Cozy mysteries and Sex! Violence! Chicks Gone Wild!

I have a confession to make.

When I started writing DYING TO BE THIN, the first installment in the Fat City Mystery series, I was not fully aware that the mystery sub-genre known as “cozies” had to follow certain restrictive guidelines. With some glaring exceptions, most cozies are written according to the following rules:

• They have “kinder, gentler” story lines.
• There is little graphic violence.
• Murders are mostly presented off-stage.
• Sex tends to be delivered in “fade to black” mode. (You know, like the couple in From Here to Eternity; you get to see them thrashing around in the surf. But then, just when the action gets interesting, the scene ends.)

And so…ahem. In the interest of full disclosure, I should let you know that even though DYING TO BE THIN often gets lumped in with cozy mysteries, readers will encounter a few “uncozy” passages:

• Murder victims are presented splat on the page, complete with a discussion of the deceased-one’s physical appearance (including, in the case of one victim, the impact of weaponized fondue forks).
• There are frequent and colorful references to a fictional S&M scene in the story’s locale, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
• The plot line is neither kind, nor particularly gentle. But it is often humorous.

My thought is that the concept of a "cozy" mystery is expanding in terms of the amount of sex and violence that readers will accept. What do you think?

And if you have a chance to read DYING TO BE THIN, I’d so appreciate it if you’d go to my web site http://www.kathrynlilley.com/, and send me an email with your feedback.

Visiting Thousand Oaks, California on Saturday

This weekend I'll be visiting Mysteries To Die For for an informal discussion and signing, so please drop by for a chat!

Saturday, October 20, 1 PM
Mysteries To Die For
2940 E Thousand Oaks BlvdThousand Oaks, CA 91362-3278