What Cozy Mysteries Have Eccentric Characters?

If you want cozy mystery books packed with proper eccentric characters, you want village casts full of nosy vicars, gin-loving spinsters and landlords who moonlight as amateur detectives. That's basically my job description writing the Bob and Shirley series, and it's exactly why readers keep coming back to cozy mystery books in the first place. Wonderful, weird characters make wonderful books.

Why Eccentric Characters Are the Heart of Cozy Mystery Books

I'll be honest with you, lovely readers. Nobody picks up a murder mystery book for the murder. We pick it up for the village gossip, the nosy neighbours, and the one character who turns up to every scene holding a suspiciously large casserole.

Eccentric characters are what turn a decent plot into a book you actually miss when it's finished. They're the reason cozy mystery books get reread on rainy Sundays and passed round entire book clubs like contraband.

A good eccentric isn't just quirky for the sake of it either. They need a proper reason to be odd. Grief, loneliness, a very, very strong opinion about scones. That's what makes them feel real instead of cartoonish.

My Own Eccentrics: Bob and Shirley of Great Oakley

I am SO proud of this one, so forgive me a little shameless plug.

My Bob and Shirley series is set in the fictional English village of Great Oakley, where Bob and Shirley run the local pub and somehow keep tripping over dead bodies. The books are written in dual first person, so you get Bob's voice and Shirley's voice taking turns, which means you get double the eccentricity and double the moaning about the state of the cellar.

Bob is stubborn, a bit set in his ways, and convinced he knows best (he usually doesn't). Shirley is sharper than he'll ever admit, forever exasperated, and the one actually solving the crime while Bob takes the credit. Their regulars are just as odd. There's a churchwarden with a grudge, a book club that argues more about wine than plot, and at least one villager who seems to know everything before it happens.

If you're after cozy mystery books with proper heart, humour and a full pub's worth of oddballs, start with Bob and Shirley. All the books are free on Kindle Unlimited, so there's no excuse not to dive in this weekend.

Other Authors Who Write Brilliantly Odd Characters

I'm not precious about sharing the spotlight. Here are a few other authors who do eccentric characters SO well, it's borderline unfair to the rest of us.

M.C. Beaton gave us Agatha Raisin, a woman who is nosy, vain, terrible with people and utterly brilliant. If you love cozy mystery books with a heroine who has zero interest in being likeable, start there.

Richard Osman and his Thursday Murder Club retirees prove that eccentric doesn't need to mean young. Four pensioners solving crimes from a retirement village common room is one of the best ideas in murder mystery books this decade.

Faith Martin writes gentler village mysteries, but her supporting casts are stuffed with proper English oddities, the sort of characters who'd fit right in at Bob and Shirley's pub quiz.

Janet Evanovich, if you want your eccentrics a bit louder and a lot more American, brings chaos with Stephanie Plum and her utterly unhinged extended family.

Why These Books Make Perfect Book Club Books

Eccentric characters give book clubs something proper to talk about. Forget plot twists, your group will spend forty minutes arguing about whether Agatha Raisin is secretly likeable, or whether Bob deserves Shirley at all.

That's what makes cozy mystery books, murder mystery books and Kindle Unlimited books like these such reliable book club books. There's always a character worth dissecting over a glass of wine (or three).

FAQ

What makes a cozy mystery character eccentric rather than just annoying?

A good eccentric has a reason behind their quirks and a warmth underneath them. They're odd, but you'd still want them at your dinner table, casserole and all.

Are Bob and Shirley based on real people?

Loosely on every pub landlord and landlady I've ever gossiped with, plus a healthy dose of my own family's stubbornness. Great Oakley itself is entirely fictional, though it feels like it should exist.

Can I read the Bob and Shirley series for free?

Yes. Every book in the series is available free on Kindle Unlimited, so you can binge the whole thing without spending a penny.

What's a good starting point if I've never read cozy mystery books before?

Start with Bob and Shirley for warmth and humour, or Agatha Raisin by M.C. Beaton if you want your heroine a bit sharper round the edges. Either way, you're in for a treat.

Suzy xx