Marla Cooper, Mysteries

The Cozy is Coming From Inside the House 

Tuesday September 15 was National Cozy Mystery Day, AKA Agatha Christie’s birthday. Ever want to write a cozy but think all the good ideas are already taken? Just look around your house for craft projects, pet items, and unusual collections. Turns out inspiration is everywhere! Just for fun, I challenged myself to come up with five cozy mystery ideas from things currently in my h0use — and there were plenty more where these came from!

Ukulele Shop Mysteries

Naomi has fulfilled her lifelong dream of opening a ukulele shop on the island of Kauai. But when the founder of a local ukulele fest is found strangled with a specialized brand of nylon ukulele strings that are only sold in her store, Naomi is accused of the crime and has to clear her name. Each book comes with ukulele tabs at the end of the book. 

Vintage Pulp Fiction Mysteries

A vintage bookstore specializing in 1950s pulp fiction featuring a cat named Raymond Chandler, who helps solve the mysteries and also he can talk. The owner of the store inherited it from her husband, a former mobster turned wannabe novelist. She dreams of converting it to a cozy mystery bookstore, but first she has to deal with the dead bodies she keeps finding on the shelving carts.

The Gallery Wall Murders

Donna has a special knack for arranging art and has carved out a specialty creating gallery walls. After finishing a special cat-themed gallery wall for a pet-shop owner, she posts the finished project to her Instagram — not realizing there is a clue to a decades-old mystery hidden in plain sight. Now Donna is in danger and has to solve the mystery and also will adopt several cats along the way. (Partially autobiographical.)

Vintage Trophy Shop Mysteries 

Gail runs a completely pointless store that sells vintage trophies. Obviously the store is struggling because no one actually wants old trophies. When the shop assistant ends up dead, the police discover the murder weapon: a bowling trophy from 1973. When suspicion falls on Diana, she must investigate, because let’s face it, the store is empty and there’s nothing else for her to do with her time. 

Mid-century Modern Cat Mysteries

Not sure where I’m going with this but I mean LOOK AT THIS LAMP! It was my aunt’s, a true midcentury heirloom, and not nearly as creepy as this picture would have you believe. I also have a poster with midcentury cats and a pair of my mom’s pedal pushers with a stylin’ cat appliqué. Maybe it’s… the ghost of a midcentury modern cat who haunts a midcentury antique store and also it talks? I mean, weirder things have happened, right?

Readers, now it’s your turn! What craft project, niche collection, or interesting item do you have lying around your house that could be the premise of a cozy mystery?

MARLA COOPER is the author of the Destination Wedding Mysteries and “Welcome to Cozy Town,” an absurdly cozy mystery short. Currently living in Austin with her husband and an ever-increasing quantity of rescue cats, Marla is the Vice President of Sisters in Crime Heart of Texas chapter. Learn more at www.marlacooper.com.

29 thoughts on “The Cozy is Coming From Inside the House ”

    1. I love a good ghost tour and would absolutely read that!

      Just to be clear, I’m not going to write any of these! I just wanted to a good challenge. Although the ukulele shop…. 🙂

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  2. First off, how is your home so amazing? I would love to have finds like that every corner of my place.

    Anyway, I think I’d do a lei murder mystery. We have quite a collection of rope and ribbon leis from school fundraisers, graduations, and local yard sales (because, clearly, our neighbors also bought some).

    The PTA president is found under the bake sales table, strangled with a lei; it’s up to the next-in-line vice president to cast suspicions off herself and solve the case–and the school’s reputation!

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    1. Awww, thanks!! My super-minimalist friend thinks it’s nuts to have collections, but I love vintage treasures.

      Leis are fun — and hey, great murder weapon! Okay, we’ve got our work cut out for us! 😂

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  3. You’d better get busy because I want to read all of these series.

    I think I’ll write the Disney Pin Mysteries. The main character runs a store that resells the collectibles, but when a customer is found stabbed with a very valuable pin, the MC must find out who ruined the resale value. Oh yeah, and clear his name of the crime. (Yes, if I’m writing a mystery, I’d have a male main character.)

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  4. Hey, I’m in! Can’t top yours, Marla, or anyone else’s here–but maybe: Mystery of the Evil Sourdough Starter Fails; a travel mystery series featuring toiletries snagged from luxury hotels; a garden shop where twisted, half- dead plants demand revenge; photo collections that refuse to be digitized and recast Memory Lane; inspirational pencils printed with writerly advice like “add a vampire” and “kill your characters” pointedly target unwitting users…Oh, wait. Is cozy horror okay?

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  6. I’m a life-long Trekkie, so how about this? The owner of a rare collectible Star Trek James T. Kirk action figure is killed the day after he puts it up for auction on eBay. Whodunnit? Was it his neighbor who had enough of hearing the theme song from the Original series played multiple times per day? Was it an angry niece who claims the deceased had promised it to her and was planning on selling it herself? Or what about the deceased’s rival, a collector of Star Wars memorabilia who never got over being told that Star Wars was inferior to Star Trek?

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