Wicked Wednesday: May I?

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Edith/Maddie here, delighted spring is really here north of Boston.

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For this week’s discussion on permission, let’s talk about what is permitted in different crime fiction genres.

But first: Don’t forget! If you’re in New England, please join three of the Wickeds at the Kensington Cozy Con this Saturday, May 18, at the Langley-Adams public library in Groveland, Massachusetts. Register here, and we hope we see you there.

Authors in our field are writing books labeled cozy noir, humorous thriller, or paranormal romantic suspense, and I’m sure there’s more. We’ve talked here before about the cozy mystery “rules,” which a few of us have gently tried to expand over the years. How far do you stretch the envelope for cozy/thriller/suspense/historical/police procedural mysteries? Have you gotten reader (or editor) pushback for going outside the boundaries of a genre?

Jessie: I am not sure if I stretch the boundaries or not, but I do know that I don’t worry about rules as I write. I am more focused on how the story is best served, rather than something pressing from the outside. I have been lucky with my readers and editors. They have been nothing but supportive of my work thus far.

Barb: A lot of the “rules” I hear bandied about re: cozies are not rules I have ever had required or enforced by any editor or publisher. One I hear is that the victim must be a bad person–so in some sense it’s “okay with the reader” that they die or they “deserve” to die. I have never subscribed to this. I’m not a fan of extra-judicial killing for one thing. No one deserves to be executed without a trial. And it can make the mystery feel obvious, very A to B to C. My victims have ranged from very good to very bad as people and I’ve always tried to make them multi-dimensional. No one has ever complained about it.

Sherry: I’ve always appreciated you saying that, Barb and have always kept it in mind while writing. My agent told me that gun shots weren’t cozy when I was writing Tagged for Death and made me change my proposal. After I signed the contract, I changed it back and have used guns in other books. No one has ever mentioned it. I’ve had people tell me that my books are cozy thrillers and I’ve always liked that.

Julie: My Theater Cop series are more traditional than cozy, though they aren’t terribly dark. There’s just a line, and I knew that Sully Sullivan and her crew were on the traditional side. One rule that I hold firm is that the clues all have to be there for the reader. Fair-play is important to me, though not always in play for others. One thing to think about is that whatever the rules are, we need to set our own and stick to them or have a very good reason not to.

Edith/Maddie: Good points, Julie. I also always try to play fair with clues. The main pushback I’ve gotten in my cozies was about the tiniest bit of bad language. That’s always easy to fix, although it’s hard to keep writing things like “Dang” when a person comes across a dead body or a menacing killer, and is one reason readers might come across stronger language in my short stories. One other pushback I got from my editor I was able to slyly work around, as Sherry did. Come back Monday to read all about it!

Readers: Do you read genre-bending stories or prefer sticking to books that follow a stricter definition of the genre?

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Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

27 Thoughts

  2. I’ve been beyond happy to see the lines blurring in recent years, Edith, and I’m currently working on a blog post on this same topic!

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  3. Stories like life don’t fit one perfect mold. If they did you might as well read the same book over and over and just change the names. I think as long as a story follows some general guidelines, bending the normal keeps the reader on their toes and wanting more. To me, as long as I don’t ask myself “How in the world did that get listed in this genre?”, then I say for for it.

    Edith, I think a rare occurrence of a “strong” word is perfectly normal. I think that regardless of the person or how “proper” they are, that fright, fear or sudden surprise of a tragic scene someone might slip out an unusual for them word or two. To me that’s not cussing, but a way of releasing that strong emotion instead of bottling it up. It’s life and stories to be interesting should reflect real life. Well, that’s my opinion any way. 🙂
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  4. I am usually fine with bending the genre-rules.
    In cozies, swearing is not usually allowed. So “Dang” or “Fudge” is used instead of the real swear word.

    I know some readers get upset with the real swear word, but it does not bother me.
    I tend to read more darker books, which include a lot of violence & swearing, than cozies.

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  5. I think bending the “rules” is the way we keep what we write interesting and fresh, both for us and our wonderful readers. I was once told the sleuth in a cozy mystery must be a female in her thirties or younger. Well, my upcoming series features a guy in his forties, so we’ll see how readers react to that.

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  6. As a reader, I don’t mind an author bending the rules. Some bad language doesn’t bother me. I don’t need to read the condition of a body when I read a cozy. If I’m reading a traditional mystery or police procedural, I expect it — I still don’t want it to be graphic, though.

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  7. I do read cozies and traditional mysteries, some suspense. They are contemporary, historical, and paranormal. They do not always stay in a designated lane, and I am fine with that. I used to read thrillers, as well, but I discovered recently that I no longer tolerate those as I once did. All that said, I don’t want explicit sex or a torrent of bad language (a few worss here and there won’tsend me running), nor do I want politics or social agendas. This is entertainment not a treatise on political or social issues.

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  9. As a reader, I’m happy to read whatever the author I like writes. I don’t mind genre-bending in my cozies. I do agree with Liz Milliron – don’t kill the pet! aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com

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  10. I love it that the rules are bending and flexible. It opens new doors. My books tend to be more traditional than cozy with a thriller edge. Since most of my books are set in Florida, salty language does occasionally creep in but I rely on southern spellings to keep me out of the woods!

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  11. “Genre” is never on my mind when I pick a book to read. I hate the thought of an author sitting down and writing “by the RULES”. Because I heard so much about “rules for cozies” I avoided reading them. So grateful that I stumbled over one of Edith’s books (sorry can’t remember which one) some years ago, loved it, and decided in avoiding “cozies” I was rolling an equally ridiculous rule.

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  12. Great blog today (as usual!), dear ladies. I like to read cozies because they don’t describe blood and gore, don’t dwell on sex or politics, and don’t use bad language, which adds nothing to the content. I have read some author’s first book and given up on them due to constant bad language. (Doesn’t apply to any of you dear Wickeds:-) Other than that, mesmerize me with your mysteries and I am hooked. Joy. Luis at ole dot travel

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  13. I keep venturing out beyond cozies. It’s not necessarily on purpose, it’s just following books that sound good to me.

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  14. I don’t mind if the plot goes beyond the boundaries. For me it’s all about the way the author writes. I do wonder why there always needs to be a murder? Why can’t the author be allowed to mix it up and sometimes just solve a good mystery? Something like who is stealing the jewels, who is leaving threatening notes, etc. A good plot with interesting characters and a bit of humor make me happy.

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