.
This is an interesting question about the boundaries between amateur and professional. I might have to write an article about it!
(PS Sorry, you got trapped in the spam filter which is why it took a while to reply)
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