Creating the Perfect Amateur Sleuth: How Nordic Design Principles Shape My Cozy Mystery Protagonist
A. L. Jensen Cozy Mysteries is a biweekly feature of Women Writing, offering insights into this beloved genre and my journey from writing historical fiction to cozy mysteries with a Nordic twist. If this series is not for you, you can unsubscribe to this section while still receiving the regular Women Writing posts. Totally your call!
Does anyone else love using Canva to create graphics for social media posts? The thing about writing cozy mysteries is I can convince myself that playing around with Canva is work but really I’m just having fun. Not only can I express something about my work-in-progress but also cement the characters in my own mind.
In Hygge and Homicide, my protagonist is Minna Halonen. So how did I come up with my her? Like most authors, I suspect, she’s inspired by folks I’ve known, combined with fictional elements from my imagination, and a wee dash of me thrown in.
She’s an interior designer by profession, and she focusses on—you guessed it—Nordic design. She and I have a few basic things in common: we’re both 53, love chai lattes and drink too much coffee, enjoy walking in nature, and are avid readers. Unlike Minna, I’m happily married and have two adult children and am 100% Finnish. However, my husband’s paternal side has Norwegian roots, so I thought it fair that she has a Finnish mother and Norwegian father. As you can see, I’m drawing on things I’m familiar with, but that doesn’t make us alike. However, she is someone I would be friends with if we ever met in a small town coffee shop like my Boreal Beanery or the local bookstore Saga and Stone.
While I was a high school teacher by profession, I wasn’t interested in writing about my experiences as a teacher. Instead, I designed she should be an interior designer—one of my many dream jobs. I am a big fan of Finnish designers and Scandinavian design, so it made sense to have her lean towards her Nordic ancestry.
It’s Minna’s concentration on Nordic design principles that inform Hygge House, the property she co-owns with her business partner Christie, and the way she tries to live her life. Importantly, Minna’s skills as a designer, her eye for details, make her the perfect amateur sleuth.
Here are a few principles of Nordic design:
Lagom (Swedish): Logom means “just the right amount" without excess. It’s about balance and moderation.
Funktionalisme - Functionality First: This concept is about everything serving a purpose. Items are not purely for aesthetics but also for functionality.
Natural Light: Dark Nordic winters make it important to capitalize on natural light with reflective surfaces and large windows letting in the light.
Hygge (Danish): Inviting spaces are all about creating comfort with soft textures, atmospheric lighting, and cozy spaces.
Connection to Nature: Nordic design relies on natural materials such as wood, stone, and wool, as well as plants and nature motifs.
Timeless Simplicity: Clean lines, uncluttered spaces, and classic forms emphasize quality over trends.
Neutral Color Palettes: Neutral colours with some pops of colour emphasize the connection to nature and simplicity of design.
Craftsmanship and Quality: Well-made, durable items are preferred over mass produced products.
Minna’s desire for a quieter and simpler life in her small town of Lakewood is, of course, upended when she finds a body, but her close attention to detail, her ability to visualize a space, and her uncanny skill of recall about fabrics, design elements, and spaces make her a perfect sleuth. She notices things. She pays attention. Besides, how can she enjoy nature and her new business with a murderer running around?
Do you have a favourite amateur sleuth who relies on his or her skills from a particular occupation to solve crimes? Let us know about them in the comments. I’m always looking for book recommendations.
COZY MYSTERY BOOK CLUB
Our next Cozy Mystery Book Club is on Monday, July 7 from 7:00-8:00 pm EST.
On the agenda:
Discuss our first cozy mystery pick: Duffy Brown’s Geared for the Grave
Pick our next cozy mystery (please bring a few titles to suggest)
Bring your knitting, crocheting, or just a cup of tea and let’s chat cozy mysteries. If you’d like to join us, subscribe or upgrade to paid to get the Zoom link.
Happy writing!
I enjoyed getting the inside scoop here and do appreciate many things Hygge.
Love the combination of Hygge, interior designer and sleuth…and enjoying reading about your process of building character and story…looking forward to next instalment.