Cozying Up to Murder

By Leslie Budewitz

When I say I write cozy mysteries, some readers light up. “My favorite kind,” they say. Others squint and tilt their heads, asking, “What’s that?”

You all know the traditional mystery—think Agatha Christie, whose mysteries feature a Belgian detective, a sharp-eyed spinster, and a dashing couple of spy-catchers. One modern incarnation is the cozy. It’s the comfort food of the mystery world, the mac & cheese. And who doesn’t love that now and again? (Or carbonara if you’re Italian, like my protagonist’s mother.) No graphic sex or violence; lots of graphic food.

Okay, so they don’t all involve food. Some involve knitting. Or librarians or booksellers, psychics or museum directors. Or the owners of haunted houses and hotels.

But no FBI agents or bomb squads—at least, not as protagonists, unless he or she is retired and running a fudge shop. (In Sheila Connolly’s Museum Mysteries, her protagonist dates an FBI agent named James Morrison. Cozy writers love to play with names.)

The setting is typically a small town—my Jewel Bay, Montana, Janet Bolin’s Elderberry Bay, Pennsylvania, or Barbara Ross’s Busman’s Harbor, Maine. (Bodies of water are not required, but they do set a certain tone.) A cozy can also be set in an urban neighborhood or community: the capital environs in Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef Mysteries, Greenwich Village in Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mysteries, or the museum world Sheila Connolly’s characters inhabit.

Regardless of the rural or urban setting, the murder is a shock that disturbs the natural order. An amateur sleuth—typically female—is drawn in by the personal nature of the crime, and uses her skills and connections to solve it.

Not everyone likes the term. Carolyn Hart, a goddess in the mystery world (and a past president of Sisters in Crime, which calls former leaders goddesses), asks, “How cozy is it to die in agony from poison, knowing your killer is among your intimates, but dying without knowledge of the culprit?” Not cozy at all—downright terrifying—but in my opinion, the term is cheekily ironic for exactly that reason.

There is an official investigation, of course, run by law enforcement. But our amateur sleuth hears and sees things the police can’t. She knows the community—she and her shop, café, or gallery are often at its center. As a result, she may be convinced that the police are focused on the wrong person—maybe her, or someone she’s close to. She may fear they will act too quickly or fail to take seriously the clues she uncovers. They may find her helpful—or try to stop her from interfering.

Ultimately, in the cozy, both professional and amateur detectives are essential, because they serve different functions. The professionals’ job is to restore external order, through the legal system. They can’t succeed without her, despite their initial reluctance. By giving her help, she demonstrates the triumph of the individual over evil. Her involvement in righting a wrong restores balance to the community. She restores social order.

That’s what a cozy is about: community. How it’s formed, how it’s damaged, how it’s restored.

And of course, how it eats.

_____________________________________________________________________ 

Leslie Budewitz is the national best-selling author of Death al Dente, first in the Food Lovers' Village Mysteries set in northwest Montana, and winner of the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Crime Rib, the second in the series, was published by Berkley Prime Crime on July 1, 2014. Assault and Pepper, her Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries will debut in March 2015. Also a lawyer, Leslie won the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction for Books, Crooks &Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure (Quill Driver Books), making her the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. For more tales of life in the wilds of northwest Montana, and bonus recipes, visit her website and subscribe to her newsletter. Website: www.LeslieBudewitz.com   

Find her on Facebook: LeslieBudewitzAuthor

In Search of Titles

by Gary Fearon, Southern Writers Creative Director

Choosing the right title for a book can be as agonizing for an author as how to start the first paragraph. With an infinite pool of possibilities, how can you narrow it down to the most fitting, most irresistible title?

As always, it helps to take a cue from the pros.  In reviewing book releases from 2013, titles can be sorted into four categories:

• Simple Nouns
• Descriptive Nouns
• Situations
• Statements

Excellent examples of each can be found in our own Southern Writers Bookstore, where you'll find every author who appears in the magazine.  Let's look at a few:

SIMPLE NOUNS
A single evocative noun or nouns, conjuring curiosity.
Partholon by D. Krauss
Dollface by Renee Rosen
The Scroll by Miriam Feinberg Vamosh
Wink by Eric Trant
Moonrise by Cassandra King
Shattered by Rita Schulte
Sick & Tired by Kimberly Rae
Unseen by Karin Slaughter


DESCRIPTIVE NOUNS
Getting more specific, narrowing in on a particular subject.
Song of the Meadowlark by Sherry Wilson Johnson
Starry Night by Debbie Macomber
The Wishing Well Curse by Lynn Donovan
Shug's Place by Bob Strother
The Tempest Murders by p.m. terrell
Millie's Treasure by Kathleen Y'Barbo
The Gentleman Poet by Kathryn Johnson
Two Little Girls in a Wading Pool by Sara M. Robinson
Relative Danger by June Shaw
Tinseltown Riff by Shelly Frome
Glimpses of Glory by Peggy A. Keady
The Parchman Preacher by Michael Thompson


SITUATIONS
Identifying the central premise in the story.
Murder on the Orient Espresso by Sandra Balzo
Breach of Power by Chuck Barrett
Falling for the Lawman by Ruth Logan Herne
Taming the Sheriff by Cynthia Hickey
Being Santa Claus by Sal Lizard
Murder at Castle Rock by Anne Marie Stoddard
Quest for the Nail Prints by Don Furr
Last Chance for Justice by Kathy Macias
Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman
Death of a Dowager by Joanna Campbell Slan


STATEMENTS 
A complete sentence alluding to the idea behind the book.
Mama Was the Queen of Christmas by Linda J. Gilden
Mama Was Trashed by Deborah Sharp
The River Is Home by Patrick D. Smith
Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams by W. Terry Whalin
Murder Has Consequences by Giacomo Giammatteo
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash
Sometimes a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner
March with Me by Rosalie T. Turner
Give the Lady a Ride by Linda Yezak

So which seems to be the most common choice?  Scanning the latest releases of the 511 different authors who've appeared in Southern Writers magazine, the percentage of those title categories breaks down into the following pie chart:

At 44%, nearly half of the titles are descriptive nouns, identifying the subject of the book up front.  That's not to suggest that one choice is better than another, but it may be a trend to consider if your current work-in-progress has a unique character, setting, or issue you can capitalize on when naming your noble novel.

Fortunate is the author who finds just the right title and never has to look back.  But you can make Christmas shopping something you won't have to second-guess by visiting the aforementioned Southern Writers Bookstore, powered by Amazon. Not only will you find the right titles for everyone on your list, you'll discover a few you can't live without either.  Happy holidays!

Wisdom from William Faulkner

by Susan Reichert

The University of Mississippi once invited William Faulkner to the English department to address one class per day for a week. Faulkner devoted the entire time  to answering the students' questions.

 

When asked what is the best training one should have for writing he said, “Read, read, read. Read everything – classics, good or bad, trash; see how they do it. When a carpenter learns his trade, he does so by observing. Read! You’ll absorb it. Write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.”

 

Good advice. Writers are always seeking out ways to learn how to write.  Reading is one of the easiest ways to learn how to write. You learn by observing. By reading, you are observing.

Faulkner was asked another question. The students wanted to know if it was good to copy a style. His answer was somewhat profound. “If you have something to say, use your own style: it will choose its own type of telling, its own style.”

 

Of course, these are only two of the pieces of advice he doled out to the students, but I think by far they were the most useful for a budding writer. Don’t you? “Use your own style" and "read, read, read.”

 

What would your answers have been to the students? 

 

 

Browse the Bookstore

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

 

No, Southern Writers Magazine has yet to be placed in Barnes and Noble. Our magazines, in print and digital issues, are available on our website. This was a visionary photo taken by our Editor-in-Chief Susan Reichert of me with our SWM copy on a shelf in the local Barnes and Noble. Every writer has hopes and dreams of writing that book, having it published and seeing it in a bookstore. Southern Writers Magazine provides such an opportunity for our subscribers and featured authors with our very own Bookstore. Here is how it works.

From the SouthernWritersMagazine.com home page you can click on the Southern Writers Bookstore button and it takes you to the Bookstore website home page. There you will a selection of books by authors appearing in the current issue. Just click on any of the covers you are interested in for more information. Additionally, you can click on By Issue or By Author on the bar at the top and will find every author ever featured in our magazine in one convenient location. There you will find such works as the New York Times bestseller by Andy Andrews, How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think.

 

Subscribers who participate in Southern Writers Mic Nite also appear in our bookstore. Browse our shelves by author or by issue, and you'll discover the finest in Southern writing. The Bookstore allows you to order from the convenience of your computer and have it delivered to your home or workplace. To provide you with the highest quality, quickest delivery and lowest prices available, we are proud to be affiliated with Amazon.com. You can order your selections with confidence from the number one online retailer in the world.
 

If you are an author with a book on our shelves or a subscriber looking for that special book, Southern Writers Magazine has a bookstore for you. Come in and browse!

Undercover at the Library

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

Memphis Library

About a week ago, while on business at my local library, I decided to investigate the fiction section to gather a little intel. Specifically, I was curious to see how many of the authors we’ve featured in the magazine were represented on the public shelves.

I started with the A’s and was quickly rewarded by the appearance of Tamera Alexander, Christa Allan and Andy Andrews. Familiar friends Sandra Balzo and Nancy Cohen were not far behind. These authors and their publishers are among those who recognize the opportunity to reach new readers outside the bookstore.

By the time I got to the G’s and spied Tricia Goyer, the silence of the library was suddenly broken when I detected the sound of live music being played. Intrepidly making my way toward the event rooms to do some surveillance, I came upon a woodwind quintet from the Memphis Symphony, entertaining about two dozen 5 to 12 year olds through song and story. The librarian would read a paragraph and the band would play.  It was a clever and effective concept, combining reading with music, and I found myself just as enraptured as the small fry.

Occasionally a parent, themselves lured by the pipers, led their child into the room. One in particular caught my eye. This little girl, probably four years old, entered with a blank expression and her hands covering her ears. The music wasn’t deafening so it didn’t take a polygraph to uncover the truth of her unfiltered displeasure.

I couldn’t help wondering whether this tyke was raised on rap and considered melodies foreign and offensive, or perhaps she was more an aficionado of the cello and there just wasn’t one present. Clearly, none of this seemed to matter to the other 24 kids who hung on every note.

This library encounter provided a reminder of several things of value to this writer:

• Words and music each convey the entire range of human emotion. Put them together and you have a powerful collaboration. Like a well-scored motion picture, some authors find it helpful to listen to music that fits the mood of whatever scene they’re writing.
• Your audience will pay avid attention to you if they like what you’re doing. (In some cases they’re willing to sit on the floor.)
• Whenever you do something creative, some critics are going to love it, and others simply won’t. 9 times out of 10 it will be more a reflection of them, than of you. 

I didn’t happen to notice whether the little girl ever warmed up to the presentation and eventually uncovered her ears. I hope she did, and joined these other little lives that were enriched because somebody wrote good words and somebody else played pretty music.

Me, I still had big library fish to fry, authors to check out, and mysteries to solve. Like, who is Dewey and why do we still use his Decimal System?