Ah, romance in cozy mysteries. The literary equivalent of adding cinnamon to your coffee: too little and you barely notice it, too much and suddenly you’re drinking potpourri.

As a cozy mystery writer (and reader who has strong feelings about fictional bakers with complicated love lives), I’ve often wondered: how much romance is just right?

Think of a cosy mystery town as a steaming cup of tea on a rainy day – warm, familiar and brimming with secrets. Readers love picture-perfect villages where everyone knows each other, and even murders come with a cup of tea by their side. Take Brightcombe – the seaside village in Chris Hills-Farrow’s Paula Langford series – for example. It’s a “charming British seaside town” where seagulls squawk over the harbour and gossip trickles out of every old pub. In Brightcombe, even a routine town meeting can “wake the seagulls” and set off a mystery. We’ll use Brightcombe as our guide, along with general tips, to show how to stitch together that cosy small-town feel.

There’s something irresistible about cosy mysteries. Maybe it’s the quaint village bakeries. Maybe it’s the adorable cats that seem oddly good at crime solving. Or maybe it’s the fact that classic murder gets served with tea and scones rather than guns and guts. Whatever the reason, cosy mysteries are like literary comfort food—minus the calories but with all the guilty pleasure.

Choosing a title for a cosy mystery can feel deceptively simple. After all, how hard can it be to come up with a few words involving a nice location, something comforting… and a body?

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes of a cozy mystery? Well, let me confess: after I write “The End,” the real detective work begins! I fire up my computer, get a steaming mug of hot chocolate, and start the ruthless self-edit. In this post, I’ll walk you through my personal editing journey step by step. Think of me as a writer-detective inspecting each clue (and cringeworthy phrase) to polish the manuscript before it ever sees the light of day.