About American cozies

[james_davis_nicoll]

Is it coincidental that every American cozy I am sent is set in a small town?

Comments

[puritybrown.livejournal.com]

Okay, question from a very occasional reader of mysteries who is not exactly up on the state of the genre: do the Wimsey books count as cozies? Five Red Herrings would seem to fit the bill (small enclosed community where everything is basically fine, murder happens and is concealed by crazily elaborate and puzzle-like means, Lord Peter solves the puzzle by using Logic, the author deliberately, barefacedly and explicitly withholds information from the reader in order to keep the mystery going), but there's such a sense of unease about the world in The Nine Tailors and Busman's Honeymoon, and no feeling of resolution at the end; the mystery gets solved, but that doesn't make it all better. It just makes the wretchedness easier to discern.

Would it be fair to say that she started out writing cozies and then evolved into something more complex?