Every great cozy should have...

I'd love to hear what cozy readers thing makes a really great cozy other than the obvious (good writing!) Do you like a cozy more if it has a cat or dog? If there is a bit of romance as well? Humor? Murder? No murder? Please share if you would!

PS: This is my first post so hopefully this is an appropriate question!

I like cozies that fit one of two varieties:

Humor, expletive-free dialogue, and good, quirky, eccentric characters.

(or)

Lovely, sensory, comfort-filled descriptions of settings that make you want to ooze into a comfy chair with a blanket.

Can't think of a specific example (morning tea hasn't kicked in), but I quickly bail on books containing dialogue that prompts me to think, "Come on...people don't REALLY talk like that!"

That's good to know - I specialize in the humor type and quirky is definitely a big part of it! Luckily for me I had a few mild curses in an early romance and figured out quickly it's better just to leave them all out before I wrote my cozy. :) I don't mind some rough things (like a murder) in my cozies as long as it is done tastefully... (ha - that seems like an oxymoron... a tasteful murder!) If the crime is gratuitously gory bouncing back to sweet/happy/cute/funny is tough.
Thank you for responding!

Tasteful murder. I get that!

I completely agree with gmathis's varieties!

I also like the kind that were absolutely defined by Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books/stories, and those by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Nothing quite like a quiet, little English village with a murder to shake things up a little!

I know what you mean - I almost feel like American writers are immediately at a disadvantage! I'm thinking murder might be a big part of it. I mentioned to a book group that my next didn't have an actual murder in it and a few of the women were really disappointed. Who knew ladies were so blood thirsty. Now I feel obligated to kill someone! :)

(chuckle!)

...In a book, right??