Cozy mystery series sought, with requirements

January 18, 2018 1:34 PM

Specifically, books without first-person narrators and featuring fantasy or magical elements.

Previous Asks for cozy mysteries and mystery novels have been very helpful, including this and this. I'm looking for serial mystery series written from 3rd-person POV, with fantasy, magical, supernatural, or paranormal elements. "Cozy" as in non-professional detectives and investigators, small town or small community settings, recurring casts of characters, and light fiction as opposed to horror. Thanks in advance for any leads.

posted by furtive_jackanapes to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

Louise Penny’s Three Pines series fits all criteria except non-professional detectives and it’s he most delightfully written series I’ve come across in a long time. It’s also completely free of gore, violence, and sex.
posted by bq at 1:57 PM on January 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

Three Pines doesn't really have a magical element, but they're so beautifully written, they're worth checking out anyway.

There's a series that's based around knitting that you might like -- I guess there are a couple, but these are the ones I meant: Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries.
posted by acm at 2:10 PM on January 18, 2018

Jayne Castle writes paranormal Romance novels that always have a mystery angle. Very light, but well written and mostly socially progressive.
posted by Malla at 2:30 PM on January 18, 2018

I've really enjoyed Kristen Painter's Nocturne Falls series. The mysteries are very mild. It is the characters and town that really shine. These are more like paranormal romances. She's turned it into quite a franchise and has other authors write stories set in the same universe.
posted by agatha_magatha at 2:41 PM on January 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Other than the "third-person" requirement, you're describing the Aunt Dimity series. Here's the description from Wikipedia:

The series follows the adventures of American Lori Shepherd and her growing family as she resolves mysteries with the help of her deceased benefactor, Aunt Dimity, who communicates with her from the spirit world by means of a blue leather-bound writing journal. The primary setting is the fictitious village of Finch in the Cotswolds of England and include most of the population in supporting roles, but several books are set in other locales in the United Kingdom or abroad.

Each book contains a recipe for a bread or pastry which is integral to the story.

posted by Johnny Assay at 2:42 PM on January 18, 2018

I came to recommend Witch Way to Murder but found I had done so in one of your linked asks. But in checking the author's name I came across these two lists of cosy mysteries with paranormal elements: one, two.
posted by paduasoy at 2:50 PM on January 18, 2018

Response by poster: paduasoy, I have both those lists bookmarked! The real stumbling block is the POV requirement -- sometimes a series will have an online excerpt, but otherwise it's trying to find any reference to the way the story's told in summaries or reviews.
posted by furtive_jackanapes at 3:15 PM on January 18, 2018

The Discworld books featuring the Watch tick of several of your boxes:

3rd-person POV, with fantasy, magical, supernatural, or paranormal elements - check
non-professional detectives and investigators - the City Watch does get paid but some of them are pretty unprofessional
mall town or small community settings - well, it's a booming metropolis on a flat planet in a fictional universe
recurring casts of characters - check
light fiction - check
posted by bunderful at 4:52 PM on January 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

I really enjoyed the Cadfael mysteries. It doesn't quite have the fantasy element, but for me the medieval English/Welsh settings hit a lot of the same notes. Non-professional detective, small community setting, recurring characters, and light, check, check and check!
posted by abeja bicicleta at 5:06 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Chesterton Holt mysteries tick most of your specifics: 3rd person POV with a ghost helper, non-pro investigator (she's a reporter), not a small town (Philadelphia), fairly stable cast, lots of fun. Set in 1920s just after the flu epidemic. Author if Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Two books in the series have been published; #3 should be out really soon; #4 is in the works.
posted by MovableBookLady at 7:20 PM on January 18, 2018

The Midnight, Texas books aren't straight-up mysteries but they satisfy my need for a cosy the same way that cosies do.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:52 AM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Many apologies - checked Witch Way to Murder and it is first person.
posted by paduasoy at 11:40 AM on January 25, 2018

Giving it another go. I'm wondering about the Merrily Watkins series by Phil Rickman. These are definitely not first person, they have supernatural elements, a non-professional detective (Merrily is a vicar), they're set in small towns and there are recurring characters. What they may not be is quite light or cosy enough. They have some quite deep themes and although they are certainly not horror, the supernatural element can be a bit scary (caveat: I'm a wuss).

Here's some reviews which may give you a sense of them: The Rev Merrily Watkins (addresses the scaryness); The Merrily Watkins Series by Phil Rickman; The Wine Of Angels.

Best of luck, it's a tricky one.
posted by paduasoy at 1:12 PM on January 25, 2018 [1 favorite]