Cozy Mysteries discussion

I've noticed that lots of people classify some classic mysteries as cozies (i.e., Agatha Chritie, Rex Stout, Dorothy L. Sayers, et al.).

What do you think? Are they really cozies? Or just crime/mystery/detective novels from the days before blood and guts and serial killers?

For some reason, I am loath to classify Agatha Christie as a cozy, but maybe I am participating in a prejudice that I am not aware of.

My understanding of a cozy is that it has an amateur detective who is usually a woman, is set in a defined or small community, generally has a body in the first chapter and a neat resolution, no offensive language, private sex, and no excessively graphic violence.

Dame Agatha's Miss Marple defines the genre.

Miss Marple, Tuppence or Parker Pine are really cozy sleuths for me, Poirot not so much, neither Nero Wolfe

I agree in many ways. I don't think no matter how genteel it is, that the detective has to be an amateur. They can't be police or private detectives.

I agree that Miss Marple defines the genre. But in other ways I see her as above the genre.

Although, I consider M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth a cozy series - and that's a police detective.

I always figured Agatha Christie's books counted as cosies, but maybe that's because I define cosies as books that are a) good for snuggling up on the sofa with that b) don't make you shudder or wince. =)

I like your definition, J.A.

I've always considered them "traditional" mysteries, but only because I've yet to read any modern mystery, no matter how much I love it, that could be put in the same category as Christie, Sayers, Doyle, etc.

They can be considered cozy, but they truly are in a class by themselves.