I find the trappings of the Golden Age of crime fiction irresistible: a gifted amateur sleuth, the closed circle of suspects, the isolated country house, the 1930s setting. There is something about those books by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Anthony Berkley, and their contemporaries that resonates with me. It is all to do with the puzzle element, I suppose, the game between reader and author to solve the case before the solution is given, but I think it also has something to do with the restoration of order. The Golden Age (and those modern practitioners of it) was careful to make sure that the guilty were punished and the innocent saved, and after the upheaval and chaos of murder, the world was put back to normal. There was – and is – something very comforting about that.

But is it all a little too cosy?

Several years ago, after decades of having short stories published and radio plays performed, I decided it was time that I wrote a novel and, not surprisingly, my mind drifted towards an homage to the Golden Age detective novel. I didn’t want to write a pastiche nor did I want to send up the genre.  That is too easy to do.  But nor did I want it to be a cosy novel. Don’t get me wrong: I have no issue with cosy mysteries. They are very popular and they have a wide audience. But I didn’t want to write a novel where the crime centred around a dog, a cat, or a canary; nor did I want to write a murder mystery that was just as concerned with baking, painting, or pottery making as it was about violent death.

Instead, I wanted to write a serious novel set within the confines of a detective story.  P.D. James had done it so well – her novels were, in effect, Golden Age stories, but they were populated by believable people, whose lives were affected by the murder concerned.  I became fascinated with the idea of writing a traditional whodunit with realistic undercurrents, where the suspects would be relatable people, with feelings and emotions a reader could recognize.  Their motives and secrets, uncovered during the investigation, would be serious human conundrums and problems, not simply the embezzlement of church funds.  They would touch the darker recesses of the human soul.

All this pondering resulted in the first book in my Everett Carr mystery series, A Talent for Murder. That first novel was typically Golden Age: a closed community of characters, isolated in an English country mansion, and a locked room mystery to boot. A locked room mystery is an artificial construct, but it must make sense in its own terms. A criticism of John Dickson Carr, the doyen of that particular type of detective story, is that his solutions are sometimes so contrived and unwieldy that they can be unsatisfactory.  I wanted my locked room to be believable despite its artificiality.  By blending this fictional construct with the realism of believable characters and motives, I hope that the Everett Carr mysteries give a contemporary twist on traditional Golden Age tropes.
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It seemed appropriate to honour Dickson Carr, so I named my amateur sleuth after him.  Everett Carr is a former High Court judge, who retires when his wife is murdered in a failed assassination attempt on Carr himself.  A stray bullet is lodged in his knee, leaving him lame and serving as a physical reminder that his wife died in his place.  Carr’s pain is both physical and mental. But a character cannot remain stagnant – they must progress and develop. Each book, I hope, tells something new about Carr and his world, not least in his psychological trauma. Although his physical wound remains constant, the books show Carr’s mental trauma over the death of his wife begins to deepen, as he comes to realise that he is manifesting the symptoms of what would later become known as Survivor’s Guilt. How he manages with this consequence of his personal tragedy is a developing and progressing subplot to the novels – which I hope is another way of elevating the Carr mysteries from simple whodunit puzzles to novels of some character depth.   

Since the publication of A Talent for Murder, Carr has investigated several Golden Age whodunits. He has braved The Dangers of this Night, the second in the series and he has tackled A Killing Amongst the Dead, which is the third. This year, in the latest mystery, he comes face to face with The Serpent’s Fang, due for release in March. This latest case involves the murder of a faded actress and Carr’s attempts to save a woman from the gallows.

Everett Carr is my homage to sleuths such as Hercule Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Gervase Fen. He is also my attempt to make such a character psychologically interesting to a modern audience. 

I hope he and I have done the Golden Age proud.

The Everett Carr Mysteries are published by Level Best Books and are available in paperback and e-book formats.

As a lifelong aficionado and expert on Sherlock Holmes, Matthew Booth is the author of several books and short stories about the famous detective. He wrote a number of scripts for a Holmes radio series produced by Jim French Productions in Seattle, as well as creating his own series about a disgraced former barrister investigating crimes for the same production company.  

He is the creator of Everett Carr, an amateur sleuth in the traditional mould, who appears in his debut investigation in the book, A Talent for Murder, a traditional whodunit, which offers a contemporary twist on the format.  

An expert in crime and supernatural fiction, Matthew has provided a number of academic talks on such subjects as Sherlock Holmes, the works of Agatha Christie, crime fiction, Count Dracula, and the facts and theories concerning the crimes of Jack the Ripper.  

He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and is the editor of its monthly magazine, Red Herrings. He lives with his wife in Manchester, England.

Novelists are often asked where they get their ideas. All writers know it’s an impossible question. Is there a muse that creeps into the writer’s nook, sprinkling idea dust across her desk? Perhaps. Maybe it’s divine intervention or a deceased writer channeling characters and scenes into the writer’s mind as she toils over the blank page.
 
All writers have their own approach. My ideas are stolen from everyday life, like a thief on the prowl for anything unusual, hilarious, gross or bizarre. I generally don’t have to look far as these things organically cross my path. The key is to pay attention and when it hits, I jot down observations on foolscap yellow notepads with an arsenal of rolling writer pens.
 
In my recently published kid-lit novel titled Ruby and The Boss Cricket, there’s an antique dresser discovered by Ruby, the protagonist, and the dresser is inhabited by an orchestra of crickets led by the Boss Cricket. The idea for the novel came when I discovered a dresser dumped by the curbside destined for the landfill. The dresser was scratched and water stained, but I know a thing or two about bringing old furniture back to life, so I hauled it home and refurbished it. Later that day I was skimming the pool and found a dead mole in the filter basket. I analyzed the waterlogged mole before putting it to rest in the woods. That night there was a cricket hiding in my room, chirping away at 2 a.m., causing sudden-onset insomnia. The foolscap notes from that day read: bossy cricket…jalopy dresser…drowned mole. I Googled mole and cricket and discovered that there is such a thing as a mole cricket. And so began the ideas for the first book in the Inspire Island series.
 
The sequel’s main character, Galvin the Tomte, was inspired by an adorable gnome garden statue that captivated my imagination. What if Galvin came to life and created mischief? What if only one girl could see him? What if they got together with Ruby and the Boss Cricket? The story took off from there and the novel will be published by Level Best Books in December 2025.
 
Recently, my spry 85-year-old mother popped over for lunch. We spent a lovely afternoon together on an otherwise bleak winter day, and I walked her to her car when it was time to leave.
 
“Be careful when you backup,” I said, pointing across the road. “I’m parked directly behind you.”
 
“I’ll try my best,” she said, grinning and revving her green Toyota Camry.
 
Cruuuunch.
 
She backed up into the bumper of my SUV, pumped the brakes, gunned the car into drive, and peeled down the block like Kurt Russell in Death Proof.
 
Foolscap entry: Short story idea. Working title Hitskip based on police slang for a hit-and-run. Mother hits daughter’s car, speeds home to her retirement community, finds her book called Old School Hacks, and whips up a toothpaste concoction to buff out the scratch on her car. The green Camry paint and the toothpaste concoction is a Leprechaun attraction-agent. Soon the elderly mother’s apartment is inundated with leprechauns…The ending hasn’t hit me yet, but I have my pad and pen ready for when it shows up. Perhaps I should invite my mother to lunch again.

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Julie Sampson is the author of two novels, The Eye in the Ceiling and The Winter Hexagon, and two non-fiction books, Elite Wrestling and Beginning Wrestling. Ruby and the Boss Cricket is the first novel in the Inspire Island Middle Grade series. 

There’s a lot to love about cozy mysteries. Almost always, they begin in a picturesque small town filled with quirky characters we can easily imagine as our neighbors and friends.
 
While a thriller might keep us on the edge of our seats, a cozy mystery pulls us into our favorite reading chair with a cup of hot coffee or tea. Even the covers of cozies are warm and fuzzy, with bright colors and pun-filled titles.
 
Once we have selected our book, we can settle in for a fun read, where the language is clean and the murder takes place off-screen. Within the first chapters, we get acquainted with the village, find our way to the local library, and pick up a little gossip along the way.
 
The conclusion of a cozy must be as satisfying as playing an old-fashioned game of Clue, where the crime fits nicely into a logical outcome. “Naturally, Col. Mustard committed the murder with a candlestick in the kitchen,” we will announce to ourselves when the book ends. “That is exactly what I predicted.”
 
All of these aspects of a cozy mystery make us feel as comfortable as when we’re padding around in our pajamas at home. But the undisputed star of the cozy mystery is the amateur sleuth. She (because most are women) stumbles into a murder scene and quickly realizes she must solve the crime. No one else is as capable as she, for this dangerous task.
 
When others question the sleuth’s reasoning, she adeptly argues her point with one of several reasonable explanations:
 
“The murder occurred on my property.”
“I knew the victim.”
Or, “I’m on the suspect list and must clear my name.”
 
Without hesitation, she throws herself wholeheartedly into the search for the killer. As readers, we abandon all logic to support her zeal. In fact, we fall in love with her enthusiasm.
 
We adore the amateur sleuth because she is an ordinary person, placed into an extraordinary situation. We understand her, and admire her. Like us, she’s an everyday woman, taking on the world to get the job done in her own community. Before we know it, we have pledged our allegiance to her cause and are determined to help her identify the murderer and bring him to justice.
 
Never mind that the professionals want her to quit meddling in their case, the amateur sleuth cannot be stopped. Whether she is a bookstore owner, a nosy senior citizen, or an inquisitive news reporter, our main character is always a few steps ahead of the real detectives. We love to root for the underdog, and the amateur sleuth gives us plenty of opportunity.
 
She is generally likeable and well intentioned, even when she puts herself in harm’s way. She has no real training for the task, though she’s pretty good at solving puzzles, or dabbling in research on the Internet. Whatever her background, she is confident of her ability to be of assistance. Naturally, we are drawn to her: we see ourselves, in her adventures.
 
In some cases, the amateur sleuth has “super powers” that contribute to her success—ESP, or a connection to a well-informed ghost, perhaps. While cozy mysteries with a hint of the supernatural are fun to read, my favorites are still the ones that feature a smart, loveable, imperfect woman who solves the case with nothing but her wits, hard work, and a little help from her friends.
 
Inevitably, the cozy mystery plot is filled with twists and turns that keep our amateur sleuth guessing until the end of the story. Despite all the setbacks, the amateur keeps going. She surprises us with her resourcefulness, driving around all the obstacles until she finds her way to the end. And we, her loyal companions, are happy to be along for the ride.
 
Anna St. John writes cozy mysteries featuring a mature yet feisty former crime reporter, Josie Posey, as the amateur sleuth. Her debut novel, DOOMED BY BLOOMS, was released by Level Best Books in February 2023, followed by CLOCKED OUT in 2024. DOLLED UP FOR MURDER is the third book in the Josie Posey Mystery Series. Anna is a former journalist, award-winning advertising copywriter, and ad agency owner. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Kansas Authors Club. 

People often ask me, “Did you decide to write a cozy mystery series about a wedding planner because you got an idea for it from your wedding planning business? The answer is… sort of.
 
Hello, I’m Mary Karnes, and I write ‘The Wedding Planning Mystery Series’ – a cozy mystery series published by Level Best Books. I always wanted to be an author. My mother helped me obtain the first of many rejection letters when she submitted a series of my poems to “Redbook Magazine” when I was six. I did not, however, always want to be a wedding planner. That was born more out of necessity than desire.
 
I have four daughters. When daughter number two got engaged twelve years ago, my husband said, “Let’s get a wedding planner!” I said flat out, “NO! We are not wasting good money for that!” I won’t bore you with the details, but it was a grave mistake. After daughter number one’s wedding the following year, I thought, I can be a wedding planner. I did just that. I built a website, with the help of Godaddy.com, advertised on the knot.com and my business has been in the black since day one. All I needed to start was advertising, a computer, a clipboard, paper, and some pens – no overhead.
 
Has it always been easy? Heck no! I was dealing with young women planning the biggest day of their lives. But I have been lucky. In ten years of professional planning, I have had only one ‘bridezilla.’ I now have a team of three ladies, and in the 2024 season, we did thirty-nine weddings. I planned them all but wasn’t always the ‘Day of Coordinator.’

I had written three books before I started the wedding planning business, in fact, I had written one wedding planner book before I had even started my business. ‘Why not write a wedding planning series now that I’m in the biz?’ I asked myself. So, I did.

Friends say, “It must be so easy to write your series! You must get so much fodder from your brides!” Actually, the opposite is true. I have to work really hard to make my stories not resemble my couples, as I guard their privacy very closely.
 
My first book, WEDDING BRIDE AND DOOM, was published in September 2023. Here’s a brief synopsis:

WEDDING BRIDE AND DOOM
 
KATE LUDLOW has moved back home to New England with her daughter, ELLIS, and her little dachshund, Hannah. Her husband, the cheating louse, left her for their next-door neighbor back in California. Finding herself in need of full-time employment, Kate turns her part-time wedding planning business into full-time event coordination.

Home a little over a year, Kate lands a big society wedding, (it could be her big break!), and she’s ready to do anything to make the wedding a success, including finding a missing family heirloom ring. Kate is unsure why the family thinks she can find it when no one has been able to locate it for decades, but she’ll give it a shot.

As she begins to get all the society wedding vendors in place, Kate stumbles upon the body of her best florist, LORI-SUE JOHNSON. Lori-Sue and Kate weren’t friends back in high school, and they aren’t friends now. And just like that, Kate is the police’s number one suspect.

Even though Kate is the police’s only suspect, Kate sees potential murders all around her, including her best friend from high school, JEN COOPER. Back in the day, Jen was worried Lori-Sue might steal her boyfriend, and she never got over it. Was there another layer about their relationship that Kate is not aware of?
To compound matters, BRIAN MCALLISTER, Kate’s high school boyfriend, and breaker of her heart, is the lead detective heading up the murder investigation. Are there still strong feelings between them?

After the police search her home, Kate realizes no one is going to help her except for herself. She starts her own investigation, beginning with searching the deceased florist’s shop and finding a wrapper to a peanut snack, (Lori-Sue had a deadly peanut allergy), and Brian finds her. Brian tells her, “Kate you are your own worst enemy.” But still Kate carries on with her investigation. She doesn’t know who killed Lori-Sue, just that she didn’t.

It could be any of a number of people from old friend, Addalee Baker, who provides Kate with an earful on why she’s not sorry Lori-Sue’s dead, to Brian’s former high school girlfriend and Kate’s archenemy, Sarah-Grace Deloro, the town’s top real estate agent. Why were pending  ‘Board of Realtors’ charges dropped as soon as Lori-Sue was murdered? Even society Mother of the Bride, JOYCE SIMPSON, looks guilty.

 As if Kate doesn’t have enough on her plate, her daughter, Ellis, confides that she has been receiving nasty anonymous texts. Ellis guesses it is the relative of the deceased Lori-Sue, and daughter of Kate’s business rival, KENDRA JACKMAN. Kate goes to Kendra’s house and confronts her, telling her she’d better stop her daughter from harassing Ellis. But Kendra goes to the door to accept a delivery and Kate snoops on Kendra’s phone. It was Kendra who was sending the anonymous texts! Through further digging, Kate finds out Lori-Sue was blackmailing her own cousin, Kendra. Another murder suspect?

Kate’s clients begin canceling her planning services, afraid she will be arrested for Lori-Sue’s murder. Kate is panicked. What will she and Ellis do if her business crashes or worse, she’s arrested for murder? Kate’s sleuthing has produced little, so she decides she might as well try to find the socialite’s missing family ring. The search takes Kate from a local jewelry store to a farm to the town’s historic landmarks. She has an unlikely ally, her old high school beau, and police detective Brian. Sparks fly, and it’s obvious there are still lingering feelings between the two. The strongest lead sends Kate to a local wedding cake baker who has purchased the antique ring at a farm tag sale. Where has the ring been all these years and how did it end up at a tag sale?

After visiting the farm, Kate goes to a local retirement home to question a resident about the ring’s origin. As Kate investigates, she discovers a long-buried mystery that involves JOYCE SIMPSON, mother of the bride. Kate finds, at the risk to her own life, that Joyce has a deep secret she would do anything to keep, including killing Lori-Sue (and Lori-Sue did die by peanut allergy). This all comes to a head when Joyce realizes Kate is too close to the truth and kidnaps Kate to ultimately silence her. Kate’s unlikely savior is arch-rival Sarah-Grace.
Kate discovers her other suspects’ secrets and why they had motives to kill Lori-Sue. The dead florist had been quite the blackmailer and used her friends and family’s secrets against them.

The arrival of Kate’s ex lends another layer to her already chaotic life when he makes it plain, he’d like her back. Will Kate reunite her family, or seek what will make her happy, Brian?
 
SAVE THE FATE was published in October 2024. Here is a brief synopsis:

SAVE THE FATE
 
Wedding Planner Kate Ludlow is back with her fun circle of small-town New England friends. Life is clipping along well for Kate. Her wedding season is off to a great start; she has reconnected with her former high school boyfriend, and her teen daughter is happy and looking forward to a fun summer.  At the town’s traditional kick-off to summer party, “Strawberry Moon,” Jack Malone, the town’s parodical son, surprises the population with his appearance. He’s the best baseball player the whole of New England has ever produced, and he now plays professional baseball in Los Angeles. He hasn’t been home in years but has returned home to marry a local girl. He taps Kate to be his wedding planner, and she couldn’t be happier; what a boon this will be for her business!

Jack reconnects with old friends, and apparently old enemies too, as his body is found in the Connecticut River on his third day home. Jack’s high school girlfriend, and Kate’s best friend, Jen, is the prime suspect. She can’t or won’t give an alibi for the time of Jack’s death. But she’s not the only person who looks guilty. A new business partner has come to Eastbury looking for Jack, claiming Jack cheated him in a business deal gone wrong. Then there’s the high school rival who lost everything in a decade’s old confrontation with Jack. The state police leading the investigation into Jack’s death feel certain Jen is their killer, so Kate has to act. If Jen won’t help herself, Kate will have to step in to save her; but this won’t help her fledgling relationship with her old/new love, Brian, who is Eastbury’s lead detective.
 
The third in the series, UNVEILED SECRETS, will be published in October 2025. All books in the series are available wherever online books are so, in print, eBook, or audio formats.

​Mary Karnes is a mother of four who raised her family through six corporate moves, but always dreamed of being an author. Once the kids were grown, she started a wedding planning company and decided to simultaneously chase her dream of being a published author. The ‘Wedding Planner Mystery Series’ was born, with her business
providing much subject matter for her books. Mary resides in New England with her husband, Ken, her mini-dachshund Lucky. Her door is a revolving one with her kids and grandkids visiting frequently.