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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
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Dear Reader,
I've been pleasantly swamped reading hundreds of entries from this year's Write a Dear Reader Contest. My regular columns will return tomorrow (Wednesday). Be sure to tune-in, I'm having a baby!
Today, librarian and author Miranda (aka Dean) James pens today's column: Cozy Guy in a Not Too Cozy World. Send him an email, say hello and you'll automatically be entered in his book giveaway. Five copies of MURDER PAST DUE, the first book in the "Cat in the Stacks Series," are waiting for book club readers.
Email: Miranda@catinthestacks.com
Take it away Miranda (Dean) James...
Cozy Guy in a Not Too Cozy World
"What do you mean, you're writing a cozy series with a guy as the main character? Don't you know that a cozy series has a female amateur sleuth as the protagonist?"
I've heard that question, in various forms, ever since Murder Past Due, the first "Cat in the Stacks" mystery was published in August 2010.
My answer? Yeah, most cozy series these days do feature female leads, but that's no reason to discriminate against a guy who isn't a hard-boiled private eye. I don't walk the mean streets, and I don't see any reason why my hero, just because of the chromosomal difference, has to walk them either.
There have been other cozy male characters in mysteries over the decades. Anybody remember Lord Peter Wimsy? What about him of the "little grey cells," M. Hercule Poirot? For all that he was a professional detective one can't get much cozier than the Grande Dame, Agatha Christie herself. There's also Margery Allingham's Albert Campion (my personal favorite) and Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn (who, even though a Scotland Yard 'tec, is pretty dang cozy, too).
So I didn't see any reason why the main character in my "Cat in the Stacks" series shouldn't be a guy. After all, the cat in the series, a Maine Coon named Diesel, is also male. Plus, after having written a couple of series (as Jimmie Ruth Evans and Honor Hartman) from the female point of view, I wanted a change. Don't get me wrong, I loved the female characters in those other series, but I thought it would be an interesting challenge to write a male amateur detective in a genre that's currently dominated by female sleuths.
Reader response so far has been gratifying, although I must admit that the character that everyone likes best is Diesel, but Charlie gets a lot of favorable comments for being a nice, caring, family-oriented guy. One of the reasons I write cozy mysteries is that I like writing about decent people who sometimes find themselves mixed up in murder and mayhem. People who aren't paid to deal with crime, like professional crime solvers--like me. I've loved amateur detectives ever since I first discovered Nancy Drew--longer ago than I care to admit these days--and my affection for Nancy has never wavered.
In the end, I suppose this is my response to those who ask why? Why shouldn't an ordinary guy have fun solving crimes? And if his cat is along for the adventure, so much the better!
Miranda (Dean) James is a seventh-generation Mississippian long transplanted to Houston, Texas. An avid reader and collector of mysteries, Dean is a librarian in the Texas Medical Center. The author of eighteen mystery novels under several names and co-author of seven books of mystery non-fiction, he has won the Agatha and Macavity Awards and been twice nominated for the Edgar Award for non-fiction. His most recent book, FILE M FOR MURDER, was a New York Times bestseller.
Email: Miranda@catinthestacks.com You'll receive a personal reply and be entered in the book drawing.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Warmest regards and have a wonderful day,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
AUTHORBUZZ: WIDOW'S WEB (Fantasy) by Jennifer Estep
Gin Blanco, the semiretired assassin known as the Spider, finds herself in trouble once again when a dangerous water elemental comes to town with revenge on her mind.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on WIDOW'S WEB to find out more about the book and the author, Jennifer Estep. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.
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