Many people think of twee English hamlets and quaint New England villages when they open the cover a cozy mystery novel.
I’m usually in the mood for something closer to home: Florida.
It’s why I set my debut cozy series in the Sunshine State. I call my books — and those like my blogging sisters Cheryl Hollon and Raquel Reyes — “tropical cozy.”
These are crime fiction tales set in Florida. They lack the dangerous edge of hardboiled mysteries. There’s a drop of desperation and a murmur of malfeasance, but nothing as terrible as real life. They’re the less cynical cousins to the fictional worlds of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey. Tropical cozies have characters that you’d like to drink a latte with, not shower in rubbing alcohol after you meet them.
I knew I wanted to write crime fiction that was softer, something with a little romance and a twisty murder… something gentle. But yet, quirky. Like the Florida I know and love.
So I created the world of Devil’s Beach, a fictional island in the Gulf of Mexico where gossipy old hippies mingle with reformed mafiosos. Where the local newspaper writes stories about chicken nuggets shaped like manatees. Where a handsome Instagram-famous barista is found dead and no one bats an eye when a laid off journalist tries to figure out how the barista spent his final hours.
Settings are supremely important in cozies, and Devil’s Beach turned into another character. It’s loosely based on Sanibel, a stunning island in the Gulf of Mexico, with a touch of my quirky hometown of St. Petersburg. I had a blast writing that first cozy, and it’s turned into a series published by Crooked Lane Books.
Most of all, I’m thrilled that I can show the world the quirky, eccentric, and gentle side of my home state.
For more tropical cozy reads, check out authors Elaine Viets, Lucy Burdette and Sherry Harris!
I have the same feeling about wanting an exciting read, but not needing a bath in Lysol afterward. Florida is such a source of inspiration, I’m constantly getting new ideas for more books.