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American/Cozy Mysteries

Essays: § Cozies: An Especially American Art Form § When is a Cozy not a Cozy?
Kenneth Abel § Cold Steel Rain	Alina Adams § Murder on Ice	Donna Andrews § The Penguin Who Knew Too Much	Nevada Barr § High Country
Larry Beinhart § The Librarian	Claudia Bishop and Don Bruns (editors) § A Merry Band of Murderers	Meredith Blevins § The Hummingbird Wizard	Lawrence Block § The Burglar in the Rye
Jan Brogan § A Confidential Source	Judy Clemens § The Day Will Come	Joan Coggin § Who Killed the Curate?	Jeffrey Cohen § As Dog is My Witness § Some Like it Hot-Buttered
Thomas Cook § Into the Web	Gordon Cotler § Artist’s Proof	Casey Daniels § Don of the Dead	Diane Mott Davidson § Dark Tort § Double Shot
Aaron Elkins § Good Blood	Sharon Fiffer § Buried Stuff	Kate Flora § Stalking Death	Christine Goff § A Rant of Ravens
Denise Hamilton § Last Lullaby § Savage Garden § Sugar Skull	David Handler § The Cold Blue Blood	Charlaine Harris § Grave Sight § Grave Surprise § Shakespeare’s Counselor	Rosemary Harris § Pushing Up Daisies
Ellen Hart § An Intimate Ghost § The Iron Girl § Night Vision	Libby Fischer Hellmann § An Image of Death § A Picture of Guilt § A Shot to Die For	Martha C. Lawrence § Ashes of Aries	Marc Lecard § Vinnie's Head
Laura Lippman § To the Power of Three	Mary Logue § Maiden Rock	Margaret Maron § Last Lessons of Summer	Sujata Massey § Girl in a Box
Alexander McCall-Smith § The #1 Ladies Detective Agency	Deborah Morgan § The Marriage Casket § The Weedless Widow	Marcia Muller § Cyanide Wells	Kem Nunn § Tijuana Straits
Nancy Pickard § The Virgin of Small Plains	David Skibbins § Eight of Swords	Jessica Speart § Blue Twilight	Julia Spencer-Fleming § All Mortal Flesh § A Fountain Filled With Blood § I Shall Not Want § In the Bleak Midwinter § Out of the Deep I Cry § To Darkness and to Death
Denise Swanson § Murder of a Sleeping Beauty § Murder of a Barbie and Ken § Murder of a Snake in the Grass	Sarah Stewart Taylor § Judgment of the Grave § Mansions of the Dead § O’ Artful Death § Still as Death	Elaine Viets § Dying to Call You § Just Murdered § Murder with Reservations § Murder Unleashed § Shop Till You Drop

Dying to Call You, Elaine Viets, Signet, $6.50.

"Mr. Cavarelli slithered in at ten o'clock. He was one of the elegant reptiles from the New York office...Even his suit was a lizardlike greenish brown. He wore alligator shoes, which Helen thought was no way to treat a relative."

Mysteries involve a certain amount of fantasy. In mysteries written by men, the fantasy element often involves the male character and any female: the women all want to jump his bones. In mysteries written by women, the fantasy is even more basic: food. In Sue Grafton's books not only does Kinsey Milhone live unencumbered by relatives in an adorable apartment that looks like a ship's cabin, she can eat fried baloney sandwiches grilled with "a knuckle of butter". In Elaine Viets' dandy Dead End Job series, her irrepressible heroine, Helen Hawthorne, lives on "pillowy white bread", plates of brownies, and endless salt and vinegar potato chips. She also has an ultra cool apartment in a very 50's Florida building, complete with groovy landlady (Margery, who wears only purple), and furnished with 50's furniture. The barcalounger in Helen's apartment is my favorite.

The premise of Viets' novels is that Helen, hiding out from her ex-husband (to avoid paying him alimony), must work a succession of dead end jobs off the books for cash - so there's no record for him to trace. So far she's worked in a fancy dress shop and a bookstore - in this outing she's got the worst dead end job of all: telemarketer. And not just any telemarketing job - she sells septic tank cleaner - and she's apparently good at it. At the start of the novel, I was unsure that Viets could sustain an entire book about telemarketing, but she easily does and I think it's her funniest book yet - I was reading it at the store an snickering embarrassingly loudly to myself. And for Viets' fans, there a revelation about Phil the invisible pothead (one of Helen's neighbors) that's well worth waiting for.

Cozies are the most personal of preferences, I think - there's no explaining why one person likes, say, Denise Swanson or Elaine Viets novels, and the next person - who may love Mary Daheim - can't stand either Swanson or Viets. I personally recommend Elaine Viets to anyone who enjoys a fast paced story with lots of subversive humor. In her own way, Viets is as subversive as Carl Hiassen, as she writes about people who are forced to live on society's fringes while working like maniacs just to stay afloat and ahead of the rent. And like Hiassen, she delivers her message not with a hammer but with a good laugh.

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