Mar. 31st, 2023

sholio: Woman sitting on a 1930s detective's desk (Noir woman on desk)
I realize at least some of these are more adjacent to actual genre cozies. That being said, if you are bored and would like to fill out a poll, may I ask you to contemplate these book series concepts and then vote for any of the questions in the following poll that you have an opinion on.

Turnkey Bookshop
Elderly widow buys/inherits a big complicated old building full of boxes of books, old letters, secret doors, and at least one dead body. The emphasis here is mostly on exploring the building and opening a bookstore with a sideline in mystery solving.

Hired Mourner
Aspiring actress has a sideline as a hired mourner attending (mostly) rich people's funerals and often pretending to be a distant relative. In the first book, a funeral at which a body turns up dead, she realizes that *every single person there* is actually a hired mourner as well, all of them having been given different specific roles to play. But who is a killer?

Book Detective
Middle-aged divorcee opens a small bookshop with a specialty in finding very specific books for people, which turns out to involve solving their personal problems as well. And murders.

Spies in Paradise
Millennial-age underemployed college graduate works as a receptionist for her uncle's charter fishing business on the Florida coast (or somewhere like that), finds a guy on the beach who appears to have lost his memory, tries to figure out who he is with the help of her uncle's cadre of senior friends while bodies pile up. Sort of like Bourne Identity but with a Greek chorus of old people and way cozier violence.

Art Detectives
Young female artist turns art crimes solver with the help of an elderly art thief mentor gone straight.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 75


Which of these sound like the most commercial and/or bestselling idea(s) to you?

View Answers

Turnkey Bookshop
13 (20.6%)

Hired Mourner
26 (41.3%)

Book Detective
20 (31.7%)

Spies in Paradise
36 (57.1%)

Art Detectives
22 (34.9%)

Which would you most like to read? (Choose up to 3.)

View Answers

Turnkey Bookshop
40 (54.1%)

Hired Mourner
44 (59.5%)

Book Detective
28 (37.8%)

Spies in Paradise
29 (39.2%)

Art Detectives
34 (45.9%)

Do any of these sound to you exactly like something else you've seen/read/heard of?

View Answers

Turnkey Bookshop
3 (18.8%)

Hired Mourner
0 (0.0%)

Book Detective
7 (43.8%)

Spies in Paradise
4 (25.0%)

Art Detectives
8 (50.0%)

Do you read cozy mystery at all?

View Answers

Yes or at least sometimes
43 (58.9%)

No
4 (5.5%)

Depends
22 (30.1%)

I don't know because I'm not sure what it is
4 (5.5%)



I realize there are no new things under the sun, etc, but that next-to-last question is in there mostly to make sure that I'm not ripping off every detail from something else I only vaguely half remember, so that I can change it up a bit.

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Sholio

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