Albert has described her books as "cozy mysteries," because they do not describe much violence or gratuitous behavior.

Leave it to a cat to grasp the essence of the cozy mystery: namely, murder among friends.

A retired schoolteacher who runs church bake sales and dabbles at painting could serve as a generic character in any cozy mystery.

Ms. Claeson reads the "cozy" mysteries - from classic country-house tales to intellectual puzzlers - that are short on gore.

Whereas I carry all these cozy mysteries.

The gender politics gets a little pointed here because cozy mysteries are more popular with women, who are also more likely to write them.

Still, one does not read a cozy mystery for its crime puzzle or for the subtlety of the detective's ratiocinative procedures.

One would like to think that our best authors are immune to the relaxation of technical skills that the cozy mystery has made possible.

So is the cozy mystery taking over genre fiction?

The supporting characters in cozy mysteries are often very broadly drawn and used as comic relief.