I have not come around yet on whether “cozy horror” is a coherent and definable new subgenre of horror fiction. “Cozy” is a genre label most commonly applied to mystery, where it refers to mystery novels with limited on-the-page violence, sexual content, or coarse language and that feature an amateur sleuth who is often an older woman and/or works in a very community-oriented profession like a librarian, baker, or small business owner. It stands in contrast to the grittier crime fiction genres like hardboiled noir or police procedurals. A few years ago, “cozy fantasy” burst onto the scene with books like Legends and Lattes, which have secondary-world settings reminiscent of sprawling epic fantasies but plots that deal with smaller, more local stakes and often focus on small communities and interpersonal relationships. More recently, I’ve noticed a parallel subgenre popping up in science fiction, which sets itself in contrast to epic space operas. (For examples, see my reviews of Murder by Memory and Moss’d in Space.) But is there a parallel subgenre of horror? As cozy escapism becomes ever more popular, I’ve seen the term bandied about to refer to a wide range of horror books, from Someone to Build a Nest In to the works of Grady Hendrix and Rachel Harrison. But is there really such a thing as cozy horror or is it a contradiction in terms? Some Kind of Haunted, the latest release from Hazel Beck, certainly sets out to prove the case. Continue reading Review of Some Kind of Haunted—Cozy Horror?