Before I wrote a single word of The Zara Project, I spent time studying what cozy mysteries actually are. Small towns. Female protagonists. Food. Loyal pets. A little romance. A body, usually. And almost no on-page violence. Once I understood that formula, the question became: how do you move every single one of those elements into a science fiction future without losing what makes them work? Here is exactly how I did it, element by element.
