Photo Finished (Callie Cassidy Mysteries) by Lori Roberts Herbst | Guest Post

As a college English major, I’ve read Shakespeare, Hemingway, Hawthorne, and Tolstoy. I’ve analyzed themes and symbols and characterization. I’ve cried over Dickens, laughed at Twain, and raged with Orwell. Some of those Great American Novels etched themselves permanently into my psyche. I’ve closed many a work of literature better for the journey.

And I can honestly say the same is true of many cozy mysteries.

In many ways, a good cozy is not different from a work of literature. Within its pages, you’ll find compelling stories, meaningful themes, and characters who feel real. You’ll become immersed in the setting, connected to the people, intrigued by the mystery. There’s little in life that’s better.

When I made the choice to become an author, I settled on the cozy mystery genre. Here are a few of the reasons:

A pleasant escape

I‘m sure I don’t need to tell you the world feels a little crazy these days, with so many circumstances spinning out of our control. Turning on the news can be the equivalent of torture. But in a cozy mystery, we can escape to a welcoming world (albeit one with at least a murder or two…) Many of the people we get to know in that world are kind and good-hearted, funny and smart. We cuddle with lovable animals, eat delicious meals, and hang out with eccentric neighbors. Cozy mysteries offer us a soft place to fall.

Fun, interesting people

The main reason I keep coming back to certain cozy mystery series has to do with the characters. In the best series, the world is populated with people I’d love to know in real life (and some I wouldn’t, of course, which makes the fictional world even more entertaining). The sleuths are typically intelligent, clever people who endeavor to make their world a better place. And they’re often surrounded by witty, unconventional friends and family members who add laughter to my life.

A puzzle to solve

A good mystery sparks our neural synapses and makes us smarter. When we’re engaged in figuring out whodunnit, we’re using critical thinking skills: analysis, judgement, prediction. If we beat the sleuth to the solution, what a glorious victory. But even if we don’t, we can go back through the clues and hints and achieve our aha moments in retrospect.

Learn new skills

Some cozies offer recipes. Others give us a peek into a new craft. Still others introduce us to a career we may never have heard of. One of my favorite things about cozy mysteries is the opportunity to peer into someone else’s area of expertise. And maybe I’ll even decide to try something new because I read about it in those pages.

Representation of humanity

Love and loyalty. Persistence. Justice. Spiritual growth. Acceptance. Resilience. These are just a few of the themes cozy mysteries explore. As the characters challenge themselves to be better people, so can we as readers.

A happy (or at least satisfying) ending

It may not be the ending we expected or prepared for, but we can usually see why it’s the right ending. We experience a catharsis and a sense of closure—all as we anticipate the next book in the series.

As a cozy mystery author, I strive in every book I write to provide these aspects to my readers. Sometimes I achieve better results than others, but it’s always my hope that readers feel at home in Rock Creek Village. That they would like to be friends with Callie Cassidy. That they enjoy the idea of having Woody, the golden retriever, nuzzle their hand while tabby cat Carl curls up in their laps. That they enjoy learning something new about photography, or journalism, or whatever new craft Callie’s mom Maggie tackles.

But I mainly hope that readers come away from each book with a little more peace and joy than when they started. If that happens, I can count the book as a success.