“Cozy” is a term referring to a type of benign, nonviolent murder mystery, typified in the 1930s by the “Miss Marple” stories of Agatha Christie. Recently this subgenre of mystery has become a little sharper, more humorous and with stronger love relationships than were formerly displayed. There is a rising emphasis on a specific type of business or hobby in which the amateur detective earns his or her keep.
Here is a selection of authors that includes both traditional and modern, British and American “cozies”.
BRITISH AUTHORS (and their detectives)
Catherine Aird (Inspector Sloan)
Margery Allingham (Albert Campion)
Robert Barnard/Bernard Bastable (Charlie Peace) (Inspector Trethowan)
M. C. Beaton (Hamish MacBeth) (Agatha Raisin)
Simon Brett (Charles Paris) (Melita Pargeter)
Dorothy Cannell (Ellie & Ben Haskell)
G.K.Chesterton (Father Brown)
Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) (Hercule Poirot) (Tuppence & Tommy Beresford)
Ann Cleeves (George & Molly Palmer-Jones)
Edmund Crispin (Gervase Fen)
E.X. Ferrars (several detective series)
John Greenwood (Inspector Mosley)
Gerald Hammond (John Cunningham) (Keith Calder)
Mollie Hardwick (Dorian Fairweather)
Hazel Holt (Sheila Malory)
Elizabeth Lemarchand (Tom Pollard & Gregory Toye)
Ngaio Marsh (Inspector Roderick Alleyn)
Anne Morice (Tessa and Robin Price)
Betty Rowlands (Melissa Craig)
Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey)
John Sherwood (Celia Grant)
Patricia Wentworth (Miss Silver)AMERICAN AUTHORS (and their detectives)
Peter Abresch (James Dandy & Dodee Swisher)
Susan Wittig Albert (China Bayles)
Nancy Atherton (Aunt Dimity’s ghost & Lori Shepherd)
Eleanor Boylan (widow, Clara Gamadge) -see Elizabeth Daly
Lilian Jackson Braun (Jim Qwilleran & cats)
Barbara Colley (Charlotte LaRue)
Alisa Craig – see Charlotte MacLeod
John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson (Dr. Gideon Fell)
Amanda Cross (Kate Fansler)
Elizabeth Daly (Henry Gamadge)
Note: The series is carried on by her niece, Eleanor Boylan
Mary Daheim (Emma Lord) (Judith McMonigle Flynn)
Jeanne M. Dams (Dorothy Martin) (Hilda Johannson)
Diane Mott Davidson (Goldy Bear)
Earlene Fowler (Benni Harper)
Martha Grimes (Richard Jury)
Carolyn G. Hart (Annie Laurance & Max Darling)
Joan Hess (Claire Malloy) (Arly Hanks)
Lucille Kallen (C.B. Greenfield & Maggie Rome)
Emma Lathen (John Thatcher)
Frances & Richard Lockridge (Mr. & Mrs. North)
Charlotte MacLeod (Peter & Helen Shandy) (Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn)
(as Alisa Craig, the Grub & Stakers series)
Sharyn McCrumb (Elizabeth MacPherson)
Camille Minichino (Gloria Lamerino)
Katherine Hall Page (Faith Fairchild)
Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Asey Mayo)
