Hooks in Cozy Mysteries
By Nancy J. Cohen
What does an editor mean when she asks about the hook for your proposed mystery series?
Basically, this refers to the marketing angle or the unique slant that your series offers. Your hook is based on the series premise, whether it’s the sleuth’s occupation or a particular locale. For example, my Bad Hair Day mysteries take place in a beauty salon owned by my hairstylist sleuth, Marla Shore. When I created the series, there were few other stories set in a similar environment. Now there are several, but they’re each different because of the setting or the sleuth’s particular characteristics.
So first you need to assign your sleuth an occupation. Are you a foodie? Maybe your gal works in a coffee shop, a bakery, a cupcake store, or a soup kitchen. Or else she’s a caterer or a food critic. Likely you’ll include recipes along with your story.
Or perhaps you enjoy hand-made crafts for a hobby, so your sleuth opens a scrapbooking store or designs jewelry or makes quilts with a circle of friends. You can include crafting tips in these types of stories.
Bed-and-breakfast owners and tour guides are also popular tropes. And don’t forget your pet mysteries. Dogs and cats have their own fans.
Ghosts are always popular, as you’ll witness by the paranormal mysteries or psychic detectives.
Whatever your personal interests, you are likely to find a mystery series to match. If not, you can create one.
The location also lends personality to these stories. My heroine lives in South Florida, which gives these books a different flavor than a beauty parlor set in Savannah. The age of the protagonist makes a difference. Whereas Marla is in her thirties, another hairdresser sleuth might be old enough to be her mother. The hook in all of these is the hair salon angle.
We could speak about the opening hook in your story or end-of-chapter hooks, but those have to do with writing craft. First you need to hook the reader on your overall series premise. Then you can worry about story details.
So what is the unique angle to your series?
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Hanging By A Hair
A Bad Hair Day Mystery
Marla’s joyous move to a new house with her husband, Detective Dalton Vail, is marred by their next-door neighbor who erects an illegal fence between their properties. When Dalton reminds the man of the local permitting laws, tempers flare—and worse, the neighbor is found dead the following day. Dismayed when Dalton is removed from the case due to a conflict of interest, Marla decides it’s up to her to find the killer. Can the intrepid hairstylist untangle the clues and pin down the culprit before he strikes again?
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Hair-Nancy-J-Cohen/dp/1432828142
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hanging-by-a-hair-nancy-j-cohen/1116603785
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About Nancy:
Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day mystery series featuring hairdresser Marla Shore, who solves crimes with wit and style under the sultry Florida sun. Several of these titles have made the IMBA bestseller list. Nancy is also the author of Writing the Cozy Mystery, a valuable instructional guide for mystery writers. Her imaginative romances have also proven popular with fans. Her titles in this genre have won the HOLT Medallion and Best Book in Romantic SciFi/Fantasy at The Romance Reviews. Active in the writing community and a featured speaker at libraries and conferences, Nancy is listed in Contemporary Authors, Poets & Writers, and Who’s Who in U.S. Writers, Editors, & Poets. When not busy writing, she enjoys reading, fine dining, cruising and outlet shopping.
Find Nancy Online:
Website – http://nancyjcohen.com
Blog – http://nancyjcohen.wordpress.com
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/nancyjcohen
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nancy-J-Cohen/112101588804907
Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/91508.Nancy_J_Cohen
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Enjoyed your post – thanks for the tips on hooks!
Thanks for this timely post. I never thought of the character and setting as a hook. I thought the hook was a gimic, an odd thing that happened in the mystery, rather than the overarching premise of the story/series. Nice to know! I think this might help a writer friend who’s struggling with a title for his first mystery. Do you try to get the hook into your titles? I’m assuming so, since they all reflect the beauty shop setting.
Yes, my titles reflect my overall series premise. There are also opening hooks and end of chapter hooks. These are important for drawing the reader into the story and keeping her turning pages. I did a post on this topic recently at http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2014/04/end-of-chapter-hooks.html#.U0WIelesj9s.
Great post! I also hadn’t thought of hooks that way, but you are so right about the story premise. Your setting and your sleuth’s profession can be a real draw — a real hook for the reader.
Hooking the reader on a premise is a prime concern in a mystery. Hence the number of cooking, baking, quilting, knitting, etc. mysteries. In these cases, the sleuth’s occupation is the hook. But it could be setting, like in a B&B or a bookstore mystery.
My main protagonist is a special agent with the US Fish & Wildlife who protects our natural resources in the Dismal Swamp when he isn’t finding dead bodies. Setting is indeed important, and this way of looking at the hook is very interesting!
Patrick, that sounds like an interesting premise! Where is the Dismal Swamp? Great name!
[...] April 22, “Hooks in Cozy Mysteries,” Musings from the Slush Pile, http://blog.juliealindsey.com/julie-anne-lindsey-writer/musings-welcomes-author-nancy-cohen/ [...]
Hi Nancy, hope I’m not too late in responding. My cozy amateur sleuth is a 38-year-old former ’70s teen idol/TV star making a comeback. Seems he keeps runing into dead bodies at his various venues. Far as I know nobody else has a sleuth like that.