Tea, Blankets, and Murder
Host Shannon Sudderth with Antony Johnston, Annette Wierstra, Shelly Brisbin, David J. Loehr, and James Thomson
Once a subcategory for mysteries, “cozy” feels like the latest craze in publishing with every genre getting in on the act. Is it really a new thing? Are authors able to take sci-fi or horror and turn it into something to be read while cuddled into a warm blanket with a cup of tea at one’s elbow? Our panel discusses what makes a piece of media cozy, drafts a few books (sometimes with media tie-ins), and then throws it open to anything that gives us that cozy feeling. David includes tea pairings with his choices and Antony tells us how he ended up writing a cozy mystery series.
Listen to this episode (1 hour, 40 minutes)
Show Notes
- Annette: “A Council of War” cozy mysteries inspired by Elizabeth Peters (series with Amelia Peabody and Vicky Bliss), Veronica Speedwell mysteries by Deanna Raubourne, Jaya Jones mysteries by Gigi Pandian
- David: the Gervase Fen series by Edmund Crispin
- Antony: the Miss Marple books by Agatha Christie
- James: The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne by Summer N. England
- Shelly: the Night Soldiers series by Alan Furst
- Shannon: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
- Annette: A Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
- David: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
- Antony: the Wayfarers books by Becky Chambers
- James: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
- Shelly: the Bridgerton novels by Julia Quinn
- Shannon: the Cat Who… mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun
- Annette: outdoor lights on my patio
- David: the Jeeves and Wooster series by P.G. Wodehouse
- Antony: Journey (videogame) by Thatgamecompany
- James: Fallout 4 (videogame) by Bethesda Game Studios
- Shelly: my cozy reading nook with my Incomparable blanket, Mom’s cozy furniture, various cats, and “Murder, She Wrote” playing in the background
- Shannon: revisiting children’s books/media: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Colin Thompson picture books, Disney fairy tales
Antony’s rec list of fellow cozy authors:
- Poppy Denby mysteries by Fiona Veitch Smith
- Cressida Fawcett mysteries by Fliss Chester
- The Dales Detective Agency series by Julia Chapman
- The Inspector Chopra mysteries and the Malabar House series, both by Vaseem Khan
- The Bloody Christmas mysteries by Jo Middleton
- Various books by Janice Hallett
