Yesterday I mentioned that some reviewers use the word cozy in describing the Chet and Bernie mystery series but I don’t think that’s right. There’s a darkness in them you don’t see in cozies, although I wouldn’t call it darkness of the hardboiled detective kind for reasons I could go into but let’s not take up space. I’d hate to claim that the series is sui generis so I almost won’t. Reader Kath Roso asks: “What sub-genre do you put them in?” Any ideas out there?
Genres Anybody?
6 Comments on “Genres Anybody?”
Testing
I think the heat has everyone being lazy about thinking!
Mom has read cozies at times but doesn’t feel as if Chet’s stories fit there. A lot of mysteries have dogs in them, not narrating dogs, but hero dogs. But Chet’s voice does add another layer to these stories. OFA does has to constantly write the 1st person from a canine (a very smart canine) point of view. But he manages to make a full story.
Whoa! Should have proofed that!
“does has”???????
I think we need a new genre.
Not Cozy but also not Noir.
Would that be…Gris?
Comedy. Mystery. Western. Contemporary. Dog detective. PI. I use all of these.
This is a tough one. As to cozies, definitely not, although that genre can be miscast a bit. For example, the Agathas at Malice Domestic are often equated with being awards for cozies, but technically the category that is identified at Malice is that of a traditional mystery (meaning not too much sex or over-the-top violence), with homage to Agatha Christie, whose works I would not view as being cozies either, although its hard to cast Chet & Bernie as merely traditional either. There is just a whole lot more there. As to “character” (as opposed to “genre”), you might categorize C&B as Sherlockian, with Chet in the Dr. Watson role, although I doubt if Dr. Watson was ever distracted by a cheetos. I’d be inclined to go then with unreliable narrator as the sub-genre, although that classification has come more to associated with the narrator being guilty or hiding things from the reader (a la Gone Girl), which again is not true for Chet, who if anything shares a bit too much at times. Chet’s unreliability is not grounded in deception but perhaps over-the-top honesty.