Serial-killer true crime may be dominating streaming, but cosies are having a quiet moment of their own in print and onscreen, and the revamped version of the genre casts a net far beyond the seaside towns of England and New England.
“Murder, She Wrote,” the popular TV mystery that ran from 1984 to1996, was more than a television show. It was, for many fans of Jessica Fletcher , a substitute for anxiety medication.
When Angela Lansbury, the legendary actor who played Fletcher, died earlier this month, I was distraught, because I was one of those fans who put on “Murder, She Wrote” as I would a warm sweater. But I was distraught for another reason too: against this news, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jeffrey Dahmer, a man who was the incarnation of the brutality of violent crime.
Lately though, it’s probably Jeffrey Dahmer’s mug you’ll see. Ryan Murphy’s new series “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is not only one of several recent productions about the American serial killer who dismembered and cannibalized his victims; it’s also a smashing success. For starters, there is the series’ hyper focus on the killer’s physique. Many have wondered why the creators chose to depict Dahmer, played by horror heartthrob Evan Peters, dancing seductively in a nightclub and lifting weights with sweat glistening on his chiselled torso.
A murder genre that does illuminate the lives of historically overlooked people is the far less fashionable genre Lansbury helped shape and the one she leaves behind: the cosy mystery. Serial-killer true crime may be dominating the streaming space, but cosies are having a quiet moment of their own in print and onscreen, and the revamped version of the genre casts a net that goes far beyond the seaside towns of England and New England.