Modern Cozy Mystery

How to Plan the Perfect Murder!

Modern cozy mysteries are popular with readers, but how do you go about writing one? You need to know the genre conventions (or tropes) – all the things a reader expects to find in this kind of story. In this book you’ll learn how to create a modern amateur sleuth; how to combine the investigation of a murder mystery with character relationships, all in a ‘cozy’ world with no excessive violence, bad language, or gratuitous sex scenes. You’ll also see how this genre combines elements from the traditional whodunit, private eye stories, thrillers, and the romance genre.

Content includes:

• What is a Modern Cozy Mystery? A Hybrid Genre
• Setting – Story World or Where to Put the Body
• Genre Conventions – Iconography, Themes & Tone
• The Investigation – Following in the Private Eye’s Footprints
• The Crime – Murder, She Wrote
• Nancy Drew Was Here
• The Investigator – Creating Your Amateur Sleuth
• The Best Friend or ‘Watson’
• The Investigator’s (Optional) Lover
• The Suspects & Why They Behave Suspiciously
• Clues & Red Herrings – Different Types & Where to Hide Them
• Plot Types – The Cozy Investigation & The Cozy Thriller
• The Innocent Accused
• Paranormal Mysteries
• Romantic Subplots
• Writing the First in a Series
• Putting it All Together

You will discover why particular tropes are important to readers and how to create them for your own stories. Character archetypes will help you create your story people, and the eight-sequence plot structure lets you put it all together so you have all the right things in the right places.

Available from Amazon UK – Amazon USA and on other Amazon stores