Cozy Mysteries discussion

Hi! I’m working on a cozy which I hope will become a series. It takes place in San Francisco and my characters are heavily based on people I know. I am thinking of having a kind of subtitle of “A Cozy. With Titillation.” I have a character who is a transgender woman who marries another woman and a character who is a dominatrix. There are no sexual scenes, and there is not so much as a single swear word. They are just people going about their days. There is also a reference to someone who is blackmailing with revenge porn... that is, they are blackmailing people over compromising photos. I know it might seem odd that these characters and situations don’t seem crude to me, whereas a swear word does! I want to be true to a real San Francisco life, but I also want it to be considered a cozy. It has all the other aspects of a cozy. The murder is bloodless and the protagonist a likable middle aged woman. It’s fun ... I hope like a small vacation. Do you think there is a chance for a book that pushes the genre? “A Cozy. With Titillation?”

Absolutely. We need more diversity everywhere!

Sounds ok to me. Having lived in San Francisco a few years I totally get the diversity.

Pamela wrote: "Absolutely. We need more diversity everywhere!"
Yes, maybe I should have said “Diverse characters” rather than “marginal characters.” After reading a thread in which 80 percent of the people posting were aghast that someone wanted to use the word “damn” in their book I got a bit worried.

With a reference to porn & dominatrix...unfortunately not a cozy

Icewineanne wrote: "With a reference to porn & dominatrix...unfortunately not a cozy"

Yeah, I’d probably leave the word “porn” out (somehow that feels like a swear word to me, too) and just say “compromising photos” (which I realize would still not make it a cozy to you!)

You can always release it as a general mystery or thriller Sharlene

The only problem I can see is the fact that Christians consider those things sins and they like cozies as there's no sex or graphic violence or cursing. I'm all for it though!

Icewineanne wrote: "With a reference to porn & dominatrix...unfortunately not a cozy"

I agree here. The transgender character is not a problem - might even make an interesting protagonist. But when you bring in elements like porn or dominatrix, it "hardens" the text and takes it away from cozy territory IMHO. San Francisco is a pretty diverse place and you can probably come up with a few dozen interesting professions to give the character.

You could probably get away with just saying "compromising photos". Is the main character more mainstream? Does he/she have a specific hobby/profession that others will relate to or find interesting? If the main character is more cozy then it shouldn't be too big of an issue.

Kirsten wrote: "The only problem I can see is the fact that Christians consider those things sins and they like cozies as there's no sex or graphic violence or cursing. I'm all for it though!"

I object to this stereotypical view of what Christians think or will only read cozies that fit a narrow perspective and pretend that life is somehow devoid of sex or profanity or violence. It will not be everyone's cup of tea regardless of religious beliefs.

Sharlene - Are you familiar with The Country Club Murders by Julie Mulhern? She deals with adult topics in the first book of that series - The Deep End though there are no explicit scenes.