As we approach something that vaguely resembles the spooky season — I mean, August is basically October, right? — there's no shortage of horror movies on the horizon. And they're dropping nightmarish trailers left, right, and centre.
But here's the thing, I like spooky things in the whimsical, witchy way. I don't actually want to watch a horror movie or see a genuinely scary thriller. I'll never sleep again!
For a long time, I avoided the murder genre completely. But then I discovered cosy murder mysteries.
I know cosy murder is kind of an oxymoron, but it's a real genre. Cosy murder mysteries are often "whodunit" style films, TV shows and books where a crime is investigated, duh, and there's certainly some intriguing mystery… but you're very rarely left sitting there like "oh my god I'm scared." You're usually more like, "hehe."
When Only Murders in the Building dropped on Disney Plus, I counted down the days until each new episode would be released. When my book club read Thursday Murder Club, we all became enamoured by the feisty residents of Cooper's Chase retirement village and I'm eagerly awaiting the Netflix adaptation coming soon.
Most recently, The Perfect Couple became my obsession as I watched the Winbury family in Nantucket.
If you've finished binge-watching The Perfect Couple and you need something new to watch, I have good news. There's no shortage of cosy murder mysteries to choose from, when you're ready to cocoon yourself on the couch and solve some crimes.