I've always loved cosy mysteries. Possibly because both my parents loved crime fiction. My mum was into PD James, and had all of her books, along with almost all Agatha Christie novels. It's not just the books I love either - I've seen every episode of Murder, She Wrote more than once. At University, I took a module in Crime Fiction as part of my English degree, and quickly established that I'm far more of a Dorothy L Sayers fan than a Val McDiarmid one, but I never though I'd actually start writing mysteries myself.

I probably wouldn't have, if it hadn't been for long car journeys between London and Cornwall when my mum became ill. The road signs we were constantly going past started sounding like characters in a book, and I began to give them personalities. Once I'd done that, I realised I wanted to tell their story, and have them live somewhere other than my head. 

Enter: well-meaning, but occasionally out-of-his-depth, Barton Stacey. 

Cosy mystery characters I love:

Miss Marple (obviously! you have to watch out for little old ladies)

Jessica Fletcher (a one-woman plague, but still awesome)

Agatha Raisin (I love her chaos in the cosy Cotswolds)

Who are your favourite cosy mystery characters? I'd love to know, so please comment below.