Mary has written an essay, In Praise of Golden Age Mysteries , for The Cozy Library. She points out that many of the mysteries written in the early part of the last century would today be classified as "cozies."

I suppose I lean toward cozies myself. True, I enjoy Mickey Spillane, but, really, the books are so over the top as to be part of some alternate reality in which Mike Hammer's actions seem almost sane and reasonable. They remind me of Robert E. Howard's Conan fantasies which I also find entertaining.

Then there's Travis McGee. He does encounter a fair degree of nastiness in his salvage business, but, the house boat he lives on -- the Busted Flush -- is kind of cozy. And his sidekick, Meyer, isn't a psychopathic killer. He's big cuddly teddy bear of an economist.

I tend to classify as "cozy" mysteries that don't feature graphic, realistic violence. Violence is much overdone today. Perhaps, in part, because it is so easy. The most inept writer in the world can elicit an emotional response in a reader by describing, say, the dismemberment of a baby. Big deal. You can get an emotional response out of someone by punching them in the face too. But, let's face it, the tough guys writing violent noir are just sitting in their suburban homes punching their keyboards.

The Byzantine mysteries Mary and I write deal with some dark themes and feature a certain degree of violence. We've had books take place during a plague, stylites incinerated atop their pillars and holy fools dancing with the dead. But we try not to get overly graphic. The violence we depict is usually that which arises unavoidably from the story. It is not there to be enjoyed for its own sake.

I'm not sure how you would classify the kind of mysteries I prefer or the ones we write. How about "cozy noir"?