Here’s the very cool announcement I just got in email: (You can go to the KensingtonCozies.com portion of their site and download a 2021 catalog):
“NEW YORK, NY – August 2nd, 2021
Kensington Publishing Corp. announces the creation of Kensington Cozies, a new imprint dedicated to the cozy mystery genre.
“Kensington has long been a leader in the genre, and it’s time the roughly 60 contemporary cozy mysteries we publish each year had their own imprint,” said President and CEO Steven Zacharius.
Beginning with titles going on sale December 28, 2021, contemporary mysteries fitting the cozy criteria across all print formats will be published under the Kensington Cozies imprint, and backlist titles with the same criteria will also be folded into the imprint over time so that series titles are all within the same imprint. Features of the genre include having little-to-no violence, profanity, or sex; likeable amateur sleuths; tight-knit communities; and series arcs that allow the protagonists to grow in their professions and relationships.
All Kensington editors will acquire for the imprint, which includes hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market max releases from established authors like Joanne Fluke, Carlene O’Connor, Ellery Adams, Leslie Meier, and Lee Hollis, as well as new voices such as Emmeline Duncan, Frank Anthony Polito, Gabby Allan, and Christin Brecher. Digital first cozies will remain in Kensington’s e-original imprint, Lyrical Underground.
The Kensington Cozies brand will be overseen by Communications Manager Larissa Ackerman, who has spearheaded many of the company’s major initiatives to expand the visibility of the genre as a whole in recent years. “We’re excited to continue building awareness of everything cozy mysteries have to offer, growing their presence on readers’ and retailers’ bookshelves, and bringing more diversity to the genre – both in the authors whose stories we publish and the readers who love them,” she commented. Ackerman is responsible for conceiving and developing the Cozy Club Card, a loyalty card program available through participating libraries and bookstores that allows readers to earn free cozy mystery ARCs. She oversees partnerships such as “The Cozy Corner” with Tea Time Magazine, and she will continue to build programs such as Kensington’s Cozy Cons, a series of annual, multi-author reader parties taking place across the United States since 2018 in rotating bookstores and cities within the Northeast, South, West and Midwest.
Kensington Publishing has had a strong presence in the genre since publishing its first cozy mystery in 1993, and fully committing to the genre in 1995 with Laurien Berenson’s first Melanie Travis Mystery, A Pedigree to Die For. In 2000, the house launched New York Times bestselling author Joanne Fluke’s long-running and popular Hannah Swensen Mystery Series, which has gone on to land twenty of its twenty-seven (and counting!) installments on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list and six Hallmark Movies & Mysteries® original television movies starring Alison Sweeney as Hannah. Now home to many of the genre’s most beloved authors and rising stars alike, Kensington Publishing sells an average of approximately 2.5 million cozy mysteries per year.
For upcoming cozy mystery releases, authors, events, and more, visit www.KensingtonCozies.com.
ABOUT KENSINGTON PUBLISHING:
Founded in 1974, Kensington Publishing Corp. is an independent, family-owned book publisher known for the diversity of the authors and books it publishes. The company releases over 500 fiction and non-fiction titles each year, providing readers with a range of popular genres such as thrillers, romance, historical fiction, cozy mysteries and non-fiction, as well as true crime, western, and commercial fiction titles. The house of New York Times bestselling authors including Fern Michaels, Lisa Jackson, William W. Johnstone, Joanne Fluke, Mary Monroe, John Gilstrap, and many others, Kensington is based in New York City and its imprints include Kensington Books, Dafina, Zebra, Pinnacle, Kensington Cozies, Citadel Press and Lyrical Press.
Visit KensingtonBooks.com.”
#Kensington Publishing #Kensington Cozies
Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery 
This is great news! I have the Cozy Club Card and it is just so much fun!
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