The enormous popularity of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club and the BBC’s adaptation of Robert Thorogood’s Death in Paradise series have brought cosy crime novels well and truly into the spotlight. Replete with dastardly deeds in picturesque locations, likeable characters driven by decency, and a dash of humour, they offer light-hearted escapism as much as the chance to work out whodunnit – with barely a pesky police or pathology report to detract from the kind of sleuthing Miss Marple and other characters from the Golden Age of crime would recognize. Here we explore books similar to Richard Osman’s with a look at some of the more recent amateur detectives and series who feature among our Cosy Crime books.
Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
The Marlow Murder Club formed under the pen of the Death in Paradise screenwriter Robert Thorogood in 2021. Put together by 77-year-old crossword author Judith, who heard her neighbour shot and felt the police were fobbing her off, the Club soon establishes a reputation for solving crimes and by the third book, 2024’s The Queen of Crimes, they are officially brought into a police investigation as Civilian Advisors – this time to work out who poisoned the local mayor.
The Dinner Lady Detectives by Hannah Hendy
A trained chef based in South Wales, Hannah Hendy wrote the first of her bestselling Dinner Lady Detective novels between shifts in 2021. Since working out how their school’s kitchen manager came to be found dead in the walk-in freezer, Clementine and Margery Butcher-Baker have taken on three further investigations, with the staff of Summerview school all too regularly falling victim to a local murderer or coming under suspicion.
Agatha Raisin by MC Beaton
Under the pseudonym MC Beaton the prolific romance author Marion Chesney penned two mystery series, both of which have been adapted for television – 34 novels following the exploits of Scottish police constable Hamish Macbeth and another 30 featuring public relations agent Agatha Raisin, whose penchant for investigative work began with her retirement to the Cotswolds in 1992. By the 15th book, The Deadly Dance, Agatha had set up her own detective agency and her exploits have continued beyond MC Beaton’s death through the writing of RW Green.
Poppy Mysteries by Leigh Russell
In a departure from her grittier fiction centred on the work of DI Geraldine Steel and DS Ian Peterson, bestselling author Leigh Russell created the much gentler Poppy Mysteries in 2023. The series begins with Emily, newly arrived in the picturesque Wiltshire village of Ashton Mead, discovering that along with a house she has inherited a puppy. Taking on ownership of Poppy, Emily is keen to settle into her new life, but then a neighbour vanishes and she is pulled into the first of her investigations.
Dedley End Mysteries by Victoria Walters
The author of romance novels including the Glendale Hall series released the first of her three Dedley End mysteries in 2021. Set in a sleepy Cotswold village, they follow bookshop owner Nancy Hunter and her grandmother Jane as they work together to uncover the truth when one local murder after another is committed, the first at a lavish engagement party, the next mirroring a scene in a recent bestseller, and the third taking the form of a locked-room mystery.
Miss Seeton by Heron Carvic and Hamilton Crane
Created by Heron Carvic in 1968, eccentric former art teacher Miss Seeton has the uncanny gift of being able to draw images that hold vital clues to solving crimes, and with her path regularly happening to cross with those of local miscreants she becomes invaluable to the Plummergen police force’s investigations. Carvic wrote five novels featuring Miss Seeton before his death in 1980 and the series was later continued under the pseudonym Hamilton Crane, chosen by author Sarah Mason to replicate Carvic’s initials.
Fethering Village Mysteries by Simon Brett
Former radio and television producer Simon Brett had already established his Charles Paris and Mrs Pargeter series when he wrote the first Fethering Village Mystery, The Body on the Beach, in 2000. Over the course of 21 books, as of 2022, the series sees the peaceful retirement community on the southern coast of England disturbed by the discovery of one body after another – each mystery investigated by Carole Seddon, who has recently left her husband and Home Office career, and her more laid-back neighbour Jude.
