Calling all cozy crime enthusiasts!
Cozies are a staple in the crime-fiction genre, but how do we as readers identify a cozy from a far-off shelf? By its cover, of course! While we never want to judge a book by the cover alone, we do want to help you spot the key visuals on a cozy cover to help you find the small-town crimes and amateur sleuths that are right for you!
Cozy mysteries are a sub-genre of crime fiction that incorporate comforting characters and lighter tones amongst mystery storylines, while leaving behind outward elements of violence. These stories tend to include comedic elements and less serious storylines that are perfect for beach-reading or an escape from reality. Cozies give crime-fiction readers a light read while supplying them with an intriguing mystery that they won’t want to put down until the very last page.
The covers of these mysteries typically incorporate a series of visual elements that help readers to find them and know exactly what type of story they are getting.
An amateur sleuth from a comforting, small-town business, such as a bookshop owner, a baker, or an inn-keeper
A small, picturesque town where everyone is familiar with one another
Items connected to the protagonist’s hobby, like knitting, baking, or reading
A trusty cat or dog
An off-kilter element and/or skull
Soft and inviting color schemes paired with bold colors to help make objects stand out
Decorative rounded fonts that highlight the playful nature of the story
Buildings depicted in a whimsical and cartoonish style
At firstCLUE, we love cozies and take pride in bringing you the best of the genre! Here are some of our recent favorite cozies that will be coming to a library or bookstore near you within the upcoming months.
Dead & Breakfast by Kat Hillis & Rosiee Thor. October 14, 2025. 336 pages. Berkley. Reviewed by Brian Kenney in firstCLUE, April 10, 2025.
Have you ever noticed that vampires (not to mention werewolves, elves, and others) always get the short end of the stick? Take Arthur and his husband, Salvatore (Sal), for example. Two vampires in love, they have recently opened a bed & breakfast in rural Oregon. Life is sweet, but while vampires are sometimes accepted, there are plenty of not-so-paranormal-friendly attitudes to go around, and much of their time is devoted to educating their new neighbors (garlic is O.K., they don’t bite—really!—and they go out in the sun, but use plenty of sunblock not because of a reaction, but to stay young looking). So when the mayor is found dead in their garden, with two puncture rooms in his neck, Arthur and Sal end up accused of the mayor’s murder, to the point where Sal is jailed. How will the two of them—along with a few friends—manage to find the real murderer, exonerating themselves? A pleasure to read from beginning to end, with plenty of humor, Dead & Breakfast should find an audience from young adults through retirees.
Cozy cover elements: Items connected to the protagonists’ small-town business, amateur sleuths, an off-kilter element (fangs), a soft an inviting color scheme, a decorative font, a whimsical and cartoonish style
All My Bones by P. J. Nelson. December 2, 2025. 352 pages. Minotaur. Reviewed by Brian Kenney in firstCLUE, April 17, 2025.
Quirky and quick-witted, this second mystery in the Old Juniper series manages to be both action packed and full of the rich details that make up small-town life. Madeline Brimley is back in her hometown of Enigma, Georgia (“A little do-nothing town in the worst part of the third-worst state in the country”). A former actor, Madeline inherited her aunt’s home/bookstore and has no problem making new friends, although her bestie would be Gloria Coleman, the Episcopal priest who lives right across the street. When a corpse is found in the front yard of the bookstore, of all places, it turns out to be that of the rich and nasty Bea Glassie. And while no one in town can stand Bea, it’s Gloria who takes the heat for killing her and ends up in the slammer—while Madeline and friends are cavorting about town, interviewing suspects, cooking dinner, and in general living it up. Madeline even manages to get herself a boyfriend (a poet and horticulturalist. How cute is that?) Gradually the mystery starts to fall in place, characters step up to their roles, and the world eventually settles back into a familiar place.
Cozy cover elements: Items connected to the protagonists’ small-town business, a small picturesque town, a skull, a soft an inviting color scheme paired with bold elements, a decorative font
Poison & Pooches by Sandra Balzo. October 7, 2025. 224 pages. Severn House. Reviewed by Brian Kenney in firstCLUE, June 26, 2025.
A charming novel with community at its heart. Arial Mayes Kingston has inherited a guest house in Monterey, California. Only in her mid-twenties, Arial turns to the one thing she knows how to do well: walk and sit dogs. O.K., so she is able to drum up only one client: the very handsome Golden named Monty (fans of Laurien Berenson and David Rosenfelt will enjoy meeting Monty). But she is able to make new acquaintances in the neighborhood while walking about with Monty, and Balzo spends plenty of time on character development. In fact, we’re nearly a quarter of the way through the book before a male corpse shows up, discovered, of all places, in the floorboards beneath Arial’s guest house. Fortunately Arial is in the clear—she hadn’t even moved to California when the body had been buried. But boy, talk about an incentive for gossip. Between the local book group, the vet, the neighborhood detective, and several more, we have enough speculation to keep the questions of who killed the victim and who buried him very much alive. When the murderer is finally revealed, it is truly a shock worth waiting for. Looking forward to more from Arial and Monty
Cozy cover elements: Items connected to the protagonists’ small-town business, items connected to the protagonist’s hobby, a skull, a dog, a decorative font, a house depicted in a whimsical and cartoonish style
Picking Up the Pieces by J.B. Abbott. August 12, 2025. 304 pages. Crooked Lane Books. Reviewed by Henrietta Thornton in firstCLUE, January 30, 2025.
The South Island Jigsaw Crew has a fun remit: to test-drive the Cedar Bay Puzzle Company’s creations before they’re approved, making sure they work and critiquing visual design. Well, that’s what they usually do, but now the Washington State group has a new, more urgent project: to figure out who really killed a local woman, so that librarian Jim Chambers, father of our determined protagonist, Katie Chambers, can be freed. This series debut sees Katie plunge deeper and deeper into danger as she becomes the target of a mysterious figure who warns her to quit the case or else, and readers will be gratified by the cozy fiction staple of friends and other locals coming to her aid. A bonus is steadfast firefighter ex-boyfriend Connor, who wants to be back in the picture and whose loyalty keeps stubborn Katie safe even as she pushes him away. Tidbits about jigsaw-puzzle creation add to the fast-moving story, and with its exciting ending, it’s a great choice for both cozy fans and readers of other mysteries, and of course puzzle lovers.
Cozy cover elements: Items connected to the protagonists’ small-town business, items connected to the protagonist’s hobby, a decorative font, a soft and inviting color scheme paired with bold elements, a whimsical and cartoonish style.
At Death’s Dough by Mindy Quigley. October 28, 2025. 320 pages. Minotaur Books. Reviewed by Danise Hoover in firstCLUE, July 17, 2025.
As Geneva Bay, WI is mostly a summer resort, making ends meet for the town’s small businesses in the winter is no easy task. Delilah and Son, gourmet pizza establishment, is no exception. The history of the place as a vacation spot for the Chicago mob is a mixed blessing, but when the Chamber of Commerce comes up with a “Gangsters of Geneva Bay” map and self-guided tour, Delilah is sort of obliged to sign on, even though it upsets cop boyfriend Calvin Capone, who does his best to play down his nominal connection to the mob. That she and her Aunt Biz discover frozen human remains while ice fishing only makes things worse. We have local and mob history combined with the overflow of ugly divorces, bad police work, family feuds, and a juicy bit of danger to liven the plot, along with trying to make sure that Valentines Day reservations will make up for the rest of the slow month to make this a fun addition to an entertaining series. And of course there are recipes at the end.
Cozy cover elements: Items connected to the protagonist’s small-town business, a cat, an off-kilter element (knife), a skull, a soft an inviting color scheme paired with bold elements, a decorative font
Meet Danielle Christopher, Cover Designer of At Death’s Dough by Mindy Quigley
The July 17, 2025 issue of firstCLUE reviewed At Death’s Dough by Mindy Quigley. This fifth installment in the “A Deep Dish Mystery” series follows a local pizza shop in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin and its chef, Delilah, as she discovers the involvement of the Chicago Mob in this Valentine’s themed cozy mystery. We met with the book’s cover Designer Danielle Christopher to ask her about the cover design process and her influences when creating cozy covers. At Death’s Dough will be published on October 28, 2025.
How long have you been a cover artist?
I’ve been at St. Martins publishing for my entire 17-year career. Cozy mysteries were some of the first books I was ever assigned and I’ve been doing them ever since. I do a lot more than just cozies now. My spectrum is all over the place and, if you can name a genre, I’ve worked on it. I have a soft spot for cozies in my heart because they were some of the first books I was assigned and was trusted with. They are a happy place because these covers are adorable all the time and we have a lot of fun talking about them.
Did you want to be a cover artist right away or was this something you fell into?
I went to college for graphic design and we definitely learned about book design as a career. I was always a bookworm and it always seemed like I knew I would be happy if I got a job in this area. It was just one of those things where when you graduate, you apply to any job that’s open, and this is the one that offered me the position and I still feel so lucky that they took a chance on me. I didn’t feel worthy of the job and felt like this is too good to be true, but I worked really hard at it and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve never wanted to leave, I love print design in general. Everything I’ve worked on is tangible and that’s what I love about it, that you can hold your product at the end of the day.
What types of genres have you worked on? What were your past experiences in cover art?
From the beginning, I’ve worked on cozy mysteries and romance. What I work on heavily now is women’s fiction, some nonfiction, and a lot of thrillers, like psychological or humorous. Some of my favorite authors whose books I have worked on as of late have been Sally Hepworth, Rachel Hawkins, and B.A. Paris. I’m actually working on some of them at the moment. I love all of that stuff because that’s what I read. We have about 16 people in our department and my creative director is really good about allowing us to voice when we want to work on something we don’t usually have the chance to, we can explore. I’ve worked on self-help, political, and various types of fiction. Cozies are definitely a bright spot in my career, they are always something fun to do.
Do you have a lot of choice in what the covers look like now? Has that control developed throughout your career?
When you are younger, you need to build that trust with your employer, the author, and the people you work with and as I have been here for a while, people will trust my instincts more. I would’ve been so afraid to speak up in a meeting when I first started and we show our covers, but now I freely give my opinion and that just comes with time and confidence. I have some say, but I definitely get direction. I can put my spin on it or maybe I have an idea of my own, and we have tons of meetings where we present our covers and ideas and we get feedback that we take and run with. I read these manuscripts and often use details to explain why I made certain choices in the cover. We often get chances based on our interests in different authors and genres that we want to work on.
How do you decide what details from the book you want to include? Do you read every manuscript?
I don’t read every one, I usually only read fiction to completion. I never have to read cozies because it’s normally about a vibe, or feeling, or setting. We usually have meetings where the editors present the idea and the book with descriptions of the setting and key elements. I can usually run with that and then something on the cover usually has to be “off,” meaning spooky or amiss. For a lot of the other fiction, I have to read it because there are so many nuances and tones, the characters in the images need to feel authentic, and the people need to feel real to the characters they represent.
What have you found to be the typical elements included in cozy covers?
It can get repetitive, but all of those elements make sense and are what makes the book a cozy. Always having something off in the illustration, like a skull hidden somewhere, is one of my favorite things to do. It might be a knife in something, or a tear or crack in the wall, but we kinda like to be in your face with it. My first cozy mystery I ever worked on was called Glazed Murder by Jessica Beck and I was always very proud of myself for my design. Ever since then, whenever we have these cover meetings, we enjoy looking for new places to put the skull or that off-kilter element. That’s one of the main elements you will see in every cozy mystery. If you go through the shelves, it might be fun to seek out these elements for yourself, because they are always there on cozy covers.
How do you feel about the common visual elements that are typically found in cozy covers?
The stories have enough unique elements with the times of year or holidays and other aspects of the story that help us differentiate between books in a series or cozies in general. We find ways to bring back older designs and make them fresh again on new titles or series.
How long does the cover art process take from conception to finished product?
We work in thirds, Spring/Summer, Winter, and Fall. When we get a book assigned to us, we have about three months to do that cover. Then it sits, and we don’t do the back cover and other aspects for another four to six months. We prepare the front covers to go up online and for marketing. But, from designing a cover to having it in my hands could take a year or more depending on the publication date. Designing cozies usually takes about two months from start to finish. We get sketches, we show in meetings, get approval or feedback. They go to a final stage at the two month mark and are ready to post online.
How many designs do you create before deciding on a final design concept?
So many! For cozies, it’s not crazy because we work with really talented illustrators. They work on one thing at a time, but for me that’s not a hard process because once they send me a sketch, the process is almost done. We might see two sketches at most due to time and budgeting. Cozy mysteries don’t require too many rounds, especially within a series because we have an established look in mind including a typeface, font, layout, and characters. For the first in a series, the art will be the same but I will show three to four type designs for it to get the most feedback.
How do you research/develop your ideas for the covers?
We have a meeting where we get the idea or direction and I might make a sketch to begin developing the layout and elements. I provide a description from an excerpt in the book and ask the illustrator to put it together, and they come back with a pretty complete sketch. I will also sometimes use Photoshop to develop a look for the characters to help give them references for the sketch. We partner with the illustrator to produce these covers, I basically direct a talented illustrator to help them work their magic. I have illustrators that I love. For this book, Sam Hadley illustrated the cover. Before him, we had Mary Ann Lasher, who did all of the cozies. She retired this year, but still takes time to work on series that she has worked on throughout her career. We asked Sam to replicate her style as best he could. I could not do my job without these talented people. I can rely on these illustrators to meet deadlines and produce the cover based on my idea and instruction. They always respond positively to feedback and it’s definitely one of the perks of my job to work with all of these talented people. The illustrator’s work is really what sells the cover, I’m just happy to be there to direct where it needs to go.
What was your inspiration for this cover specifically? Did you reference any images or art?
The main element we were told was that it takes place on Valentines day at a pizzeria. We knew what the shop looked like, we just had to have it decorated a little differently for this holiday. We then decided how to show something sinister during Valentines day. We thought of a heart-shaped pizza, and decided to have it cut in half with a knife on the table. The cat always has to be on the cover as an element of this series and we decided to place the skulls on the chairs as an extra sinister element. We talked a lot about the decorations looking like they belonged in a restaurant. We also tell the illustrators to keep in mind where the title and author’s name should be. This one was a pleasure to work on because there was not a whole lot that stumped us and everyone was really happy with it early on. It’s a textbook cozy.
Are there any other cozy covers (or others) that you are proud of? Any upcoming covers that we should look out for?
Glazed Murder was my first one I ever worked on, so I am particularly proud of it. On the cover of Death, Taxes, and A French Manicure by Diane Kelly, we designed a spilled bottle of nail polish with a skull shape in the spill. We also enjoy creating designs for the Cheese Shop Mystery series by Korina Moss. Some of my favorites have been Bait and Swiss and Fondue or Die.
The Bake Shop Mysteries is the longest one I have worked on. There are so many situations in that series where they travel with their baked goods and the scene could be anywhere, which is always fun.
Keep an eye out for these upcoming titles that Christopher and her team have worked on:
Laying Down the Latte, A Bakeshop Mystery by Ellie Alexander (Fall 2025)
The Whisking Hour, A Bakeshop Mystery by Ellie Alexander (Winter 2026)
The Barn Identity, A House-Flipper Mystery by Diane Kelly (Winter 2026)
