Book Review: Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy J. Cohen

Cozy mysteries have always been popular. These stories focus on character relationships, offer readers a challenging puzzle to solve, and satisfy our need for justice, often with a touch of humor and romance. Do you want to write a cozy mystery but don’t have a clue where to start? Or are you in the middle of a story and stuck on the plot? Perhaps you’re already writing a series, and you need tips on keeping your material fresh. Writing the Cozy Mystery is a concise reference guide that will help you develop your characters, establish the setting, plot the story, add suspense, plant clues and solve the crime.
This Second Edition contains more examples; additional writing exercises; expanded sections; and seven new chapters including The Muddle in the Middle, Romance and Murder, Special Considerations for Cozy Writers, Keeping a Series Fresh, Writing the Smart Synopsis, Mystery Movies, and Marketing Tips. You’ll find everything you need to know in an easy-to-read, clear manner to write your own mystery and maintain a long-running series. Recommended for cozy writers, mystery fans, and creative writing classes.

Cozy mysteries is a genre that I find very satisfying to read, and I wanted to dip my toes in writing for a very long time, but I never went further than writing short stories. I know that it’s one of those things that people tend to delay for many reasons, being fearful of not being good enough the most common one. The path is made by walking. I was curious about the essential elements of cozy mysteries and wanted some tips, so I decided to check this book.

It’s a short and concise text about how to write cozy mysteries. The fact that it’s not a very long book is not a bad thing, is it goes directly to the point, which I appreciated. The first half is about writing advice, while the second is more about publishing it and how to keep the interest when writing a series. I found it very useful as it has all the necessary information to write a cozy mystery. The same information can also be found by browsing the internet, but the fact that the book has almost all aspects included in it in an organized way, and that it’s written by a real author of cozy mysteries, makes it a valuable book.

I read the Kindle version and found some formatting issues, like headings not showing as such on lists, which made things a bit confusing, but I can’t say if this issue is exclusive of the Kindle version.

Story (Plot)
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lomeraniel

My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.

I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.