Expectations for a Cozy Antagonist

Cozy mysteries are different from thrillers or other mysteries in many ways, but one notable distinction is the approach to antagonists who kill. The cozy genre contains an array of villains within a subset of expectations. An inherent emphasis on community and the mystery itself generates antagonists who are often decent people who find themselves in a corner and believe they have no other way out.

To write an effective cozy antagonist, you’ll want to consider a few prominent parameters.

Note: A murder is not required for this genre, but that type of case appears most often. As such, I discuss parameters that best fit an antagonist who kills. You can still apply my advice to antagonists who con people, steal, or commit other non-deadly acts of crime.

Villainesque woman among blue smoke and black background holding knife handle behind assorted potion bottles and herb plant. Bottom left reads "expectations for a cozy antagonist"

Who is the antagonist?

Demographically, the antagonist can be any type of person regardless of wealth, social class, gender, age, or likability. One exception is that the killer is never a child and almost never a teenager because these scenarios don’t fit the cozy atmosphere or themes.

In the same vein, the villain is never a serial killer or evil. They will have a level of humanity with good and bad traits.

A cozy antagonist is usually part of the community itself, which heightens the drama and creates an atmosphere similar to the confines of a locked-room mystery. They can also be loosely connected to the community. For example, a new group of people comes to town for an event; one of them is the victim while another is the killer.

What does the antagonist want?

Cozies are about personal relationships, and the crime usually reflects that. The stories tend to explore the interpersonal: relations between immediate family, in-laws, siblings, friends, partners, colleagues, and neighbors.

Most conflicts center around the secrets people hide from each other—even from their confidantes. Thus, the antagonist’s motivation is made up of this combination of secrets and kinship.

Here are some potential motives:

Love gone wrong: Secret relationships or a heartbreak can motivate many antagonists.
Greed: Wealth is a classic motivation that can involve anything from inheritance money to insurance fraud.
Jealousy: Envy can fuel many antagonists, such as in pursuit of reaching first chair in their orchestra or becoming the star of their soccer team.
Anger turned accident: Moments of high emotions may lead to a mistake the antagonist can’t take back, and the cover-up will most likely control the rest of the story. This motive can also be considered a crime of passion.
Shame and fear: Secrets and shame are key to most mysteries, but the original motivation can be to silence a bystander for discovering something they shouldn’t. Perhaps the antagonist feels ashamed about that information or fears what the bystander would do with it.
Revenge: Revenge can be a trickier motivation to pull off for a cozy as the act often involves premeditation, which has a more sinister bent. As such, revenge plots ideally occur as crimes of opportunity and impulse.
Desire for justice: The belief system is usually unique to the villain themself, such as a sabotage gone too far to save a local historical site. Cozies are about the personal, so highly politically or religiously motivated crimes are usually out of scope.

The crime in one way or another will have a sympathetic angle in the sense that the emotions behind it are very human. Over the course of the novel, the antagonist should have positive and negative sides of them revealed. This will make it harder—and thus more fun—for the reader to figure out who the killer is. They won’t be able to simply guess “the evil one.” Motivational nuance complicates the narrative and gives plausibility for someone the protagonist likes to be a valid suspect.

Naturally, the community will still condemn the crime and express shock that the antagonist felt murder was the answer. That being said, the why is one of the most important aspects.

An antagonist’s depth and humanity are two reasons Jessica Brody, author of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, dubbed the mystery genre Whydunit. She writes, “If we look closely at what makes good mysteries so compulsively readable, it’s not the who, but the why. It’s the reason behind the crime, more than the criminal, that captures our interest and keeps us turning pages” (p. 86).

The very human why is especially clear in cozies where the antagonist is an average person pushed to the point of killing. Overall, the reader is invested in the story for the why. Developing an interesting and understandable one can bring your story to the next level.

A Note on Approach

How you approach your writing can shape everything from the prose to the overall core story thread. An antagonist is a crucial player in any novel. If you design a cozy antagonist with the above parameters in mind, you will solidify the story in general.

You will want to begin with an everyday person who got tangled in a bad situation. Their exact traits and situation are adjustable to fit your story. Once you have the basics, remember to add dimensions to the antagonist’s personality and the nature of their reasoning. These details can make a difference to the story’s immersion and impact.

Why does your antagonist commit their crime?

As an editor and cozy mystery–enthusiast, I am especially keen on working with cozy authors. If you have a story you’re excited to put out into the world, I’d love to help. Let’s connect.