Does anyone know who first used the word "cozy" to describe,
not necessarily in a negative way, the puzzle-mystery or
whodunit type story usually set in a place where the
"somebodies" live, and in which the perpetrator is punished
and the evil removed from the then-healthy community? I
looked up the word in the Oxford Engliah Dictionary but there
was no usage listed refering to the mystery story genre. The
OED did list the following connotations of "cozy":
-cosy seat: upholstered seat for 2 in corner of room (chintz
covered sofa, low table)
-adj: warm, sheltered, thus warm. Warmly intimate, friendly,
sentimental.
-complacent, parochial
-as verb: to comfort, reassure, delude ("I cozied myself into
...") To ingratiate oneself, to snuggle up to, become
friendly with
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