What's a Good First Cozy Mystery to Try?

A good first cozy mystery is short, funny, set somewhere gentle like an English village, and solved by an amateur rather than a police officer. If you want one specific book to start with today, try 'Bob and Shirley's Guide to Murder'. It's book one of my own series, it's on Kindle Unlimited, and you can read it in an afternoon with a cup of tea.

I get asked this SO often, usually by people who've read a thriller that gave them nightmares and now want something kinder. So here's the longer answer, for anyone who has been eyeing up cozy mystery books and isn't sure where to dip a toe in.

What Makes a Cozy Mystery Different

Cozy mystery books have rules. Lovely, comforting rules.

The murder happens offstage. No gore, no forensic detail about the state of anyone's liver, and nobody describes a body in a way that puts you off your dinner.

The detective is an ordinary person. A pub landlady, a baker, a retired school teacher. Someone with absolutely no business investigating a murder who goes ahead and does it anyway.

The setting is small. A village, a seaside town, a bookshop. Somewhere everybody knows everybody, which is very handy when you need a suspect list.

And there's a lot of food. I don't know why this is a rule, but it is, and I'm not going to be the one to break it.

Start With a Series Rather Than a Standalone

My honest advice for your first cozy mystery is to pick a series.

Cozy mysteries work on character. Half the pleasure is spending time with people you like, in a place you'd happily visit. Land on a standalone you enjoy and you've got one lovely evening. Land on a series you enjoy and you've got a fortnight of them.

Most cozy mystery series sit in Kindle Unlimited too, so you can read book one, decide you love it, and carry straight on. That also makes them brilliant book club books, because everybody can read the same thing without anyone having to buy ten copies.

My Recommendation - Bob and Shirley

Start with 'Bob and Shirley's Guide to Murder'.

Bob and Shirley are married pub landlords in the fictional English village of Great Oakley. They bicker constantly. They are each completely convinced they're the sensible one. And they keep finding dead bodies, which is inconvenient when you're also trying to run a Sunday carvery.

The books are written in dual first person, so you get Bob's account of events and then Shirley's, and the two almost never match. Bob believes he is a serious man held back by his wife. Shirley believes Bob is a walking disaster in a fleece. They are both right.

If you like that one, there's 'Death by Hot Chocolate', 'Dead Before Pudding' and 'All Inclusive Murder' waiting after it, all on Kindle Unlimited.

I am obviously biased, being the woman who wrote them. I did write them for readers who wanted murder mystery books without the nightmares though, so I feel fairly comfortable putting them forward as a starting point.

Three More Cozy Mystery Authors to Try

M.C. Beaton. The Agatha Raisin books. Agatha is rude, vain and hopeless at relationships, and she is one of the great cozy mystery characters. Begin with 'Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death'.

Faith Martin. Try the Jenny Starling books if you want something food-led, or Hillary Greene if you fancy a slightly more procedural feel. Very readable and very British.

Janet Evanovich. The Stephanie Plum books. American rather than village-English, faster and sillier, and perfect if you like your murder mystery books with a side of chaos.

Between those three and Bob and Shirley you've got a few hundred hours of reading, which should see you comfortably through to Christmas.

How to Pick Your First One

Read the first page. That's it, that's the whole method.

Cozy mystery books live or die on voice. If the first page makes you smile, you'll enjoy the book. If it doesn't, move on. There are thousands of them and no prizes for finishing something you're not enjoying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are cozy mysteries scary?

No, and that's rather the point of them. The murder is a puzzle rather than a threat, it usually happens off the page, and the tone stays light all the way through. Cozy mystery books are what you read when you want a mystery and you also want to sleep afterwards.

Do I need to read a cozy mystery series in order?

Usually not, but it's nicer if you do. Most cozy mystery books work on their own because the murder is self-contained. The relationships between the characters build across a series though, so starting at book one gives you the better experience.

Are cozy mysteries on Kindle Unlimited?

An awful lot of them, yes. Cozy mystery is one of the biggest genres on KU, and most independent authors (me included) put the whole series in there. All the Bob and Shirley titles are Kindle Unlimited books, so you can read the lot for the price of one monthly subscription.

Do cozy mysteries make good book club books?

They're some of the best book club books going. They're short, they're funny, everybody actually finishes them, and there's a proper puzzle to argue about over the wine.

Happy reading, lovely readers. I hope your first cozy mystery is a good one.

Suzy xx