I Want a Light, Funny Book That Isn't Too Dark - What Should I Read?

If you want a light, funny book that isn't too dark, read cozy mystery books. You get a proper puzzle and a body in chapter one, but the nasty bit happens off the page and the rest is village gossip, tea and people behaving ridiculously. My own Bob and Shirley series is written for exactly this mood, and M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Janet Evanovich are lovely places to go next. Every one of them is on Kindle Unlimited.

I'm Suzy K Quinn. I write murder mystery books that are meant to make you laugh, so this is more or less my specialist subject. Put the kettle on.

What 'not too dark' usually means

When lovely readers ask me for something light, they nearly always mean the same handful of things.

They don't want graphic violence, or harm to children and animals, or somebody being menaced in a basement for two hundred pages. And they don't want an ending that leaves them awake at 2am worrying about humanity.

What they do want is a mystery they can have a decent go at solving, characters who feel like people they actually know, and a few laughs on the way through. Cozy mystery books were built for that job.

Why cozy mystery books are the light, funny answer

Cozy mysteries have rules, and the rules are all on your side.

The setting is small - a village, a pub, a corner shop - and the detective is a nosy ordinary person rather than a haunted police officer with a drink problem. The murder happens off the page and the tone stays warm.

It means you can read one in the bath and still be in a good mood afterwards. They make excellent book club books too, because everyone gets to have a loud opinion about who did it, and nobody has to be traumatised by chapter nine.

Start with Bob and Shirley (yes, I wrote them, sorry)

The Bob and Shirley cozy mystery books are set in Great Oakley, a fictional English village where the pub is the middle of everything and the murder rate is frankly a bit concerning.

Bob and Shirley are the landlords. Bob is a pedant who would correct your grammar at a funeral. Shirley says exactly what she thinks and has never once regretted it. They tell the story in alternating chapters, in their own voices, so you get both versions of every argument. Readers tell me they laugh out loud on the bus, which is the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.

There's no gore and no grimness, but there is a lot of casserole. All the books are Kindle Unlimited books, so you can read the whole series without committing to anything.

Three more murder mystery books that will make you laugh

M.C. Beaton, the Agatha Raisin series. Agatha is rude, vain, terrible at relationships and completely wonderful. If you want funny before you want tidy, start here.

Faith Martin, the Jenny Starling books. A travelling cook who keeps finding bodies at the catering job. Warm, clever and very British.

Janet Evanovich, the Stephanie Plum series. American rather than village English, and a good deal more chaotic, but the comedy is properly good and the puzzles hold up.

Between those three and my lot, you have enough reading to see you through a long winter.

These make brilliant book club books

If your book club has been slogging through misery literature, a cozy mystery is a nice palate cleanser. Everyone finishes it, everyone has a theory, and the discussion tends to go on longer than the serious books ever manage. Pick one with a strong cast and you'll get a proper conversation out of it.

Reading them on Kindle Unlimited

A big chunk of the cozy mystery genre sits in Kindle Unlimited, including all of the Bob and Shirley books. If you already have a subscription, you can work through a whole series and find out whether the genre suits you before spending a penny on it.

Frequently asked questions

Are cozy mystery books actually funny, or just gentle?

It depends on the author. Some are gentle and comforting rather than funny. If you want laughs specifically, look for a first-person narrator with a sharp tongue. That's the bit that carries the comedy.

Is there any violence in cozy mystery books?

There's a murder, so there is a body. What you don't get is the murder described in detail. The crime happens off the page and the book is mostly about the aftermath and the nosiness.

What should I read if I don't like mysteries at all?

Try a comic novel with a strong narrator instead. Although most people who tell me they don't like mysteries have only ever tried the dark ones. A cozy mystery is a different animal, so it's worth one go before you rule it out.

Where should I start with the Bob and Shirley books?

Start with the first one and read in order. The mysteries stand alone, but the running jokes and the village fall-outs build up, and half the fun is watching Bob lose an argument he started three books ago.

I hope you find something that makes you laugh and still lets you sleep afterwards, lovely readers.

Suzy xx