Re: I Disagree--but every so respectfully
I can't say I agree with WritingAgain that you don't need to do so much background work to write a mystery. Some of the steps s/he is suggesting--avoiding a police POV; minimizing characters' contact with police; setting it in Smalltown USA, where everyone knows everyone and the cops are your friends and neighbors; making your lead character an Everyman type--will most certainly produce a cozy.
Me write a cozy?
I'm going to print that one up and tack it to the wall so my betas can have a chuckle.
He. Name is Jason to those when they like me, and Jackass to those when they don't.
Actually I follow the Dean Koontz philosophy of writing. First I drop my protag out of an airplane into the middle of the ocean without a chute. Then I add sharks. The ship that passes by doesn't rescue him but has an oil spill instead. When he manages to climb up on a board, picks the oil out of his nose, and can breathe again, lightening sets fire to the oil.
One of the reasons my protags don't have a lot to do with the cops is that they are usually wanted for the murder fairly early on in the story and don't get free of the charges till the end. Running from the police tends to discourage contact. And ignorance of what is going on adds to the suspense.
However I do agree with you that everything you know is a help. On the other hand had I waited to learn about police work before I wrote my first novel I'd probably never written one. On the other hand I've learned a lot over the years and have never used it. Mostly because my protag is the victim of circumstance and knows as little, or less, than the reader.
I do like to read cozies, they are just not that much fun to write.
My intent was not to encourage any writer to put all of those suggestions together in one novel, as you are right, they would result in a cozy. My intemnt was to list ways of getting around the need to know police procedure.
By the way, and an important point for most of us as few of us are independently wealthy is this. It is time consuming and expensive to learn everything you need to know. If it all comes out of your pocket directly you could spend a fortune.
But.
If you have already sold a mystery novel, then you become a professional in your field and such things as continuing education and research can help reduce your tax obligations. You need to get a professional to cover the correct bases.
Oh, and as for respectfully disagreeing...Anyone with a thin skin does not belong in the writing profession. If you can't take being called an idiot, or having someone ask at a book signing, "How on earth did you get that *&$$% published" you need to look for something less humiliating to do for a hobby.