Lesley Diehl retired from her life as a professor of psychology and reclaimed her country roots by moving to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York.  In the winter she migrates to old Florida.  She is the author of a number of mystery series and mysteries as well as short stories.  Having read her books, I can tell you she knows what she is talking about here. Here’s Lesley.

I love to write funny mysteries.  I think everyone can use a laugh now and then, even in a mystery where there’s a dead body.  No, there is nothing funny about murder, but the events surrounding it, the characters in the story, the setting and character interactions can be humorous, and that’s what I strive for in my work.  Nothing feels as freeing as a good chuckle.  It’s both emotionally and physically liberating.

Humorous mysteries or cozy mysteries with humor in them are often labeled “light reads”, but does that mean they can’t contain material that is serious?  The protagonist is usually a female who possesses a keen mind and a nose for discovery.  Her skills as an amateur sleuth are not to be taken lightly, however.  She gets the job done, often on her own, but sometimes with a gal pal or sidekick associated with law enforcement who helps provide support and clues, but the crime solving is really hers alone. That pretty much describes Eve Apple, my protagonist in the Eve Appel mysteries, except Eve probably has more sass than most amateur sleuths.  She gets herself into some crazy situations, but true to form, she gets herself out again, sometimes with the help of her unusual friends and family.

Eve and her adventures are good for a laugh, but I think cozy mysteries can entertain serious issues also.  I like to take these issues and make them part of the subplots surrounding the murder.  The Eve Appel mysteries are set in rural Florida, a place not yet spoiled by overdevelopment, but it is not immune to the greed of land developers.  Swampland is seen as ugly, and the animals inhabiting it as expendable.  The real world intrudes upon Eve and her friends in the form of greed, animal abuse, human trafficking, drugs, water pollution and racism.  These are the issues which become the subplots I weave into Eve’s search for the bad guys.

There are some hilarious moments surrounding Eve’s love life also, but Eve has real commitment issues, making her romance with Alex, her current love interest, a rocky road and her divorce from Jerry painful.  Meeting Sammy Egret, the Miccosukee Indian, complicates Eve’s life further because Sammy makes her toes curl.  These romantic elements are put together in yet another subplot, this one with serious aspects to it, but punctuated with humor also.
Humorous elements juxtaposed with somber notes can make for a provocative read as revealed in my latest Eve Appel mystery, A Sporting Murder.  Some men have thrown chum into the water where Eve and her friends are swimming attracting sharks. In true Eve like fashion she takes action in a humorous way:

They hauled anchor and started their twin outboards.

I was so angry at their casual attitude that I wanted to bite them. A chunk of chum bobbed toward us. I grabbed it out of the water and threw it at their boat. It landed in the stern.

“Lucky toss, Eve,” said Alex.

I smiled. “You don’t know how lucky. The top was open to the box where their deck cushions were stowed. It landed in there with them.”  I pointed to the gory mess as it slid down into the box between the cushions.

As the boat moved away from us and its captain opened the throttle, the surge forward made the cushion box slam closed.

In contrast, I included a scene which revealed the racist attitude of some of the populace toward members of the Miccosukee tribe.  This serious scene takes place at the Grandfather Egret’s house the day after Sammy leaves the hospital:

Linc and the deputy left the bedroom. I heard the deputy say, “Damn Indians. First they want us to take the disappearance of one of them seriously, then they want us to dismiss it. He probably was drunk or high on something.”

I would have been out the door to tell him what I thought of his prejudice, but Alex restrained me. Sammy gave me one of his shy grins. Through the open door I saw Grandfather get up from his porch rocker and step in front of the deputy.

“No one invited you here, but I am inviting you to leave and take your mean mouth with you. We’re grieving the loss of a good boy, and I think the family and the tribe are due a little respect.”

“Sorry, Mr. Egret,” said Linc. “I’m sure he didn’t mean what he said. He’s just overzealous and wants to wrap up this case. Two men have been killed, a hunting client and Bernard, then Sammy is taken and shot. We’re concerned.”

“No, you’re not, not really,” said Grandfather. “You’re worried leaving the murders unsolved will make you look bad, and the sheriff is coming up for reelection, isn’t he?”

“We’re out of here.” The deputy headed to his car, then turned and walked back to the porch. “You think about this. Next time you need us, we may not be there for you.”

In both cases the events tell the reader something about the characters involved, Eve’s in-your-face attitude and Grandfather’s Egret’s calm, yet defiant demeanor.  Although the characters take charge in similar manners, one scene is humorous, the other serious.

Just as there is no way to fully separate humor from the grave moments in romance, the same is true for the other thoughtful subplots involving the impingement of the real world upon rural Florida.  If done well, the cozy mystery written with humorous elements should parallel everyday life, perhaps with a larger laugh thrown in here and there, and with the certainty that we have caught the bad guy and he or she will pay.

JIM:  Well done, Lesley.  A Sporting Murder is the third book in Lesley’s Eve Appel mystery series.  The first two, A Secondhand Murder and Dead in the Water, were well received and good reads.  

Visit her on her website:  www.lesleyadiehl.com.

And leave Lesley a comment if you have a minute.  Thanks.