Getting Cozy with A.L Jensen’s Hygge and Homicide

A Hygge House Cozy Mystery

Hyyge and Homicide is the first in A.L. Jensen’s self-published Nordic Cozy Mystery series. This cozy mystery (i.e., a mystery involving a crime-solver who is not a law enforcement officer of some description) is set in the fictional town of Lakewood, intended by the author to be a stand-in for “Anytown,” Northern Ontario.

Minna Halonen has left her interior design career in Toronto and returned to her hometown. For now, she’s working in her mother Elsi’s store, Nordic Cozy, and reacquainting herself with Lakewood accompanied by her faithful mini-doodle, Hugo Dogberg. You’ll have to read the novel to learn the origin of Hugo’s name (sorry, not sorry)!

Minna travels around Lakewood in her bicycle, Tuuli (wind, in Finnish) which is equipped with a trailer for Hugo. In the first chapters, we get to know the Saga and Stone bookstore, Henri’s Hardware, the Boreal Beanery, and Annabelle’s Stitchery, stroll (or roll) down Lakeshore Drive and Heritage Street, and explore trails with Minna and Hugo. Lakewood really is a town where everybody knows your name.

Almost immediately, Minna is beset by her best friend and event planner Christie, who suggests they buy a reputedly haunted old mansion and set it up as a venue for events. Minna hesitantly agrees and when her daughter Sophie, unable to find work in Toronto, post-graduation, also returns home while she gets her bearings, the deal is struck. Minna, Elsi, and Sophie will move into the mansion, Minna will supervise the renovation and interior décor, Sophie will handle their social media and advertising, and Christie will organize events.

Everything seems to be going swimmingly, especially with James, the handsome contractor renovating the mansion, until the Hyyge House grand opening, when Minna finds a body in the breakfast nook.

With her new business foundering before it’s gotten off the ground, and everyone involved in the grand opening suddenly a suspect, Minna decides to solve the mystery before it claims anyone or anything else she loves.

I’ll encourage you all to get cozy with Hygge and Homicide. The author intends to release two more books in the series, Midsummer, Marriage, and Murder and Murder by Nordic Design, later this year, so you can look forward to further adventures.

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About the Author

A. L. Jensen is an award-winning author and certified book coach. An empty nester, she lives with her husband Michael on a serene lake in Northern Ontario. When she's not writing and sipping chai lattes at her local coffeeshop, you'll find her reading in her gazebo, or walking nearby trails with her mini Goldendoodle Emmy, while dreaming of her next travel adventure. She is inspired by her Finnish heritage and the northern landscape she calls home.

About the Reviewer

Melanie Marttila (she/her) is an #ActuallyAutistic SFF author-in-progress, writing poetry and tales of hope in the face of adversity. Her poetry has appeared in The /tƐmz/ Review, Polar Starlight, Sulphur, and her debut poetry collection, The Art of Floating, was published in 2024 by Latitude 46. Her short fiction has appeared in SuperCanucks, Through the Portal, and Pulp Literature. She is a settler writing in Sudbury, or ‘N’Swakamok, on Robinson-Huron Treaty territory, home of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and the Wahnapitae First Nation, in the house where three generations of her family have lived, on the street that bears her surname, with her spouse and their dog.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ House of Karhu

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 3 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 230 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 099508341X

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0995083417