One of the entertainment boons of fiction in general, and the cozy mystery genre in particular, is the implicit promise to the reader of an escape from the doldrums of the here-and-now to some far away mythical or longed for place or time. The artful selection and narrative depiction of a captivating setting can go a long way towards fulfilling that promise of escape.

Two worlds exist in the cozy mystery: the natural world before the  murders, and that surreal world which exists only after the discovery of the crimes.

After the cast of characters, the story setting is the biggest cozy mystery sub-genre differentiator. Today there are bed-and-breakfast cozies, small New England town cozies, deserted island cozies, haunted mansion cozies, witch haven cozies—you get the picture.

Cozy Mystery Settings

So what makes a cozy mystery setting special?

A complex relationship exists between characters and setting in the cozy mystery. The rich depiction of a compelling setting adds an air of authenticity to the mystery which, if successfully executed, bolsters the author’s assertion that the events must have taken place exactly as described on the pages of her story.

To capture and project such authenticity the story needs to be acted out for the reader by believable characters, and to help cement that verisimilitude in the reader’s mind those characters will naturally need a convincing place to hang their hat. The setting of the cozy mystery provides just such a convincing place. That setting also represents a convergence point in the story, a place where all the characters have come together at a single moment in time to gloat over past conquests, to hash out their differences, to settle an old score or two, or—for one of them—to commit a murder.

The Closed Setting

For all its international glamour, extra-galactic novelty, or ordinary homespun charm, the ultimate purpose of the scenic backdrop in the cozy mystery play is to manifest the signature hallmark of the genre—the closed setting.

Two worlds exist in the cozy mystery: the natural world before the murders, and that surreal world which exists only after the discovery of the crimes. The world before the crimes is a world of order. All expectations of law-and-order are obeyed, and the natural order of the universe is upheld. But once the murders are discovered, the characters are all plunged into a dark world of chaos, and only through the expert guidance of the detective can the characters in the story see their way through the darkness and back into the light of the world of order. It is this second world—a world of mayhem—that houses the closed setting. And it is in the context of this closed setting that the author creates her fictional world of crime and detection.

It is also here, in this world of mayhem, where the main drama unfolds. The characters are all trapped in this closed setting, if not physically then figuratively, as they are compelled to pick and choose sides, to forge and forgo aliances, to alibi and betray one another, until at last the truth behind the crimes is uncovered.

Only after the murders are solved by the detective may the characters in the play return to that peaceful, tranquil world they inhabited before the crimes. Once the puzzle is solved and justice is served, the closed setting loses its singular purpose and the characters (absent the murderer) are all free to return to their homes and lives as they existed before the madness of the murder investigation befell them.

The Modern Cozy Mystery Setting

We’ve all heard from William Shakespeare how All the World’s a Stage, so naturally one couldn’t be criticized for thinking that the astute contemporary cozy mystery author need only look around her to gather all the raw material necessary to build her fictional world.

But judging from the potpourri of modern cozy mystery settings, today’s author has not been content with the usual props offered up by that world she sees around her. No longer satisfied with entailed country manors and quaint English villages, modern authors have branched out to ever more diverse—and less traditional—venues for their plays. Animal-run bakeries, other-worldly bookstores, magic-laced antique shops, haunted beauty parlors, cursed cruise ships—the further out of the mainstream of reality, for some authors, the better.

Rather than signifying an irrational departure, perhaps this scenic divergence is a modern-day necessity. After all, some of today’s cozy mystery settings need to do double-duty, both establishing the proper atmosphere and tone for the story, as well as acting as a ballast of sorts to help anchor the increasingly eclectic (some would say disturbing) parade of hobbies, interests, and practices engaged in by some of today’s fictional detectives. Witchcraft, ghost busting, vampire chasing, talking-pet boarding—something needs to ground the modern reader in a semblance of reality, even if that reality exists only in the author’s mind.

This is where the modern cozy mystery setting needs to live up to the story’s billing.

Thanks for visiting! This is the sixth in a series of articles that explore the question: What is a cozy mystery?

Up Next: Plotting the Cozy Mystery