Book Titles: Naming the Cozy Mystery

Writing a winning cozy mystery title is no easy trick. But even an old dog can learn how.

Pow! A well-crafted title grabs readers, compelling them to buy and read the book.

That’s the plan, anyway. And every genre and sub-genre has its own naming conventions.

Cozy Mystery Titles

Cozy mystery titles typically try to check several boxes, all while telling readers what the book is about:

1. They’re puns.

2. They mention death or murder

3. They’re consistent with the detective’s profession.

4. If they lean toward the more slap-stick end of the genre, they’re funny.

Louise Penny’s first title Still Life, nails it. It’s a pun: Still Life = Death and Still Life = Painting. It hints at death. And two of the central characters are artists. It’s not hilarious, but that’s appropriate to the book’s tone. It has light-hearted moments and quirky characters, but it also has dark and serious themes.

Maddy Day’s Nacho Average Murder covers the more humorous end of the spectrum with a groaner of a pun signaling that a laugh-out-loud romp awaits the reader. It also tells fans, it’s a foodie mystery with recipes focusing on California fresh Tex-Mex foods.

My books are somewhere in the middle and generally hit at least two of the three targets of titles in the cozy mystery subgenre.

1. Address to Die For – Pun. Death.

2. Scheduled to Death – Pun. Death. Hints of organization and efficiency, which are right in main character Maggie McDonald’s professional organizer wheelhouse.

3. Dead Storage – Pun. Death. Storage.

4. Disorderly Conduct — Pun. Organization. But a crime, not death.

5. Cliff Hanger — Pun. Touches on organization with “hanger.” Signals suspense and tension.

6. Snowed Under – Pun. Organization. But no murder.

My publisher loved most of these titles as submitted, which is what I was going for. My first “sale” is always getting the publishing and marketing teams at Kensington on my side. If I don’t succeed, readers never see the books.

The only title that changed from the original was Dead Storage. I’d submitted the manuscript as Cold Storage because the murdered man is found in a restaurant freezer room. The publisher’s version better signals the murder mystery aspect of the book. I wasn’t initially happy with it, but couldn’t think of anything better as we inched toward publication, so I let it stand. It works.

So, what about the latest title, Snowed Under? Snowed under usually means being overworked and overwhelmed, buried in paperwork. But it also appropriately references snow, since a massive blizzard threatens the story characters and their investigation. Most people I knew growing up in the Northeast and near Chicago, used “snowed in” to refer to a storm so bad that businesses and schools are close. But snowed under is an often-used substitute, so the title works as a pun.

Luckily for me, when my titles missed ticking all of the boxes, powerful cover artwork picked up the slack. Because they are cozies, there’s no blood or gruesomely detailed crime scene on the covers or between them, but the artwork signals that something is not as it should be. Something that Maggie McDonald and her team will need to set right while identifying the bad guys and bringing them to heel.

This blog post originally appeared June 12, 2020 on the Jane Reads blogspot.