Janice A. Radway challenged accepted criticism of the genre romance in her book Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (1984). It is, in part, an analysis of the romance genre based on interviews and polls of readers, gathering and evaluating data on what they feel makes a good romance. Her summary of what readers look for in a romance story heroine is:

• Intelligence
• Sense of humour
• Independence
• Femininity

These qualities are listed in order of importance, most important first. Critics of the genre have said that the heroine in a romance is typically passive and helpless, a victim needing a man to rescue her and give her life meaning: the heroine is a ‘prize’ that the hero wins at the end of the story. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that romance readers do not want to read about passive victims and trophy wives: rather, they want a heroine who is at the centre of the story, who is the main protagonist making the decisions, and then taking actions based on them. She may be vulnerable and occasionally make mistakes, but she is not a victim. An intelligent, independent woman with a sense of humour is an ideal heroine for the modern cozy mystery.

In Writing the Romantic Comedy, Billy Mernit says of the heroine: “We like ‘em feisty, not feeble..” and says that the ideal heroine tends to go against the female heroine cliché by being “.. an aggressive, active, on-top-of-it kind of woman. Where some degree of vulnerability is expected of most heroines, it’s her unexpected resistance to this norm that makes our heroine attractive. We expect her to be, if not a feminist, inherently modern in her sensibility.”

The modern cozy mystery, unlike the traditional whodunit, can feature a romance subplot or a continuing romantic story arc across the books in a series. But it doesn’t have to. If a romance is present, it is more likely to centre on the witty banter of a romantic comedy rather than what goes on between the sheets. And while sassy and witty heroines for the modern cozy, though they do all tend to have a lighter tone than a traditional whodunit or hardboiled detective, the modern cozy sleuth can narrate her own story in the first-person, allowing her personality to come through in every word. The story could be told in the first-person by a Watson – though this is less common in the modern cozy. Or the story ccan be told in the third-person, often with the viewpoint restricted to that of the heroine and to her inner thoughts.

One of the best-known female detectives, and fore-runner of the modern cozy sleuth is Nancy Drew. She first appeared in The Secret of the Old Clock in 1930 and was the creation of Edwrd Stratemeyer, publisher of the Hardy Boys stories. The credited author, Carolyne Keene, was actually a syndicate of ghostwriters, the first of whom was twenty-four-year-old Mildred Wirt Benson. The original series ran from 1930-2003, and there have been various spin-offs, continuing to the pressent day. Taking into account the cross-over stories where she appeared with the Hardy Boys, she’s probably appeared in over 500 books. As a character, Nancy Drew is important if only because she was the first amateur sleuth that many readers and writers – encountered during their pre-teen reading.

Character Archetype: The Carer

The Great Detective and the Spinster Sleuth are both examples of the Thinker character archetype. They are outsiders who observe the behaviour of others and think about its significance. But they never become emotionally involved in events. The Modern Cozy Sleuth may demonstrate some of this type of behaviour, but she is much more likely to be an empathetic character who interacts with other characters, rather than sitting outside the circle watching them. Like the romance heroine, she is likely to be someone in whom the Carer archetype is stronger than the Thinker. Caring or nurturing is typically – or stereotypically – regarded as a female trait, but the Carer archetype encompasses both male and female characters who help and support others. A Carer-sleuth is more likely to have an emotional connection with victims, suspects and witnesses than a Thinker-sleuth.

The Carer Archetype

Motivation: To help others; to nurture relationships

Behaviours: Responds to life with the heart rather than the head; is selfless and altruistic. Empathetic. May feel ‘betrayed’ if their help and love is not acknowledged.

Values: Relationships with other people; caring for and developing others to allow them to achieve their potential; love and self-sacrifice.

Weaknesses: Risks being a ‘people pleaser’ putting what other people want ahead of her own needs or safety. May lack assertiveness, and so allow people to take advantage of her. Tends to see the good in people and ignore the bad. Values herself only in terms of how other people see her.

Needs: Lacks the strengths of both the Thinker and Warrior archetype; needs to plan more rather than acting on impulse; and needs to be more assertive, taking care of her own needs as well as helping others.

The cozy mystery sleuth is not necessarily an example of a ‘pure’ Carer archetype. If she also has qualities from the Warrior archetype, she will be more adventurous, fun-loving and possibly a little cynical. If she has qualities from the Thinker archetype, she will be more creative, self-expressive and possibly rebellious.

Intuition vs. Logic

There is a tendency to assume that a female detective will rely on intuition rather than logic – Dorothy L. Sayers criticised early female detectives for this. Intuition is defined as the ability to understand or know something immediately or instinctively without conscious reasoning; it is based on what a person feels to be true. Feelings and emotions are assumed to be irrational – the Great Detective in the Sherlock Holmes tradition eschews emotion, fearing it will ‘pollute’ his rational thought processes. I think the word intuition has so much baggage associated with it that we need something else. Empathy is a better term, if we apply it in the sense of being able to understand what someone else is feeling based on the knowledge we have about our own feelings. If we can understand why we feel as we do about certain situations, and how we act as a result of those feelings, we can recognise the actions other people take and attempt to deduce what feelings prompted their actions.

Emotional Intelligence

The term ‘emotional intelligence’ was first used in a 1964 paper by Michael Beldoch, ‘Sensitivity to Expression of Emotional Meaning in Three Modes of Communication,’ but achieved prominence as a result of Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1995). Goleman’s approach has been criticised within the scientific community but proved popular in the business community and more widely. In broad terms, Goleman says that emotional intelligence is the ability of a person to recognize and label their own emotions and the emotions of others, to use knowledge of emotions to guide thoughts and actions, and to manage emotional responses in order to achieve desired goals.

In all likelihood, I think the modern cozy sleuth will employ something close to this in order to balance the ‘irrationality’ of her feelings and the rationality of her logical thought processes. She has feelings, and embraces them, but is aware of their influences on behaviour – both her own and that of suspects and witnesses – and will apply her intelligence to take account of this.

I will admit up-front that I have some issues with the theory of Emotional Intelligence. I first encountered it in a work setting, where a director tried to use it to coerce people into behaving in a way she thought they ought to behave. This was a problem with that individual rather than the theory itself, but it did cause me to go away and read up on the criticisms of the theory, and as a result I was left with a great deal of scepticism about emotional intelligence, whether it is something that can be ‘improved’ in an individual, and how it can be measured. [stealing mortgages]

I also have problems with some of the terminology used. The use of the word ‘intelligence’ implies an opposite of ‘emotional stupidity’ and the reference to a number of ‘competencies’ implies the possibility of ‘incompetence’ – neither of these seems quite right when we are discussing human emotions. But having said all that, I think the model of emotional intelligence does give us a framework we can use to explore how the method used by the modern cozy sleuth differs from the of the traditional Great Detective, so I’m going to go with it.

In discussing empathy and human emotions we have to consider both the individual, the sleuth, and the people she interacts with in the story. I’m going to use a variation of Daniel Goleman’s model based on his book Working with Emotional Intelligence and a diagram of the model created by J. Maddocks and T. Sparrow of JCA Occupational Psychologists. The notes below are not intended as a true representation of Emotional Intelligence theory – you can get that from Goleman’s writings – as I have taken only those parts that I think provide some insight into creating a sleuth for a modern cozy mystery story.

This model divides emotional intelligence into two parts: Personal Competence and Social Competence. As I said, I’d prefer a word other than ‘competence,’ but that’s what we have. Other writers have referred to these two sides as intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence. The theory then explores these two aspects in terms of awareness and management.

Personal Competence – self-Awareness and Self-Regulation

Self-Awareness is all about knowing yourself. In the context of emotional intelligence, a self-aware person knows their own feelings and the potential effect those feelings and the potential effect those feelings can have on people around them. It means having an objective view of your own emotional state at any given time, and knowing how this might affect how you will react in a given situation. If you’re having a bad day, you’re likely to react in a different way than if you are having a good day. It also has an element of self-confidence, meaning that you know who you are and trust in your own values and abilities, no matter what the situation or how that situation makes you feel in the moment.

Self-Regulation – sometimes referred to as self-management – is the ability to control your emotions so that you don’t act impulsively and solely on the basis of how you are feeling in that moment. It includes the ability to analyse and adapt to situations. Management or regulation is not the same as suppressing emotions or denying how a situation makes you feel, but it is about avoiding uncontrolled emotional outbursts and displays of temper. It’s more of a zen thing.

When you are aware of your own emotions and able to manage them, you are then better placed to be able to interact with other people in a constructive manner.

Social Competence – Social Awareness and Relationship Management

Social competence is about interacting with other people, including dealing with ‘difficult’ people and any conflict that arise. It requires that the sleuth has respect for the other person and listens to them, seeking to put themselves in that person’s position and understand their feelings and what lies behind them. It requires empathy and a willingness to communicate with other people in an open and honest way.

Social Awareness is about understanding other people and being able to recognise and empathise with their emotional responses. It is about reading the existing emotional dynamics of any given situation and being able to predict possible changes in these emotional responses. [UCAS] An individual might not be able to put into words [Woods] what they are feeling or why, and conflicting emotions may mean that they put out mixed messages. A socially aware sleuth will be able to ocme to an understanding of what a person’s words and actions really mean, and what is motivating them. And she will understand that communication is not all about speaking but is much more about listening.

Relationship Management is not about manipulating or controlling others to get them to do what you want. It is mainly about communication and about building the type of relationship needed in order to communicate effectively. Relationships require that trust is established – in this case, between the sleuth and the potential witness or suspect. If a person comes to respect the sleuth, that person is more likely to confide in her, to seek advice from her, to listen to her, and to take comfort from her. When a trusting relationship has been established, the sleuth is much more likely to learn who someone really is and what they really think.

The sleuth is able to get people to open up and talk about themselves, partly as a result of her natural curiosity and partly because she is genuinely interested in what the other person has to say. People like to talk about themselves – if they sense that the other party is actually listening to them. Our sleuth must be a good listener and she must be able to read non-verbal signs as well. Effective listening is not a passive activity, it is an active one. It requires that the listener be present in the moment and not be distracted by external events or their own internal thoughts.

But our sleuth isn’t simply a sponge soaking up what the other person says: she must be able to communicate her own thoughts and feelings in a way that demonstrates she and the other person have things in common. There must be two-way communication. And it must be honest – lack of authenticity is a sure way to ruin a relationship and people are very good at spotting it. Effective communication requires honesty on the part of the sleuth – even when speaking the truth might give rise to difficult emotional responses in the other person. A socially aware person will be aware of the potential risk here and choose her words carefully, speaking the truth while avoiding or minimising hurt to the other person. The golden rule is always for the sleuth to ask: ‘How would I like to be treated?’

When a sleuth has established a relationship with someone and engaged in genuine two-way communication with them, she is then in a position to let that person know what she wants. She can be open and honest with them, and the other person will respect that and be more likely to respond positively.

Despite her best efforts, the sleuth will occasionally find herself faced with a conflict situation. She will deal with it, if she can, by putting herself in the other person’s position and trying to understand the feelings that have sparked off the confrontational behaviour. Based on this understanding, she will try and resolve the conflict.

The amateur sleuth has no official capacity to compel people to give her the information she needs to complete her investigation. She can only build relationships with people and encourage them to help. Some witnesses or suspects may open up to her immediately, others will be suspicious of her, and some will block her efforts completely. All she can do when she meets reluctance or direct opposition is try and convince the other person to change their mind. The amateur sleuth needs to be effective in the art of persuasion or influence. You cannot force someone to change their mind, but by understanding their feelings and motivations, you can persuade them.

Developing Others

I quoted Carolyn G. Heilbrum earlier in this chapter and one of the things she said about the new female detectives was that they acted as mentors for others. The Carer character archetype also embodies the idea of nurturing others and helping them achieve their full potential – it is the archetype where we find teachers as well as nurses. Developing others is also covered by Emotional Intelligence, which is often applied to help team members work more effectively together.

The Great Detective, as we saw earlier, likes to show off and prove that he is the most intelligent man in the room. He is also not above publicly belitting the efforts of his Watson or the police detectives. Our modern cozy amateur sleuth does not feel the need to behave in this way. As an emotionally intelligent person, she is aware of her own abilities and has a healthy degree of self-confidence. From this position, she is entirely comfortable encouraging others to achieve the best that they can. She is not afraid of a protege outshining her and never feels envious or threatened by the success of others. She is pleased for them. The guidance and inspiration she provides will be authentic and unforced: she will have no ulterior motive and will not expect to receive anything in return.

For the same reasons, our sleuth is also happy to work with others to achieve a desired outcome: she does not feel the need to stand alone and aloof in order to prove that she is special or different. The cozy sleuth enjoys working with friends and other talented individuals, sharing the workload and feeling energised by those around her. Her emotional intelligence may make her an ideal leader, but she never feels the need to dominate the other members of the group and is happy to hand over the reins to anyone who is better able to lead in any given situation. [Happy to go to school for them while theyre setting in fairies]

The modern cozy sleuth succeeds because she is able to build relationships and communicate. She is honest and reliable. And she is cheerful and a genuinely nice person to be around. Other characters should feel this and so should your reader.

Aristotle was one of the foremost thinkers of the classical world, and his approach to logic and thinking is still in use today. This page picks out from other pages on argumentation and logic those that have particular import for Aristotle.

• Three ways to persuade: logos, pathos and ethos.
• Aristotle’s 13 fallacies: There are more now, but Aristotle set out the basics.
• Aristotle’s Ethics: Values from the classical world.

Aristotelian logic is described in his books Prior Analytics and De Interpretatione. His collected works on the subject are known as the Organon.

See also

Argument