My Bunny Can Solve Just As Many Murders As Your Cat…

Lucky the bunny and Ginger Cake the Italian Greyhound

While I predominately read horror, I do wander in to other genres occasionally.   One of those genres is the cozy mystery genre.  I have always liked PI novels, usually reading something a little bit more noir and or pulpish, but there is something just relaxing about the cozy mysteries.   I love that you can find a title that deals with just about every hobby under the sun.  You have knitters, crafters, repair people, books, bakers, coffee shops, candy shops,  and collectors who specialize in everything from teddy bears to vinyl records!

My favorite type of cozy mysteries are the ones that have the animals in it!  I like the ones that have the animal locations – vets, zoos, animal rescues and shelters.  I also like the ones where it’s just a joe or joan average doing their daily thing, who happen to have their cat or dog with them when they find a dead body or clue.  The cat or dog always seem to help their owner figure out just what is going on, sometimes even pointing out who the real killer is!  I’m a huge animal lover and I treat all my pets like they are a part of the family (some might argue I treat them better then I treat my family >.> ), so these sort of cozies are always so much fun for me.  Judging by the plethora of dog and cat cozies that line the shelf all year long, I am clearly not the only person who loves the animal mysteries.

There is one BIG fur ball of a problem with the animal cozy mysteries, though.  Where is the diversity??  Sure, there are oodles of cats and dogs, but where are all the other pets at?  Sure, your fish isn’t going to do much for solving the case, but where are the ferrets and bunnies?  Where is the love for the other kinds of pets?  You can even have birds help.  I’ve met some birds that are smarter then some of the people I know!   We are already suspending belief enough to read about a cat who routinely tracks down clues and killers in a usually small town that has a unusually high murder rate, I think we can go ahead and suspend it a little bit more and include some exotic pets.

I personally want to see a pet bunny who gets to help solve a case.   I mean, come on!  If the cat can happen to go sunbath next to a murder clue for you to find, so can the bunny.  Bunnies go up to everything and stick it in their mouth to see if it is edible.  You know how many clues they’d be able to find?  It is a never ending job of taking something away something from the bunny.  You know how many clues YOU would find?  Tons of people let their pet rabbits free roam in their house and take them on every day walks on a leash.  It should be easy for some one to come up with the story.  People love their pets and take them with them everywhere.  It’s not hard to plug in a rabbit in to that formula.

I know between my dog and my rabbit, my rabbit would be the clue finder.  Ginger is the worst sighthound ever.  And if the clue isn’t in the bed and under the blanket with her, she is seriously not going to find anything.  Even if she did find it, I’m not sure she would get out of the bed to alert anyone.  If the killer came in to get me, you would just see a lump under the blanket that is barking at the killer from a distance.  Lucky the bun would definitely do more to help the case.

Come on, authors!  We need more diverse animals in our cozy mysteries!

If you could pick an animal to help solve a case, what would you pick and why?

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