What Cozy Mysteries Are Set in Suffolk and East Anglia?

If you want cozy mysteries set in Suffolk and East Anglia, start with Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway books on the Norfolk saltmarshes, Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy on the Suffolk and Essex border, Ian Sansom's The Norfolk Mystery, Dorothy L. Sayers' The Nine Tailors in the Fens and Jill Paton Walsh's Imogen Quy books in Cambridge. My own Bob and Shirley series is on the list too, because it's set in a Suffolk village pub.

East Anglia gets far less attention than the Cotswolds when it comes to cosy crime. Which is odd, because it's built for murder. Big skies, flat fields, fog rolling in off the North Sea, and villages where everyone knows everyone and half of them are related.

Why Is East Anglia So Good for Murder Mystery Books?

Partly it's the landscape. The Fens and the marshes look peaceful until the mist comes down, and then they look like somewhere you'd bury a spade.

Partly it's the villages. Suffolk and Norfolk are full of them, each with a church, a pub, a green and a very long memory for grudges. That's most of a cozy mystery before anyone's even died.

1. Elly Griffiths - Ruth Galloway (Norfolk)

Ruth is a forensic archaeologist at a university in Norfolk. She lives in a lonely cottage on the edge of the saltmarsh with her cat, and the police keep calling her in when bones turn up. Usually the bones are a few thousand years old. Sometimes they aren't.

These sit at the darker end of cosy crime, but Ruth is dry, clever and very good company. Start with The Crossing Places.

2. Jonathan Gash - Lovejoy (Suffolk and Essex)

Lovejoy is an antiques dealer working the villages along the Suffolk and Essex border. He's a rogue who is nearly always broke, and he can tell a fake just by touching it. He narrates, and he's very funny about his own failings.

If you only know the Ian McShane TV series, the books have a lot more edge. Start with The Judas Pair.

3. Ian Sansom - The Norfolk Mystery

It's 1937. Swanton Morley, a man who has written books about absolutely everything, sets off to write a guide to every county in England, starting with Norfolk. He takes his weary assistant Stephen Sefton and his daughter Miriam, who drives as though she's being chased. Naturally, somebody dies.

It's comic and clever, and perfect if you like a bit of history with your cosy crime.

4. Dorothy L. Sayers - The Nine Tailors (the Fens)

Lord Peter Wimsey drives into a snowy ditch near the Fenland village of Fenchurch St Paul on New Year's Eve. He ends up ringing the church bells all night. Months later a body turns up in somebody else's grave.

It was published in 1934 and it's the most Fenland book ever written. The flat land and the flood water are practically characters. A lovely first Golden Age mystery.

5. Jill Paton Walsh - Imogen Quy (Cambridge)

Imogen is the college nurse at St Agatha's, a fictional Cambridge college. Students come to her with sore throats and secrets, and she's much better at spotting a lie than the professors are.

They're gentle and clever, and full of bicycles and libraries. Start with The Wyndham Case.

6. Suzy K Quinn - Bob and Shirley (my own series, Suffolk)

Full disclosure, these are my books. Bob and Shirley are pub landlords in Great Oakley, a fictional Suffolk village with the kind of murder rate that puts people off their crisps.

The books are written in alternating first person, so you get Bob's version of what happened and then Shirley's. They rarely agree. Great Oakley has a green, a church, a lot of gossip and not much phone signal.

They're comedy first, with a bit of attitude. And they're free in Kindle Unlimited.

Which One Should You Start With?

For marshes and atmosphere, go for Ruth Galloway. For a rogue, Lovejoy. For a village pub that won't stop gossiping, Bob and Shirley.

Several of these work as book club books too. And if any English village will do, I've written about cozy mysteries set in small villages and the best cozy mysteries set in a pub.

Your Questions About East Anglian Cosy Crime

Are there any cozy mysteries set in Suffolk?

Yes. Lovejoy works the villages on the Suffolk and Essex border, and my Bob and Shirley books are set in Great Oakley, a fictional Suffolk village. P.D. James set Unnatural Causes on the Suffolk coast too, though that one is a lot less cosy.

Is Ruth Galloway a cozy mystery series?

Sort of. Some of the cases get properly dark, but the cast is so likeable and the Norfolk setting so strong that lots of cosy readers love it. Think of it as cosy crime with the heating turned down.

What murder mystery books are set in Norfolk?

Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series and Ian Sansom's The Norfolk Mystery are the two I'd start with. P.D. James' Devices and Desires is set on the Norfolk coast if you want something more serious.

Can I read Bob and Shirley in Kindle Unlimited?

Yes, they're free in Kindle Unlimited. The reading order is on my books in order page.

Suzy xx