Catherine Lloyd, 2013-2021

Cozy Mystery

This series is regency-set historical mysteries. They are all set in the rich countryside out of London.

In Death Comes to the Village, the first book of the series, a wounded soldier and the rector’s daughter find strange happenings in the small village of Kurland St. Mary.

Major Robert Kurland has returned from war with injurd body and soul. He is home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. Even though his soul and body are resting his mind is as active as ever. Is it his imagination when he thinks he sees a shadowy figure from his bedroom window one night?

He takes the rector’s daughter, Miss Lucy Harrington into his confidence and she is more than willing to do some sleuthing for him as she is out and about town. Soon a diversion turns into real danger as someone is intent on stopping the investigation.

This series of books is entertaining and very light reading. The writing was a bit adolescent, but I found them interesting enough to overlook that fact. Some places call these romance-mysteries, but there wasn’t enough romance for it to be catagorized that way in my opinion.

What is a Cozy Mystery, anyway?

As far as cozy mysteries go, these were as good as any. I was interested to read that most cozy mysteries have a female amateur sleuth. She usually has a college degree, even though she may not be using it. Mysteries usually have a way of finding her and her life experiences have had a way of preparing her to figure the mystery out before anyone else, including the local law enforcement, finds the answer.

Cozy mysteries usually take place in a small village or town, where everyone knows everyone. Other characters in cozy mysteries are quite reliable. There will be the town gossiper. This one can fill in lots of gaps in the mystery for our female sleuth. There is always an antogonist. This one is the one that tries to foil her plans of solving the mystery. The antogonist sometimes is the guilty one, but often knows things and is trying to protect someone else in the story. The sleuth herself is usually well liked in the village and in a position where people confide in her easily. In the case of the Kurland St. Mary mysteries, Lucy is the recotor’s daughter. Her mother has died leaving Lucy as the fill in hostess to her father’s dinners. She also goes around with him visiting the sick and down trodden. This puts her in the perfect and unassuming position of confidante.

The villages in a cozy mystery are of the old-fashioned variety. They have libraries, craft shops, cafes and house cleaning services (with a small group of employees) which enables Ms Sleuth to have characters which are also in a good position to be ears for her.

The sleuth in cozy mysteries is typically not a doctor, police officer, medical examiner or other kind of main person in the village. Usually her significant other is, though. This makes things handy for her when she needs to extricated from a touchy situation. It is safe to say that these official men in her life don’t take her very seriously. This makes it easy for her to ‘overhear’ things while they discuss matters while she is in earshot.

I enjoy the occaisional cozy mystery, but they are not my go-to type of book. They are fun light reading that doesn’t take any concentration to get through. They are a welcome diversion when I have been reading heavy non-fiction or when I feel like I just need to lighten up in my life.

What about you? Are you a cozy mystery fan or do you prefer things not quite so cozy in your mystery stories?