A number of recent think pieces have heralded the return of the “cozy murder” genre but perhaps a less interesting, more accurate, take is that the genre never really went away. The Kenneth Branagh–led Agatha Christie adaptations and the Knives Out films are only a few of the many recent examples, while bestselling authors like Anthony Horowitz, Richard Osman and Janice Hallett have all paid homage to its tropes and tells.

Contrary to what its many detractors may say, a cozy mystery can be serious literature and feature motifs and larger messages; it may even let you discover something about yourself. While gritty noir thrillers and procedurals tend to focus on the ins and outs of forensics and the crime itself, in cozy mysteries, the story can hinge on the murder, but it’s not the entire reason for its being. The murder is the entry point for the reader, but not the exit wound, so to speak.

“Cozy murder mysteries, to me, are murder mysteries that take place in a world that’s ultimately safe and fun. Crimes happen, but they’re the aberration, not the norm, and whatever goes wrong can be fixed,” explains novelist Robin Stevens, the creator of the popular middle-grade series A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery.

Kemper Donovan, another cozy mystery writer and the host of Agatha Christie–themed podcast All About Agatha, takes another perspective: It’s all in the participation.¹ “If we’re talking about ‘fair play’ mysteries, which can be read actively and solved via clues, there is a satisfaction to these novels that a reader cannot get from any other genre,” he says. “The agency, or promise of agency, these books provide, is a source of significant enjoyment, perhaps especially to a readership that finds itself… disenfranchised in some way.”