Killers
Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Zodiac, BTK, Charles Manson, Richard Spencer, Son of Sam... these are all real life serial killers. Some have never been identified. Their murders are gruesome and horrendous and also the reason I write cozy mysteries.
In a cozy, the murder is lightly displayed-it happens off-page and the reader doesn't get immersed in bloodshed and gore. I write to entertain, not gross out readers. That's also the type of books I prefer to read.
Luckily, I'm a visual person. If I do read about a ghastly death, I don't visualize it in graphic detail. If I see it on screen where it's shown in all its glory, I'll have nightmares. (I loved CSI-the original set in Las Vegas. But the minute the show switched to the autopsy scenes, I knew to look away. The stories were fantastic, but I couldn't stomach the gory corpses.)
I grew up on Agatha Christie. (I adore her/she’s my idol!) Her murders were off-page with the exception of A Holiday for Murder. This was a Christmas story with bloodshed galore happening on-page in full view of the reader. In 1938, she made this dedication for her brother-in-law, James:
“You have always been one of the most faithful and kindly of my readers, and I was therefore seriously perturbed when I received from you a word of criticism. You complained that my murders were getting too refined and anaemic, in fact. You yearned for a ‘good violent murder with lots of blood’. A murder where there was no doubt about its being murder. So this is your special story—written for you. I hope it may please. Your affectionate sister-in-law, Agatha”
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