Mystery books are divided into many sub-genres: classical/traditional, thriller, romantic suspense, police procedural/hardboiled (Mike Martin, John Farrow), crime (Timothy Hallinan), noir (Dietrich Kalteis), gumshoe/private detective, legal/medical, and cozy/brozy (Alan Bradley, Judy Penz Sheluk, James D. A. Terry) to name a few. All these sub-genres are mysteries but each one features different things in their settings, characters, and level of violence, sex, and foul language.
Cozy Mystery
The term "cozy" was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
During the “Golden Age” certain conventions and clichés were established that limited any surprises on the part of the reader to the details of the plot and, primarily, to the identity of the murderer. The majority of novels of that era were "whodunits", and several authors excelled (Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.D. James, and Ruth Rendell), after misleading their readers successfully, in revealing the least likely suspect convincingly as the villain. There was also a predilection for certain casts of characters and certain settings in a secluded English country house and its upper-class inhabitants (although they were generally landed gentry; not aristocracy with their country house as a second house).
Cozy mysteries have no graphic violence, sex (although they may have some romance), or profanity. They are often based in a small town, usually feature an amateur female sleuth who has some type of hobby (baking, knitting, tea parties), and adorable pets. Sometimes they involve friendly witches and talking animals. They never have any abuse of children or animals. They tend to be fluffier reads than other mysteries. They also often feature cutesy covers highlighting those hobbies and pets.
The detectives in such stories are nearly always amateurs, and are frequently women. Village policeman Hamish Macbeth, featured in a series of novels by M. C. Beaton, is a notable exception. These characters are typically well educated, intuitive, and hold jobs that bring them into constant contact with other residents of their community and the surrounding region (e.g., caterer, innkeeper, librarian, teacher, dog trainer, shop owner, reporter). Like other amateur detectives, they typically have a contact on the police force who can give them access to important information about the case at hand, but the contact is typically a spouse, lover, friend, or family member rather than a former colleague. Dismissed by the authorities in general as nosy busybodies, particularly if they are middle-aged or elderly women, the detectives in cozy mysteries are thus left free to eavesdrop, gather clues, and use their native intelligence and intuitive "feel" for the social dynamics of the community to solve the crime.
The murderers in cozies are typically neither psychopaths nor serial killers, and, once unmasked, are usually taken into custody without violence. They are generally members of the community where the murder occurs and able to hide in plain sight, and their motives of greed, jealousy, or revenge are often rooted in events years, or even generations, old. The murderers are typically rational and often highly articulate, enabling them to explain, or elaborate on, their motives after their unmasking.
The supporting characters in cozy mysteries are often very broadly drawn and used as comic relief. The accumulation of such characters in long-running cozy mystery series, such as those of Charlotte MacLeod, frequently creates a stock company of eccentrics, among whom the detective stands out as the most, perhaps only, truly sane person.
Brozy Mystery
So what about brozy mysteries? First, all brozies are cozies by definition. No swearing, sex, or violence. BUT, not all cozies are brozies! It’s kind of like cozies are mysteries but not all mysteries are cozies.
I don’t do cats or tea parties. I don’t do book clubs and baking. I don’t do florists or caterers. I do mystery and adventure, mystery and forests, mystery and mythical beings rooted in reality, mystery and lost treasures… well you get the idea. The problem was my niche didn’t have a clearly defined genre. It was mystery, sure. It contained elements of adventure, certainly. Was it clean? Absolutely! Foul language? Not on your life! Sex? Unthinkable! (Barely any romance at all.). I was too tame for straight up mystery.
Then, one day, thanks to Donna B. McNicol, Kent Holloway and Jeff Stanger, I discovered a new sub-genre that was waiting to be found, Brozy Mystery.
Brozy = Broad Cozy
1. Broader tropes
2. Broader hobbies
3. Broader occupations
4. Broader sleuths
5. Broader crimes
6. Broader locations
The word ‘bro’ carries with it a certain derogatory connotation to many but to me the word ‘bro’ carries with it an ideal; that of ‘brotherhood’. Brotherhood conjures up concepts such as bravery, loyalty, being steadfast. I think of rugged exceptionalism (another bad word to some in this day and age) and of heroic deeds. It conjures images of knights in shining armour, Doc Savage, and Indiana Jones. Good guys (whether male or female) wearing white hats and villains wearing black.
There are those readers that crave stories that excite and pump up the adrenaline
Colin Conway and his Brody Steele series takes the cozy mystery and turns it upon its ears. The protagonist is an ex-biker enforcer currently in witness protection turned biker-sleuth. He’s forced to own and run a bookstore (check off one cozy trope). The bookstore has a cat (check another cozy trope), and of course, our hero is not a cat person. As pure and clean as the proverbial driven snow Brozy mystery series (And just how pure and clean is the driven snow, anyway? It absorbs all sorts of pollutants.).
Why is the brozy genre so important? So people can find these books easier. You are now able to type Brozy Mystery into Amazon’s database and you’ll be presented with a plethora of Brozy Mysteries, try it.
James D. A. Terry lives on the shore of the Bay of Quinte in Ontario, Canada and retired from more than three decades in international finance. After his retirement James set about indulging in his passion for words and embarked upon honing his craft as wordsmith. He is the author of 5 brozy mystery books; four books under his pen name, Solomon Knight, man of mystery; and, Chasing the Wendigo, the first in the Justin and friends series told by, Justin Case, Termination Agent for the Tin Can Communications Company, under James D. A. Terry.