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With the stellar success of authors such as Richard Osman, the so-called ‘cosy crime’ genre has never been so popular. But why? What are the elements of a successful cosy mystery? And with murders in the mix, is it really as cosy as all that?

To discuss these questions and more are two Gloucestershire authors of novels that are cosy but very definitely criminal.

Kat Ailes published her debut novel – “The Expectant Detectives” – earlier this year after it was runner-up for the Comedy Women in Print Unpublished Prize 2021. Inviting the reader to solve “the mother of all murders”, it features unexpectedly pregnant detective Alice who has recently moved to a Cotswold village. But the rural idyll doesn’t quite pan out as she expected when a dead body turns up at the local antenatal class.

Debbie Young is the author of the hugely popular Sophie Sayers and St Bride’s cosy crime mystery series. She lives in a Cotswold village where she runs the local literary festival, and has worked at Westonbirt School, both of which provide inspiration for her writing. Her latest book “Artful Antics at St Bride’s” is the brand new instalment in her St Bride’s series, which features crime-solving English teacher, Emma Lamb.