{"id":3284,"date":"2019-08-17T14:25:08","date_gmt":"2019-08-17T21:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=3284"},"modified":"2024-11-12T16:48:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T00:48:03","slug":"the-cozy-a-purely-american-art-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/the-cozy-a-purely-american-art-form\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cozy: a Purely American Art Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1962, a woman named Phyllis James sat down and wrote Cover Her Face, <\/em>the first Adam Dalgleish mystery.\u00a0 Two years later, in 1964, Ruth Rendell wrote her first Reg Wexford mystery, From Doon with Death.\u00a0 <\/em>These two women pulled the golden age format created by Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers into the present, and as they wrote, they deepened the form psychologically, writing darker, more intense and longer books as their careers progressed.\u00a0 They were the godmothers of what I think of as the contemporary noir police novel, and writers like Jill McGowan, Colin Dexter, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Peter Robinson, Elizabeth George and many others have carried it forward.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the United States in 1964, another two women set to work on a quieter but no less profound revolution.\u00a0 In 1964, Jane Langton wrote her first Homer Kelly novel, The Transcendental Murders, <\/em>and in that same year Amanda Cross wrote her first Kate Fansler novel, In the Last Analysis.\u00a0 <\/em>While it would still be a couple years before Charlotte MacLeod got to Peter Shandy, she was writing stand alone novels that shared many elements with these two other groundbreaking writers. MacLeod\u2019s Mystery of the White Knight <\/em>also came out in 1964.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Langton and Cross shared not a female protagonist, but a love and reverence for scholarship and academia.\u00a0 The Massachussetts based Homer Kelly books feature an Emerson scholar who is also<\/em> an ex-homicide detective.\u00a0 Amanda Cross went the whole feminist route (sometimes to the detriment of her books, in my opinion), her Kate Fansler being, like Cross herself, a professor.<\/p>\n

While all of these authors follow the traditional golden age format \u2013 a central detective, a crime that is fairly laid out with clues and suspects, and a traditional summation at the end, often with all suspects gathered just as Poirot would have done \u2013 they are bringing different elements to the table.\u00a0 Rendell and James took this formula in one direction; American women took it in another.<\/p>\n

They began to bring regional flair to their novels.\u00a0 All of these women set their books in very specific, often lovingly detailed, locations.\u00a0 Not St. Mary Meade, but the American equivalent of the contemporary village.\u00a0 There\u2019s often quirkiness to the sleuths.\u00a0 Miss Marple counted on being overlooked but she didn\u2019t fly her passions on her sleeve as these women\u2019s characters do, in what I would argue is a very American way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Charlotte MacLeod, in my opinion, shaped what is now the modern cozy mystery even more than Langton and Cross. Mystery of the White Knight<\/em> features a young woman taking over her aunt\u2019s Colorado antique shop while her aunt leaves on a buying trip.\u00a0 So there\u2019s one key cozy element: the specific shop (or hobby).\u00a0 There\u2019s a tall, handsome neighbor; there\u2019s a mysterious object; and there\u2019s a mysterious stranger.\u00a0 These are all key elements in the American cozy universe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s brought to delicious fruition with her first Peter Shandy novel, Rest You Merry<\/em>, published in 1978.\u00a0 While Langton and Cross were in the middle of solid careers, they were joined by Elizabeth Peters, whose Vicky Bliss and Jacqueline Kirby books came out in the early 70\u2019s.\u00a0 Peters ended up solidly setting up the historical cozy universe \u2013 another discussion \u2013 but she was also hugely influential, with authors like Lauren Willig and Tasha Alexander genuflecting to her today.\u00a0 But it\u2019s in Rest You Merry <\/em>that MacLeod finds her groove.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Peter Shandy, a slightly eccentric professor who studies agriculture at tiny Balaclava College, leaves town during Christmas (after garishly be-decking his house, to the intense annoyance of his neighbors), only to return home to find a dead woman in his living room.\u00a0 There are two bodies in this novel, both of whom almost appear to have died from natural causes.\u00a0 Cozy element: no blood and gore.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a comfortable domestic scene that every reader understands.\u00a0 As MacLeod skillfully dissects neighborhood politics, any reader will feel a familiarity with what she\u2019s describing.\u00a0 Cozy element: familiar environment. There\u2019s a love interest, in the arrival of librarian Helen, and indeed Peter and Helen marry, sleuthing together for the rest of the series.\u00a0 Cozy element: romance.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the fact that Peter, an amateur if there ever was one, is nevertheless asked by his boss to find out what happened.\u00a0 He\u2019s surrounded by bumbling cops and security guards.\u00a0 Cozy element: omniscient amateur.\u00a0 Peter of course solves the case through dedicated detection, using his particular skill set (science).\u00a0 This should be a required cozy element as far as I\u2019m concerned, and in the hands of someone as skilled as MacLeod, who makes it look easy, it is.\u00a0 Even Helen\u2019s librarianship is part of the denouement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Charlotte MacLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MacLeod\u2019s humor and way with characters set her books at the top of the pile, but this newish, American formula is rock solid and is in heavy use today, as the cozy universe is well populated with bookstore owners, glass blowers, cooks, restaurant owners, wedding planners, bed and breakfast owners and shop keepers of all varieties.<\/p>\n

MacLeod had a career that spanned into the late 90s when her voice was, sadly, stilled by Alzheimer\u2019s.\u00a0 But what a legacy.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a short list of some of my favorites in the cozy universe.<\/p>\n

Sick of Shadows, <\/em>Sharyn McCrumb (1984).\u00a0 Though McCrumb morphed into a writer about Appalachian culture (and I can\u2019t deny that She Walks These Hills <\/em>is a great book), and she now denies that she\u2019s even a mystery writer, her Elizabeth McPhearson series is top notch.\u00a0 Funny, tight, well plotted \u2013 these books just can\u2019t be beat.\u00a0 Elizabeth is an anthropologist and an anglophile (big time, check out one of my faves in the series, The Windsor Knot).<\/em><\/p>\n

Audition for Murder, <\/em>\u00a0P.M. Carlson (1985). \u00a0Carlson sticks to the scholarly universe and takes her Maggie Ryan through college and grad school to full employment, giving the reader a bird\u2019s eye view of late 70\u2019s academia as well as the chaos of starting a family and living with young children. The whole series is wonderful.<\/p>\n

The Thin Woman, <\/em>Dorothy Cannell (1984).\u00a0 Cannell, a Brit living in the US, takes her main character to the UK where a full on fairytale takes place.\u00a0 Nancy Atherton\u2019s Aunt Dimity books share the same universe, Atherton\u2019s usually without even a corpse.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Murder with Peacocks, <\/em>Donna Andrews (1999).\u00a0\u00a0 Donna Andrews\u2019 series about metal worker Meg Lanslow, who is surrounded by a giant and eccentric southern family, really hits it out of the park in this first, award winning book, where Meg coordinates several weddings, including her mother\u2019s.\u00a0 Hilarious, but loving as far as her characters are concerned.\u00a0 Andrews is the real deal.<\/p>\n

Murder of a Small Town Honey, <\/em>Denise Swanson (2000).\u00a0 This long series, launched in 2000, features school psychologist Skye Denison, which, as it happens, was Swanson\u2019s career as well.\u00a0 The specificity of the details of Skye\u2019s profession along with Swanson\u2019s humor and tight plotting make this series a stand out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Shop Till You Drop, <\/em>Elaine Viets (2003).\u00a0 This wickedly funny and subversive series follows Helen Hawthore through a series of dead end jobs as she hides out from her dead beat ex husband, in an effort not to pay him<\/em> alimony.\u00a0 While these are funny, well written books with great characters, Viets is also making a point about the hard work involved trying to exist on minimum wage.<\/p>\n

State of the Onion, <\/em>Julie Hyzy (2008).\u00a0 I was\/am a giant fan of this funny, well plotted and imagined series about the White House Chef, and saddened when it ended, but this is a great example of contemporary cozy writing at its finest.<\/p>\n

Written Off, <\/em>E.J, Copperman (a.k.a. Jeffrey Cohen), 2016.\u00a0 This is only a two book series with the high concept of a cozy writer at a book signing who meets \u2013 her own series character.\u00a0 Only a writer as smart and funny as Copperman could pull this off.\u00a0 He has a love for traditional deductive reasoning and he always makes me laugh.<\/p>\n

In writing my cozy column for Mystery Scene<\/em> I\u2019ve been introduced to a whole slew of new to me cozies.\u00a0 This year I\u2019ve especially enjoyed Amanda Flower\u2019s Toxic Toffee; <\/em>Vivien Chien\u2019s Murder Lo Mein; <\/em>Vicki Delany\u2019s year round Christmas books; Diane Kelly\u2019s K-9 books; Ellie Alexander\u2019s bakeshop mysteries and so many more.\u00a0 Every month is a discovery.\u00a0 In cozies written today, the feminism is already assumed, which is certainly progress.\u00a0 Read on, fair readers.<\/p>\n

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In 1962, a woman named Phyllis James sat down and wrote Cover Her Face, the first Adam Dalgleish mystery.\u00a0 Two years later, in 1964, Ruth Rendell wrote her first Reg Wexford mystery, From Doon with Death.\u00a0 These two women pulled the golden age format created by Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers into the present, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[204,5,205,118,52,212,209,207,69,210,208,213,206,211],"class_list":["post-3284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","tag-amanda-cross","tag-americancozy","tag-charlotte-macleod","tag-denise-swanson","tag-donna-andrews","tag-dorothy-cannell","tag-e-j-copperman","tag-elaine-viets","tag-jane-langton","tag-jeff-cohen","tag-julie-hyzy","tag-p-m-carlson","tag-rest-you-merry","tag-sharyn-mccrumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3284"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6121,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3284\/revisions\/6121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}