Cozy mysteries: “The sleuths do have families and friends, who often play a role in the story. In this type of story the community is often smaller or rural…The detective, instead of meeting a series of strangers in pursuit of answers, interacts with people known to him or her in the community. Often the sleuths have no official standing, being amateurs who just happen to be at the right (or perhaps the wrong) place at the right time. The murders often occur “offstage” or, if conducted in full view, are more genteely described…”
[Diane Tixier Herald, from Genreflecting:A Guide to Reading Interests in Genre Fiction (Fifth Edition)]

A SELECTION OF COZY MYSTERY AUTHORS & THEIR SLEUTHS...
ALL AVAILABLE IN THE MYSTERY SECTION AT WINDSOR LOCKS PUBLIC LIBRARY!

CATHERINE AIRD ~ Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan (England)

NANCY ATHERTON ~ Dimity Westwood (English ghost)

SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT ~ China Bayles (Texas herbalist)

MARIAN BABSON ~ various amateur sleuths

ROBERT BARNARD ~ Perry Trethowan (Scotland Yard inspector)

STEPHANIE BARRON ~ Jane Austen (British author)

M.C. BEATON ~ Agatha Raisin (retired PR exec, England) /
Hamish MacBeth (Scot. police constable)

LAURIEN BERENSON ~ Melanie Travis (CT dog trainer)

CLAUDIA BISHOP ~ Sarah & Meg Quilliam (NY innkeepers)

RHYS BOWEN ~ Molly Murphy (Irish immigrant) /
Evan Evans (Welsh constable)

LILLIAN JACKSON BRAUN ~ James Quilleran (midwestern columnist)

SIMON BRETT ~ Mrs. Melita Pargeter (English widow)

RITA MAY BROWN & SNEAKY PIE ~ Mrs. Murphy (tiger cat, Virginia)

DOROTHY CANNELL ~ Ellie Haskell (English interior decorator)

JOANNA CARL ~ Lee McKinney (Michigan chocolatier)

JEANNE DAMS ~ Dorothy Martin (American widow, England)/
Hilda Johanssen (housemaid, Indiana, early 1900's)

G.K. CHESTERTON ~ Father Brown (English priest)

LAURA CHILDS ~ Carmela Bertrand (New Orleans scrapbooker) /
Theodosia Browning (S.C. tea shop owner)

AGATHA CHRISTIE ~ Hercule Poirot (Belgian P.I.) /
Miss Jane Marple (English spinster)

ISIS CRAWFORD ~ Libby Simmons (NY caterer)

JILL CHURCHILL ~ Jane Jeffry (Chicago single mom)

NANCY COHEN ~ Marla Shore (Florida beautician)

SUSAN CONANT ~ Holly Winter (Massachusetts dog trainer)

AMANDA CROSS ~ Kate Fansler (NY professor)

JEAN DAMS ~ Dorothy Martin (American widow, GB)

DIANE MOTT DAVIDSON ~ Goldy Bear Schultz (Colorado caterer)

JO DERESKE ~ Miss Helma Zukas (librarian, Washington)

JANET EVANOVICH ~ Stephanie Plum (NJ bounty hunter)

E.X. FERRARS ~ Andrew Basnet (ret. botany prof., England)

MONICA FERRIS ~ Betsy Devonshire (needlework shop, Minnesota)

JOANNE FLUKE ~ Hannah Swenson (Minnesota baker)

EARLENE FOWLER ~ Benni Harper (California rancher & quilter)

SHIRLEY FREYDONT ~ Katie McDonald (Museum curator & puzzle whiz, NH)

DOROTHY GILMAN ~ Mrs. Pollifax (English widow)

SARAH GRAVES ~ Jacobia Tiptree (home refurbisher, Maine)

CAROLYN G. HART ~ Henrie O. (SC Pulitzer Prize winner) / Annie Darling (SC book shop owner)

JOAN HESS ~ Arley Hanks (Arkansas police chief)

HAZEL HOLT ~ Sheila Malory (English Widow)

HARRY KEMELMAN ~ Rabbi David Small (Boston area)

JANE LANGTON ~ Homer Kelly (Harvard prof. / detective)

VIRGINIA LANIER ~ Jo Beth Sidden (GA bloodhound breeder)

EMMA LATHEN ~ John Putnam Thatcher (NY financier)

CHARLOTTE MACLEOD ~ Peter & Helen Shandy (Massachusetts) /
Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn (Boston)

NGAIO MARSH ~ Roderick Alleyn (English inspector, heir)

SHARON MCCRUMB ~ Elizabeth McPherson (forensic anthroplogist)

LESLIE MEIER ~ Lucy Stone (wife & mother of 4, Maine)

TAMAR MEYERS ~ Magdelena Yoder (Pennsylvania Dutch)

SHIRLEY ROUSSEAU MURPHY ~ Joe Grey (feline sleuth)

LYNNE MURRAY ~ Josephine Fuller (California investigator)

KATHERINE HALL PAGE ~ Faith Fairchild (Massachusetts caterer)

ROBIN PAIGE ~ Kate & Charles Sheridan (Victorian)

ELIZABETH PETERS ~ Amelia Peabody (Victorian Egyptologist)

VIRGINIA RICH ~ Eugenia Potter (Iowa widow, good cook)

ANN RIPLEY ~ Louise Eldridge (TV host & gardener, Washington, DC area)

DOROTHY L. SAYERS ~ Lord Peter Wimsey (investigator, England)

DOROTHY SIMPSON ~ Luke Thanet (detective inspector, England)

PATRICIA SMILEY ~ Tucker Sinclair (Management consultant, Beverly Hills)

ELAINE VIETS~ Helen Hawthorne (various jobs & locales)/
Josie Marcus (mystery shopper, St. Louis)