Most sleuths don’t have the advantage of talking to the murder victim for clues, but Saffron has a window into the afterlife. The problem is, she's not a detective and has no wish to be.In the charming heart of London’s Notting Hill, Saffron juggles motherhood, running an animal welfare foundation, and counseling recently deceased spirits—the invisibles. But her peaceful routine is upended when a spirit insists she solve the mystery of his untimely death. Lucas Troy pops into her awareness claiming he was killed and demanding she figure out who did it. He wants justice before he'll agree to move on. ButSaffron's role isn't to play detective, but to help each invisible plan for the next adventure in living. She asks Lucas if he suspects anyone in the circle at his aunt’s tea party where he died. He can’t imagine anyone wanting to kill him, but he persuades Saffron to interview them all.
She feels for Lucas, who had hardly begun his life, and she tries to persuade him that he can have a great future next lifetime, but finally she gives in and agrees to a little investigating. If she finds out something, perhaps he’ll agree to move forward. But the closer she gets to the possible killer, the more she’s in danger. Saffron has no wish to join Lucas in The Room Over There.
Settle in to a cozy mystery with a touch of the supernatural, the heartwarming chaos of family, and the charm of London’s Notting Hill. "Interesting characters, intriguing mystery."
The call looked like spam, and Saffron was about to block the number, but she had a sense that she should pick up.
The caller said, “Is this Saffron Shelley?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“It doesn’t matter who I am. I have a message for you. About your children.”
The chill that swarmed up Saffron’s back didn’t stop as the woman on the line continued. “I can harm your children if you don’t stop looking into Lucas Troy’s death.”
The voice was monotone, like someone reading a grocery list rather than making a death threat. “You stop or we will hurt your little ones.”
She listened, with more chills and full-body goosebumps.
“Where are my children?”
“We have them. I need you to promise you will stop if you want to see them again.”
The grim threat again made Saffron shiver. She should call the police right now—but no. She shouldn’t. The voice said the children could be hurt if she did.
Trying and failing to keep the scream our of her voice, she replied, “Bring back my children! I promise I’ll stop. Just tell me where they are.”
The voice was familiar, but she was too rattled to connect it to anyone.
“If you contact the police, your children will be harmed.”
The caller hung up.
That’s what kidnappers always said in these dramas. “Don’t contact the police.”
Screw that. She dialed the number for emergency and was connected to the police. She gave her report breathlessly. Then she called the school and asked about the children. The school’s administrative assistant answered with a cheery tone that grated.
With a new book coming out soon, I’ve been contemplating the fiction category called “cozy mystery” and wanting a definition. How do you define a cozy mystery from all the other kinds? Here’s what I’ve found in my reading and research.
What’s a Cozy Mystery?
At first glance, the two words sound like a contradiction. What can be cozy about a mysterious event? Spooky, chill-inducing, scary—those are words I would associate with murder mysteries, until I began reading the kind that often featured women sleuths and cats, dogs, and knitting. Stories that put the cozy in the chilling.
When is a mysterious murder ever easy to read about? Authors inspired by the likes of Agatha Christie have evolved a new art of mystery storytelling, a way of setting the deadly deeds in gentle circumstances, suburbs, bookstores, seashores, pleasant inns, so that you can read the book and still sleep well.
Authors like Ellery Adams and Richard Osman have made main characters compelling, quirky, and relatable. No more Hercule Poirot exoticism, no more genius-level sleuthing via “the little gray cells.” Now we have solving murders and women who knit chasing serial killers. In cozies, something sinister does lurk beneath the quotidian, but great emphasis is on the ordinary surface of life, and the daily comforts that get us through the day. The main character may pursue other interesting activities besides solving murders, such as costuming amateur theatricals or running a bakery.
The Amateur Sleuth
Christie was the master of hiding evil beneath a genteel surface, and of course her Miss Marple series invented the amateur sleuth. But these days, cozy mysteries take a much more benign approach, less sinister in their view of human nature. The murderer is an anomaly. Settings like a florist shop or a café are the perfect places for the amateur sleuths to figure out murders as a sideline to their real lives. Whether it’s dog walking or gardening, these self-made detectives are fully fleshed-out people because we see more sides of their lives than just the detecting.
In The Deadly Tea, my main character has a psychic calling to comfort and counsel newly deceased souls gives a twist to the investigations. In her case, she looks into the mystery on the victim’s behalf, and often gets the most clues from the person who was killed. She’s sidelining in that gig, though, because her main job in life is mother to two small children. Plus, she bakes a lot of sourdough bread, mostly for calming her nerves and feeding a hungry family, which includes her live-in in-laws.
Whatever the recipe for a cozy mystery, it’s now a booming business in fiction, and as a reader, I’m delighted to explore all the coziness in the genre as well as the puzzles.
Rachel Dacus is the author of eight novels and five poetry collections. Her fiction features love and relationships, exotic locations and intrepid heroines, and emotional journeys of self-discovery, all with a touch of the supernatural. Her poetry, stories, and essays have appeared widely in print and online literary journals and anthologies. She enjoys life in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, with its coast and trails where she walks her tiny but mighty Silky Terrier with her architect husband. 
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