... where "cozy" is basically "all vibes, no plot." For me as a reader I think I make higher demands on light cozy reads, because the author needs to be able to keep me engaged despite missing, well, much of a plot - which means the characterization and setting need to be absolutely on point.

Honestly I was using cute as kind of interchangeable for cozy. I like cozy as much as the next person - starting in December it will be All Hallmark Holiday Movies All The Time in this house - but I do feel like in romance we sometimes get what you describe... (1/2)

All of Gilbert's work seems to be available on Kobo Plus, which is where I read it. I also picked up the first of his Patrick Petrella books and it was fine, but not where I'd recommend starting - it's a police procedural so the emotional impact was lessened.

Also excellent is "Death in Captivity," a murder mystery set in a POW camp in Italy during World War II; Gilbert was himself a POW in a camp in Italy during WWII and again the small details and gut-wrenching moments make for compelling reading.

Instead of engaging/empathizing with the heroic detective who will solve the crime and survive the book (obvs), we are engaging with the characters who are deeply emotionally invested in what has occurred and face life-changing consequences.

The lack of attention to Hazlerigg himself and the correspondingly atypical structure of the books mean that they have much less of a series feel and are probably why the books aren't very well-known. But I feel like it gives the books real emotional impact.

I read, and very much enjoyed, the first Hazlerigg book, Close Quarters, and then moved onto the second, They Never Looked Inside, and as soon as Hazlerigg shows up in that one we get a HOLY SHIT gut-punch moment based on the first book which I won't spoil for you.

Reading the Inspector Hazlerigg mysteries in order is an experience. Hazlerigg himself often doesn't appear until the middle or even close to the end of the book; there is often another protagonist who gives the reader the details, rather like Holmes's Watson.

Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry, and Revolution in the Life of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard by Bridget Quinn is a biography of the titular probably-queer artist, although it's heavily reliant on vibes and art analysis. Well-written and super engaging though.

But neither of those groups need what this company is offering, which is "romance that it isn't embarrassing to admit you read."

In conclusion, I guarantee you that more people are reading ebook copies of Morning Glory Milking Farm on your subway commute than you think.

The rest of us will happily admit to reading romance, give you 73 different lectures on why it's not inherently anti-feminist, and brandish our clinch covers like a manifesto.

And those were old-school romance, full-on clinch covers! The fact of the matter is that romance readers who find reading romance embarrassing will continue to read romance - they just won't talk about it. Ask them what they read most recently and they'll lie.

there's a priest who's job, twice a day, is to lift a floor stone in the nave and check the water level with a Holy Dipstick and communicate if the sluice needs adjusting

again, i am not exaggerating

Thank you.