Urban cozy? Soft-boiled?

by Triss Stein 

Everyone who leaves a comment this weekend will be entered in a drawing for a free copy of Brooklyn Bones.

What is an urban cozy?  Does it sound like an oxymoron , like “giant shrimp”?  Walking down the mean streets…of St. Mary Mead?

I thought something was missing in the mystery universe. Stereotyping a bit here, but in general, there are cozies, which take place in villages or suburbs, often with amateur sleuths and a background of ordinary life, the direct descendants of Agatha  Christie. They might be humorous, they might be serious. Then there are hard-boiled mysteries, which take place in gritty urban settings and are the direct descendents of the above quoted Chandler. That landscape does not have a home for characters (or readers!) who live in a big city but are not Philip Marlowe. Or Harry Bosch. Or Matt Scudder. Who do not even know anyone like Matt Scudder. 

That would be me, and my friends and millions  of other readers who live rather ordinary lives but do it in a big (bad?)  city like New York. In fact, I live in Brooklyn, which could be a city all by itself, and would the  4th largest in the US. The life I live and see around me is mostly about work and family and home, local politics, neighborhood issues. School when my children were younger. Health. Doesn’t that sound a lot like small town life or suburban life? And anyone who believes there is not enough drama there to sustain a mystery series is not paying attention.

Personally, I like all kinds  of books. I admire a well-written dark urban crime story, and sometimes I want to read something that is mostly froth, However, what I admire most is in between: a  cozy-style set-up that has some resemblance to real life, real emotions, real conflicts in real settings, however peaceful those settings look from the outside.

In my real life, my first professional job was with the public library system in Brooklyn, They liked to move us around and not being a native New Yorker, I came to each new neighborhood with a clean mental slate. I observed, and what I observed was that they were a lot like small towns.  Each neighborhood had its own atmosphere, history, quirks, and fears.

My question became, could I use that to write mysteries set in city neighborhoods, and half-way between too cozy and too hard-boiled?  A domestic style background that includes real emotions and real conflicts? Why not try? 

And why not start with my own neighborhood, Park Slope, Brooklyn, which has gone through a long cycle of change in the time I have been here?

Meet Erica Donato. She came from the Brooklyn world where people see no reason to go as far as Manhattan more than once a year. Now she lives in a different world,  the gritty end of a gentrified Brooklyn of brownstones and  yuppies. She  is part way to a Ph.D in urban history She is the young single mother of a teen–age daughter whose childhood is much different from Erica’s own. Having made a journey that is short in miles but long in life changes, Erica is a bundle of contradictions.

In Brooklyn Bones, history comes barging into her modern life, when her daughter, helping a contractor in their house, finds a body hidden behind a fireplace. 

Mother and daughter are both haunted by the fact that it was an unknown teen-age girl. Soon, their questions lead back to the ungentrified days, when the neighborhood was in the throes of change and the fabled age of Aquarius was turning very dark. They find interesting characters who hold pieces of that story, and dangerous ones who plan to keep it buried forever.

The next book includes Tiffany windows stolen from a historic  cemetery and all of them will include some historical mysteries mixed up with modern ones. There is no end to Brooklyn’s stories. I even have a section of my web page called Brooklyn Fun Facts. http://trissstein.com/brooklyn-fun-facts/

Maybe I can make this urban cozy idea work. 

Leave a comment this weekend and you'll be entered in a drawing for a free copy of Brooklyn Bones. 

Writing is Brooklyn resident Triss Stein’s third career. The first was the job that inspired her new series: children’s librarian in a dozen sharply different Brooklyn communities. The second was in business research, in settings from a major global consulting firm to DC Comics. The author of two previous mystery novels, Triss has also published a number of short stories.

Judi McCoy Finds the Mystery in Dog-walking

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

The winner of a free copy of Judi's book is Annette. Send your snail mail address to me at sandraparshall@yahoo.com and I'll put it into the mail. Congratulations!

Judi McCoy has been a successful romance novelist for more than fifteen years, garnering many four-star reviews for her work. Now she’s turning her talents to mystery with a humorous series featuring New York City dog-walker Ellie Engleman, who has a telepathic connection with her canine charges. The first in the series is Hounding the Pavement, published this week. A starred review in Publishers Weekly said, “Somehow managing to avoid every talking animal mystery cliche, McCoy fills this delightful story with humor, quirky characters, and delicious hints of romance.”

Judi is also a veteran women’s gymnastics judge and enjoys gardening and raising orchids in her spare time. She lives on Virginia’s eastern shore with her husband and three dogs. Visit her web site at www.judimccoy.com.

Everyone who leaves a comment today will be entered in a drawing for a free copy of Hounding the Pavement. Check back tomorrow to find out if you won – the winner’s name will be posted at the top of this blog entry.


Q. You’ve written a number of romances. Why did you cross over to the dark side and start writing mysteries? What is it about mysteries that appeals to you?

A. The crossover seemed natural. I’d run out of ideas for a ‘straight’ romance and came up with a character. My agent liked the idea and so did my sister, and they both encouraged me to take the idea and run. I liked the idea of getting the reader involved in the story (who did it, why, how?). Writing the books just seemed the next step in my career.

Q. Are you writing a series?

A. Yes, it’s a series (I’d like to do 12 books). My heroine is a New York City dog walker. If you don’t know about the dog walker business in NY, you’re in for a surprise. Most of them make $100,000+ every year, not counting tips and money for pet sitting. They also have keys to all the apartments they visit. (They’re bonded and insured.) The accessability to mystery was huge.

Q. What was the inspiration for your mystery protagonist and her adventures?

A. I love dogs and always wanted to be a dog walker. Unfortunately, I never lived anywhere I could do it. The idea for a romance about the profession had simmered in the back of my mind for a long time. When I had the chance to do a story, I decided to make the series work.

Q. Have you found that you have to do more research for a mystery than for a romance?

A. I certainly did for this one. I spent several days in NY, sitting on a bench on Fifth Avenue and Central Park just soaking up the atmosphere. Then I got brave and talked to dog walkers, doormen, anyone who was walking a single dog, too. I also called the Central Park East precinct and spoke to a CRM. He allowed me to come in and spend a couple of hours with a detective, an invaluable opportunity.

Q. Was this the first time you’d tried writing mysteries? Was selling the first one easier than you expected, or harder?

A. Avon, my romance publisher, rejected the book(s) without even reading them. That made my agent determined. She knew they were great and she planned to show them how foolish they were to refuse them. It only took her a month to sell the first three books.

Q. Why did you decide to give your profit from the first mystery to a humane organization? How important are animals in your life?

A. Best Friends is an amazing animal rescue charity. I’ve admired them for years, but I never realized how much they did until I watched their series, Dogtown, on the National Geographic channel. Once I saw the show, I was hooked. I also knew I had to do some crazy promoting to get my name and the books ‘out there’ so I came up with the royalty giveaway. Once I thought up the idea, there was never a doubt in my mind that I had to see it through. Even my husband agreed. I’ve had several wonderful discussions with people at Best Friends and they’re thrilled.

Q. Do you write full-time? Do you outline and stick to a writing routine, or do you wing it?

A. I write full-time, every day. I’m up at 6:30, walk my three small dogs, have breakfast and plan my day. I usually get to my computer by 8:30
and I’m there until 1. Then I take my lunch break and it’s back to my office until 5:30. My husband also works from home, so we’re together yet separate all day. If I have errands (groceries, hair cut, etc) I plan my time to do it all in one trip on one day.

Q. What do you believe are your greatest strengths as a writer? What aspects of craft are you still trying to master?

A. My greatest strength? I had to think hard about that one, because I’m not sure I have one. How about my sense of humor? I try to impart joy and fun into every book I write. No one gets murdered [onstage] in my books. Ellie finds the body, and along with her dog Rudy, solves the mystery, much to the dismay of her love interest, Sam, a detective. The hook is: Ellie talks to her dog and those she walks and they talk back to her. She hears them clearly in her mind, and oftentimes gets caught holding a conversation with them. That adds to the fun.

Q. What writers have inspired you and taught you by example? Whose books do you rush to read as soon as they’re published?

A. I love the Stephanie Plum series and I’ve used it as the basis for 12 books and no more. People have complained lately that the series is dragging on too long. Stephanie needs to make a choice between Joe and Ranger and decide if the bounty hunting business is really for her. I never want that said about Ellie and Sam. I’ll wrap up all the loose ends and make it work in 12 books. I also love Cleo Coyle and her coffee mysteries and Joanna Carl and the chocolate mysteries.

Q. What’s in the future for you? Will you continue writing mysteries exclusively, or do you plan to divide your time between mystery and romance?

A. The books/characters have been optioned for a weekly television series already, so I’d like to try my hand at script writing, or working with a writer to transfer some of the books to shows. Unless I get a great romance idea, I doubt I’ll go back to that genre. In reality, the dog walker books are very romantic. Ellie and Sam go to bed in book one, and there’s a regular romantic sex scene, just like I’ve written in my earlier books.

Q. Where can readers can meet you?

A. I plan to travel to quite a few states. I’ll be in the East Brunswick area for a signing, and probably the DC area later. In the beginning of April, I’ll be in Charlotte, NC, for a conference and signing, middle of the month in the Dallas area, and at the end I’ll be at Romantic Times in Orlando signing.
The first weekend in May is Malice Domestic, and I hope to travel to Pittsburgh to do the big mystery signing there [the Oakmont Mystery Festival on the Monday following Malice]. I’m out of breath just thinking about it, but that’s as far as I’ve planned.

Q. In parting, do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

A. I teach a two-day aspiring author course every year at RT (this year in Orlando) and the first thing I tell the newbies is, “Writers write. They don’t talk about writing or tell everyone they want to write. They put their butt in a chair EVERY day and they write.” That’s probably the most important thing a new author will ever hear.