Are you ready to join the ranks of cozy mystery authors who spend their days thinking about creative murder methods while drinking tea and eating scones? Whose stories delight their readers and worry their families and friends?

NOT SO FAST!!!

You will need a few things first. For instance…

A Setting: Prepare by creating a town or other closed setting. Pick a setting that your readers can fall in love with (or be intrigued by, curious about…) 

Main Character (MC): Create a MC/sleuth who is loveable but flawed. Give her a profession, hobby, or sideline (your hook). Give her skills or a reason she will make a good sleuth. (Everyone tells her things, she’s intuitive, she’s observant, she has law enforcement background or a relative in law enforcement, etc.) Give her a backstory.  

Hangout(s): Create a place (“hangout”) for your Main Character where others can congregate (I recommend a place where the public also frequents, I.e., café, library, bookshop). This may be her job, or a place she frequents like a best friend’s business. (Not necessary, but you will thank me later!)  Also, create other locations for the MC to go (home, friends’ homes or jobs, coffee shop, etc.) to keep your story from feeling claustrophobic. 

Sidekick: (preferably with a special skill that will complement your sleuth) and several quirky townspeople. Make sure at least a few are regulars at your sleuth’s hangout. Make them diverse in a way that fits the setting – don’t forget older/younger, other races, religions, rich/poor, etc. And add in a few men besides the detective and/or love interest!  

Victim: If you pick someone obviously mean or horrible, that will telegraph that they’re the victim, but readers don’t seem to mind. You can also choose someone who seems nice and normal but who turns out to have ugly secrets. I don’t recommend killing off any of your regular characters, but in the first book, no one but your MC is safe! 

Suspects: Choose 3-8 potential suspects and populate your town with them. 5-6 potential suspects is probably about right, but your story may need fewer or more. For your main suspects who will be your focus, I suggest 3 or maybe 4. Yes, everyone at a party is a potential suspect in theory, but if you don’t name them, the reader won’t consider them an actual suspect.  

Theme. Cozy mysteries always have the theme “justice prevails,” but the theme for your story might be the big lesson your MC will learn in this story. Having trouble? Look up some quotes/cliches/bible verses that you feel will resonate with your character. You can then introduce the theme by having another character quote or paraphrase it.