by Liz Yonker
I’ve been a cozy mystery reader my whole life. I read Nancy Drew mysteries when I was young, Agatha Christie when I was older, and now that I’m in my forties and my kids are in school all day there’s not a week that goes by where I’m not checking out two or three (ok, let’s not kid ourselves here…it’s more like seven) cozy books to bring home. My kids are avid readers. I’m an avid reader. And my husband? Well, he has books. And he looks at books. And he flips through books that he needs to for work. But he’s never been what you’d call a book lover. I felt like this needed to change. Here’s how I converted my sports-loving, golf magazine flipper-througher, newspaper-reading, history-buff of a husband into a cozy mystery lover:
First, let me say that although he wasn’t a book lover, he had the aspirations to be one. He loved to come to the library with me on his days off. He’d browse with me but then usually end up in the newspaper section or the section where they have books on how to run faster without actually running more often. He’d usually check out some of these and they’d sit on his nightstand for the two weeks until he got an email saying they were due back in the library…or an email saying some other runner wanted a crack at whatever secret knowledge was nestled between the pages of that book. So, we’d take the books back and he’d wander around again and check out something different with the same results: time on his nightstand. He’d often say things to me like, “I love how much you read,” or “I wish I loved reading like you do.”
So, this got me thinking. Maybe there was an issue with his genre choices. Maybe his love of reading was suffering because everything he read was just so heavy. We have this stack of Civil War history books on our shelves that he likes to flip through every once in a while. They all have bookmarks in them near the beginning because he’s never read them all the way through. If ever there was a heavy subject, Civil War has got to tick that box, right?
I asked him why he never read fiction. He didn’t really have an answer. He’d check out his informative books, like golf or health books; he’d check out biographies (these usually suffered the same nightstand-fate as the running books), history books, books about local landmarks or parks, but I never saw him even venture over into the fiction section unless he was with me. I knew he liked fiction because as I’d read the Harry Potter series out loud to our two kids (yes it took forever; yes I loved every second of it) he’d eventually come in to hear a chapter and then stayed for all seven books. I knew he had the potential to love fiction…but where should I start?
I was determined to find something so I asked him if he was up for a mystery. He said yes and we went to work. First, we tried a book by Dick Francis. We’d lived in Kentucky before moving to Iowa, and horse racing was part of the culture there. I thought maybe Francis’s mysteries, set against the backdrop of the horse racing world would be interesting to him. He worked his way through a couple of chapters but then gave up. Back to the drawing board.
Our son loves the City Spies mystery novels by James Ponti and while these may not be exactly cozy mysteries to everyone, they fit my definition of them! They’re about fun, adventurous kids who all happen to be spies and the stories move quickly and excitingly so you’re never trudging through tons of information or backstory. The plots are easy to understand and written for young adults so they’re not hard to follow at all. Because of all these reasons I thought maybe, just maybe this would be a good entry into fiction for him.
And I was right!
He read it in the office while he was waiting for meetings to start. He read it in bed and even asked if he could borrow my book light. (But of course I have two in case I forget to charge one!!) He read it instead of watching our son play college football on the PS5! And he FINISHED IT! Success!!
He asked me what he should read next and if the book I was reading was “any good.” Well, was it ever! I was quite a few books into Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson mystery series and I asked if he’d like to read one of those. He thought he might like it so I checked out the first one of that series, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder.
He not only read it but he enjoyed it! I could tell we’d finally struck cozy mystery gold! He read a few more Hannah books, then then decided to go back and read some more City Spies. He read all three books from Deron Hicks’ Lost Art Mysteries. (Again, these are geared more toward Young Adults but if you haven’t heard of them or read them, give them a try! They each have QR codes you can scan to get real information about actual paintings in the museums the art heists are in! Super cool!!)
I had him read the first book in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery series by Joanna Campbell Alan because it was set in St. Louis and he spent a good portion of his middle grade years there. He loved reading about places he knew and roads he’d traveled on before.
A few months ago we were at Barnes and Noble and my daughter was trying to help me find a fun new cozy to read. She saw the first book in Ellie Alexander’s Bakeshop Mystery series. I can’t pass up a book that has a good mystery and recipes so we bought it. I hadn’t had time to read it yet, and my husband asked if it looked like it would be something he’d enjoy. So I told him to go ahead and read it first! After just a few chapters he said, “Hey, when I’m done with this I want you to read it because I think it might be amazing but I’m new to this and I want your opinion.” He finished it. I picked it up and was tickled pink to tell him that he was indeed correct and that it was amazing.
What followed was no less than miraculous. I checked the library’s online catalog and noticed they only had books ten and eleven of the Bakeshop Mystery series and sadly told him we’d have to wait for interlibrary loans. And, while interlibrary loans are maybe one of my favorite things —books from other libraries that travel all the way to my home for me to read them?! Come on!!—they take forever. And when you’re in a series and dying for the next book, forever is a long time. And then he said, “Let’s just buy them, okay?”
Now I thought my husband was amazing before. He’s kind and thoughtful. He indulges my reading binges. He only looks at me weirdly sometimes when he catches me in the middle of some murder podcast. He does the dishes. Every. Night. But this statement, “Let’s just buy them, okay?” put the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” right there in the middle of his forehead.
We ordered the next five books. We’re reading them together and discussing characters and plots and what we think will happen next. (I’m on book five and he’s a couple behind me and we’re dying to know more about Carlos!) And my cozy mystery book life has become just that much more cozy.
ABOUT LIZ YONKER
I am a wife, a baker, a stay-at-home mom to two kids, and an aspiring cozy mystery writer. I love reading cozy mysteries, watching cozy mysteries on the Hallmark Channel, and asking my family to help me think of crazy ways to cozily murder someone in my books. What wonderful dinner conversations we have! Now, if only the words would hop from my head to the computer faster maybe you’d have even more from me to read!
