Why hurting animals in cozies is NOT cool – and a giveaway!

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By Liz, loving the early summer weather at the beach!

Someone told me recently they’d read a cozy where an animal was killed.

I was floored. Not just because I can’t imagine how it would give any writer joy to write that, but also because there’s kind of a code in cozies where you don’t EVER hurt the animal.

I mean, have you heard of the Save the Cat series of writing books? They’re called that for a reason!

Listen, I’m not much for rules in general – but this is one that I get very upset when someone breaks. I am one hundred percent one of those annoying people who will shut off a show or movie if something happens to an animal…or even if it looks like something may or could happen to said animal.

I know this is an annoying character flaw because most people aside from me understand it’s fiction, and because usually when I’m watching a show or movie with someone and we get to that point, whoever I’m watching with is now invested in this drama and doesn’t take kindly to me turning off the TV. 

It’s been a problem. But I don’t care. I can’t take it.

I also realize that this sounds INSANE coming from someone who not only murders people for a living in her books, but also spends much of her leisure time reading about or watching other murders, both real and fictional.

But I’m good with however many people you want to kill. Just don’t hurt an animal–or even come close. 

I was recently reading our friend Edwin Hill’s latest book, Who to Believe (which is awesome, btw) – but I had to stop in the middle and email him. I was worried about the pit bull in the book. 

His response? “Never worry about the animals in my books. They always survive!”

Phew. 

I got to keep reading, which was great because I was loving the book – and the payoff related to the dog in the end was the best I’ve read. 

So, back to the cozy that allegedly poisoned a dog. There are many things wrong with that concept, in my opinion.

It wrecks the zen of the book or the series. We come to cozies to feel good. Yes, there’s a murder, but we have faith that the murder will be solved and all will be well in the town again without a lot of lasting collateral damage. We believe the foundation of our town will hold together and the people we’ve come to love and care about will be mostly okay in the end. A twist like this gives us a whole different feeling – in my opinion.

It breaks trust with the reader. if you kill off an animal or a kid in a cozy, you’re breaking that code I mentioned earlier. People come here for comfort (again, aside from the one or two dead bodies they encounter). They trust that the characters they love will be unscathed. And if you kill someone’s dog or child, how do you ever come back from that?

It changes the fabric of the town and the series. An event like this leaves a black cloud hanging over the people it happens to, and the place itself. Which means people are less likely to return. I’ve had friends who’ve lost animals in terrible ways and as true animal people who love those furbabies like they ARE human kids, it’s altered their lives unimaginably.

By the way – for me, this goes beyond cozies. Even in a thriller or a different book where the code isn’t as sacrosanct, I’ll still put the book down.

Readers, what do you think? Will you read a book where an animal is hurt or killed? Tell me in the comments. I have five Pawsitively Organic audiobook codes to give away!

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Published by Cate Conte / Liz Mugavero

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in the Boston area with her rescue pals.

57 Thoughts

  1. We have Dances With Wolves on DVD. My husband will put it on. I can only watch to a certain point and then I have to leave the room for the rest of the movie. It guts me every time.

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  2. Nope, I surely will not support an author who kills off animals! I agree with you completely. I am one who will change the channel if I even think an animal might get hurt…even wildlife shows lol. My mother stopped letting me watch Lassie growing up because that dog would get in danger and I’d cry and cry!

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  4. I would not read a cozy wear animal gets hurt or killed. When I read a cozy I want to be thrilled not sad.

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  5. Not cool! I won’t watch it read anything where an animal is injured or killed. I also wrote to the ASPCA and offered to raise money from everybody I know if they’d stop showing their horrible commercial. I can’t take it.

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  6. I have a beloved cozy series where an animal passed. It was so sad, but it was still done respectfully and with love. While I was still not a huge fan of the thread, I will continue to be loyal to the series. I, too, have a strong passion and emotional connection with my own four-legged family members, as well as others’. I did not know that that was part of the “cozy mystery code of honor” so to speak. I am definitely glad to hear it. Thank you for this post.

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    2. I can handle it if the animal is at the end of a good life, not well, but I can handle it. I usually wonder if the author has lost a furbaby represented by the pet in the book. It is cruelty or even an animal saving a human that I do not want to read about.

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  7. I so totally agree!!! I will not read any cozies where the animals die. Real life is stark enough, thank you very much. For me a cozy implies a safe escape from that starkness into a predictable landscape that I thoroughly enjoy. Thank you for highlighting this breach of trust in the genre.

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  8. TOTALLY! Killing an animal in a cozy would be like killing the main characters sister. How could that add to or be part of a cozy?

    Yes, “pets” are part of the family. Our precious furbaby crossed the rainbow bridge almost 2 years ago at the age of 17 years, 7 months and 17 days and we still mourn the loss of not having our little boy in a fur suit with us 24/7.

    Hubby and I are photographers that enjoy trying to capture all sorts of critters in their natural environments. Animals do what is natural to them and in their need to survive, but it still bothers me when one is taken so another can live. Although mentally I know it’s a necessity, I won’t dream of posting a photo showing such an event. Why would I want to turn folks away from a critter or my photography by doing so? The the same as it applies to cozies! Please do not harm animals in the books I’ve come to love and go to for a fun read and comfort of joining friends I’ve come to think of as an extended family.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  9. Agree, Liz. In one of my Local Foods mysteries, a dog was kidnapped, but Cam got him back and he was fine. Also, glad you stuck with Edwin’s book!

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  10. I will read, but I’ll be on pins and needles – and if the animal dies, it definitely ruins the experience for me. I love John Wayne’s “Big Jake,” but I can’t watch one scene at the end where Dog gets the machete.

    In my first book, ROOT OF ALL EVIL, I locked Rizzo, the Golden Retriever, in a shed. Because my critique group said the bad guy would kill Rizzo, not just lock him away, I sent him to the vet overnight for a dental cleaning to keep him safe. 🙂

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  12. well if the killing of the animal is not explained in detail and foundation of the plot then i’m ok with it. But not w/ a “character” animal getting killed. nope. Can’t watch movies/TV shows were animals are harmed either.

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  13. I have a hard time reading or watching anything that hurts animals in it. Yes, I know in real life it might be necessary but in fiction, I never want that to happen.

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  14. I am definitely with you. I read to relax, I do not want to be upset when I should be enjoying myself. I agree especially with cozies I would consider it a break of trust and never read that author again. It’s gratuitous.

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  15. I definitely do not want to read a book or see a movie or a TV show or anything where an animal is hurt or killed.

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  16. Note to self: When you write your mythical mystery/thriller novel, kill as many people in horrible ways as you want. But make sure you open a can of Alpo for Fido before you leave the scene of the crime or you are just MEAN! 😀

    Here’s a question related to the topic: If you have a long running series where enough time passes, can you have a featured pet die from natural causes? Or does the lifespan extend to however long the series runs? It’s different than hurting an animal but in life (even in cozies) things just happen naturally. Not that I’m eager to lose a beloved part of any series, I’m just curious.

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  17. Nope. Just no. We’re watching Sugar on Apple TV and I kept saying, “that dog better be okay.” It was but I don’t like to even think an animal could get hurt.

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  18. What would be \OK with me is for example if the protagonist starts the series with an elderly pet and then one book the pet isn’t there and it’s “X slipped away in her sleep three months ago” but defenitely no deaths on screen or indications the pet suffered

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  19. We are okay with reading about people being murdered, but not animals. Make it make sense!!!

    I’m more okay with an animal being hurt or killed if there is a reason for it. But it’s also something I don’t run across very often. I get your points. I do. I noted it in a review when an animal is killed (even though it was a pretty major spoiler). But in the book I’m thinking of, the animal was a witness, and the main character is a pet psychic. I get why the killer did it even if it will bother other people.

    But I also think about this when I watch the original Halloween. We watch it to see Michael Meyers kill a bunch of teens. But he also kills a dog who is constantly barking at him/warning his victims he is there. Is that worse than killing the teens? In a horror movie? Yet I think about it every year when I watch that scene. That’s how much this discussion has gotten to me.

    But back to where I started – it doesn’t bother me as much as it does others.

    Now kids? That one really does bother me, much more so after my niece and nephew were born. And maybe if I had pets of my own, I’d be more bothered with animals being hurt of killed.

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  20. I don’t need an audiobook because being retired I don’t listen to them anymore as I don’t drive to work anymore. When we take a trip and that is rare lately. We used to listen to hundreds of them. If you have a paperback, I would love that. But I digress. In answer to your question–Positively not. I will not read any book where an animal gets killed. Like you, I won’t even watch a movie where an animal is hurt or killed or a documentary. I cried as a teenager when I resaw “Bambi” and the mother was killed. My date moved a seat away from me I was crying so much. And WHO doesn’t cry when “Old Yeller” dies. I can’t watch that movie anymore. And oh, the comment on “Dog” in the John Wayne movie. That scene kills me every time because he was such a good boy. I hate those ASPCA ads. I won’t watch them. I think, you are filming this, you help them. We have no children, and our dog is our dogter. I think one reason it doesn’t bother us as much when a person dies in the cozies is that it is usually a bad person that did bad things, and we don’t like murder but understand that it is what makes a cozy mystery. I do not like when a good character is killed though like in one book, I read that basically ended the series. I want the happily ever after ending. Call me a romantic. I won’t read or watch horror movies anymore (and I used to love them). I don’t like serial killer books, or torture, or gory murders, or the killing of children. I want light reading, being entertained and getting to know the characters whether human or animal. My favorite movie series for “The Thin Man” has a dog hurt in one (but is okay) but in another the dog is killed in a vicious way. It almost ruins that one for me. Luckily, I know when it is and don’t watch that part. Keep on having the code. Now there have been a couple of books that the dog lived a good life and then passed that I have read but usually don’t as that is sad also.

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  21. I’m all for “breaking the rules” in writing, but not this one. NEVER this one!

    I’m also against plot spoiling, but endorse it to warn readers about an animal being hurt or killed.

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  22. It is a conundrum that I am fine reading of murders – cozy and traditional, though not when I’m in the killers mind thank you – but keep your hands off the animals! Like others, natural causes is understandable if not foremost in the story, but please not a beloved character. And love comment about ASPCA ad!

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  23. I’m totally with you! Don’t hurt the animals. How can a book be a cozy if an animal isn’t okay, or is badly treated? I can’t watch the commercials asking for monetary support for abused animals.

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  24. I would stop reading if any animal was hurt or killed. It’s just not acceptable. I started watching a movie a few years ago, Hatchi, about a dog waiting in the same place every day for it’s deceased owner to return. I couldn’t finish the movie. It so terribly sad. I switch channels if I think something bad or sad will happen to any animal.

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  25. No, I find the thought of anyone hurting an animal in any book deeply disturbing. I understand that it is fiction, but I read to escape, and any abuse of animals is something I don’t want to read about in a book.

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  26. I would not want to read a cozy with an animal being killed. Dying of old age in the arms of a loving owner I could handle, but even that I’d prefer happen before the book so the owner deals with grief & ends up with a new 4-legged friend.

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  27. I agree. I like my cozies to be lighter and happier. I don’t really like animal deaths in movies either but I’ll continue watching. Pet Sematary – well, at least the cat comes back to life (the humans, too). Just checked out a DVD from the library, A Gift From Bob. I looked up Bob the cat and Wikipedia said that unfortunately he escaped from his house and was hit by a car. Very sad. He plays himself in the two movies. You may have heard of the book A Street Cat Named Bob. Killing more people is okay. I usually expect multiple murders in Midsomer Murders and I remember an Agatha Christie book where two or three people died.

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