PRIME COZY READING MONTHS AHEAD

 by Korina Moss

Photo by Cheese Shop Mystery reader Cheryl Pelicano

Hurrah! We have begun the ‘ber months: September, October, November, and December. As a New Englander, these are my favorite months of the year. The air is cooler, the colored leaves are majestic, and it’s the start of the cozy season. Sure, you have your summer beach reads, but this stretch of the year is what reading was made for.  

Taken by me after a very early snow

It starts in mid-September, lazing on the lush grass, the warm sun countering every chilly breeze. You bring a picnic blanket, some artisan cheese, and an apple picked fresh from a nearby orchard. You definitely bring a book. 

A September day in the park with my son

Once October arrives, autumn has taken hold and you know it will vanish just as quickly.  You spend mornings on your front porch rocker, a crocheted blanket up to your chin, and your dog resting at your feet in a sunbeam. One hand holds a mug of something warm, and the other holds your book. The rustling leaves provide soothing background music, with the occasional thumping of your dog’s happy tail acting as percussion. You make a habit of this for as many days as Mother Nature allows, until it’s too cold to sit outside. 

Morning fog on one of my October walks

You bring your book indoors to lounge on the window seat, where the squishy pillows have a memory for perfectly resting your head and shoulders. The warm glow of the lamplight illuminates the book’s pages, as November rain darkens the skies, lashes the windows, and pulls the last of the dying leaves from their branches. Your cat jumps up to join you and pushes herself under your book, before kneading the throw blanket covering you. She eventually lies down, her soft purrs indicating her comfort. 

Clearing after a wet November day

By December, the windows have become frosty and radiate the cold, so you choose a deep-cushioned chair by the fireplace. The windows are now draped with tiny twinkling lights, and the only thing to match your mood is a holiday-themed book. As you read, you breathe in the aroma of freshly baked gingerbread. The spiced scent might be from your kitchen or merely from the cozy comforts written on the pages. Hot cocoa will do. You light the kindling atop the fireplace grate before returning to your book. As the flames crackle and dance on the logs, so does your imagination, lost in the story. At the final chapter’s end, you look up from your book and catch the first snowfall of the season. 

The snowy view from my back deck

Readers: What does cozy reading look like to you?

 

KORINA MOSS is the author of the 6-book Cheese Shop Mystery series, which includes the winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, Cheddar Off Dead, as well as two novels short-listed for Best Contemporary Novel. Listed as one of USA Today’s “Best Cozy Mystery Series,” her books have also been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, and Writer’s Digest. This summer, Cheddar Off Dead was recommended by PBS & PBS Kids for their all-ages summer reading challenge. Learn more and subscribe to Korina’s seasonal newsletter via her website korinamossauthor.com

KORINA MOSS is also a freelance developmental editor specializing in cozy mysteries. To learn more and read client success stories and testimonials, go to her website korinamossauthor.com. You may contact her by email at korinamossauthor@gmail.com.

Are Mysteries Like Chocolate - the Darker the Better? by Molly MacRae

 

A breakfast table discussion and unscientific taste test. 

Try these at home – they’re safe!

Plus, an exciting bonus opportunity for chocolate lovers! (A Ghirardelli contest!)

 

Researcher’s update, September 5, 2021: This experiment took place fourteen years ago. I stand by the results, but welcome input from readers in the comments.

Further update: Magna Cum Murder, where the discussion and tasting occurred, has morphed into Prime Crime at the Columbia Club. The 2021 conference has been postponed and will now take place April 1-3, 2022. 

photo by Alexander Stein from Pixabay

Are mysteries, like chocolate, the darker the better? Medical and nutritional studies in recent years do convince me that dark chocolate offers health benefits (see below for links to study reports.) But how many people actually prefer dark chocolate? And what about mysteries of the noir persuasion? Are readers more captivated by stories digging into a character’s psyche than the cozy world of knit one, purl two, and the daily grind of cat-loving baristas? Curious, I set out for the wilds of Indiana, in October 2007, to find out.

Location, date, and time: Muncie, Indiana, Saturday October 27, 2007, 7:00 a.m.

Cover: acting as one of nine table hosts for Magna cum Murder’s Breakfast Resolution session.

Bait: four samples of quality chocolate, containing increasing percentages of cocoa, tantalizingly arrayed on a white linen tablecloth.

Strategy: sit quietly and wait for the unsuspecting. And wait. And wait. . .

Do you know how hard it is to get people to eat chocolate at seven a.m.? Eventually, six people did join me, possibly because I looked lonely or harmless.

Of the seven now sitting at the table, three demurred but four acquiesced and ate the chocolate. The samples ranged from a namby-pamby 40% cocoa content (basic milk chocolate) to an invigorating 85% cocoa. To prevent bias, the samples were unlabeled. After tasting all four, subjects voted on their preferences, though one cheated and voted twice (that was me.) The following graph shows the results.

 

Chocolate Bar Graph

Even accounting for the cheater, who voted for both 71% and 85% cocoa, three out of four people preferred dark over milk chocolate in this blind and completely reliable taste test – a resounding endorsement. But what of dark mysteries? Are they also so clearly preferred?

Having gained the trust of my tablemates by speaking softly and using only non-threatening gestures, not to mention plying them with chocolate, I next asked them to define “dark mystery” and encouraged them to share their feelings about the genre. The gist of that exchange can be summarized in four bullet points. (Opinions stated are not necessarily those of this researcher.)

´  Dark mysteries troll the baser instincts.

´  Dark mysteries are more authentic and morally complex than cozies.

´  They are not necessarily graphic, but are harsher, grittier, and have a strong sense of violence.

´  Humor and a happy or satisfying ending are possible, though cynicism abounds.

 The discussion was interesting and friendly. Participants variously sipped coffee, tea, or juice and enjoyed warm muffins and bagels from the breakfast buffet. Though opinions differed, no one resorted to harsh or gritty language. No one pulled a machete or gun. Cautiously, so as not to disrupt this cozy atmosphere, I asked for a show of hands. How many preferred dark mysteries? The results are seen in the following pie chart.

 

Pie Chart

I had two final questions for the group before letting them dash off to the first panel sessions of the day. How dark is dark enough? And how dark is too dark? With very little further discussion they decided mysteries can be as dark as you want, as long as there is redemption at the end, but for either mysteries or chocolate, when they are too dark they become unpalatable.

So, there are the results of my study, not earth shaking by any measure, but as satisfying to me as a square of Ghirardelli’s Intense Dark® Midnight Reverie® 86% cacao chocolate.

Speaking of Ghirardelli’s, at the beginning of this piece I promised an exciting bonus opportunity for chocolate lovers. Here it is – your chance to win one of three grand prizes in the 2021 The FeedFeed – Ghirardelli Contest. The sponsor wants to prove that “Ghirardelli Makes S’mores a Bite Better,” so show them your best s’mores made with Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares. But hurry, entry deadline is September 8, 2021.

 Links to reports on nutritional studies of dark chocolate:

 “Dark Chocolate” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

 “7 Proven Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate” Healthline.com, July 27, 2021

Molly MacRae writes the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes for Annie’s Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.