I’ll start Black Mystery Month off with some of my favorite cozy mysteries, period. There’s so much to love in Abby Collette’s Ice Cream Parlor and Books & Biscuits mysteries. These are the books I turn to when I want peak cozy mystery – mostly shenanigans, with a heap of family interactions.

Reading these got me thinking – what is it that makes me appreciate these mysteries more than some of their counterparts? After all, I can be a cozy mystery skeptic, and these two series both contain tropes that irritate me elsewhere. Both are more adventure than mystery – the protagonists stumble onto a solution rather than solve it – and they’re not strictly fair play. But Collette has one trick up her sleeve that lets me focus on all the good. Instead of valorizing the detective elements, her protagonists take a much more pragmatic response. And most of the real clues come through the community her protagonists build, making it more integral to the story.

The reluctant detective

Both the Ice Cream Parlor Mysteries and Books & Biscuits Mysteries feature protagonists who just want to do their day jobs. Each series starts out with the main character just setting out on their small family business journey. We see the anxiety of opening day, the effort of managing inventory, the care that goes into each store. We get to meet the families who support (and staff) each store, and understand their hopes for the endeavor. Every moment of the opening chapters focuses on the importance of these small businesses to their main characters.

It’s only when crime visits their lives that each character gets drawn into detecting. Not just that – it takes both a threat to their family and an overeager associate to get them to take action. Once they do start hunting down clues, they frequently make mistakes, jumping to conclusions and letting promising trails go cold. And in following cases, they avoid “the call” until they have no other options.

Normally I like my protagonists to have more agency, but this formula appeals to me for a couple of reasons. First, these characters know their strengths – and they stick to their personal core goals. This is, in my opinion, preferable to characters who purport to care about their day jobs, but spend most of their time “on the case”. They’re also self-aware protagonists: one even protests that they typically “stumble upon” the solutions, rather than deducing them.

As a reader, I find this allowing me to relax into the adventure without taking it too seriously. One I get so frustrated by many cozy mysteries is that they purport to be puzzles, while secretly being unsolvable. Trying to keep track of clues, only to have a totally unpredictable ending, feels like a rug-pull. But these stories let you know pretty clearly that they’re meant to be experienced, more than solved. And that allows me to sit back and just enjoy the community and the adventures.

A community affair

This decreased emphasis on the protagonist’s detecting means that each can rely more on their community. Each of the protagonists in Collette’s series benefits from their family and friends, from both a support and information gathering perspective. Because they live in small towns, there’s real value in knowing different players’ history – and it’s family elders who can provide it. These family members frequently also serve as motivation and inspiration to keep moving through a case, despite protagonists’ reluctance.

Collette makes sure to feature a colorful and repeated cast of characters in each novel. Not only that – she separates the roles that each plays, making it easier to predict different characters’ actions. In the Ice Cream Parlor mysteries, for example, Pop Pop is a common source of support and information, while Maisie serves as a propelling force. It’s easy to know which characters are likely to bring which types of information or action to a scene. (There’s no way Wyn’s brothers are trying anything too crazy or risky, for example.) Other cozy mystery authors sometimes write a cast of overlapping and interchangeable characters, but I prefer this approach. There’s something comforting about knowing exactly where each character slots into the narrative.

In part, it’s nice because it allows us to actually get to know each of the characters over time. Instead of blurring together, Collette’s side characters are typically recognizable (if a little stock). It allows a reader to play along a little bit more in the adventure, guessing where the characters should go to solve different problems. Because the characters are reliable in their knowledge, it makes it feel a little more believable when they point our protagonists in a certain direction. (As an example: I’ve always hated the “known gossip” character in other cozies, Collette introduces hers as referrals, and limits their engagement. This makes it a little easier to swallow…) And it allows a reader to care about the characters’ motivations and progression – such as Maisie’s evolving community garden through the Ice Cream Parlor series.

Comforting adventure

Abby Collette’s cozy mysteries are warm and comforting. Perhaps I just stumbled across them at the right time, but I really enjoy the characters and find myself wanting to come back to them. I appreciate the increased emphasis on the community and the acceptance that these are more about the adventure than the puzzle. And the recipes and food are an absolute delight – I routinely find myself wishing I could post up in these stores just to taste the treats.

This is just the start of Black Mystery Month, with more to come soon. Until then, stay cozy, and stay curious!

*These will count for my 52 Book Club Challenge as “books with a yellow spine”!