Cozy mysteries are one of the most beloved and popular book genres—and honestly, what’s not to love? They’re packed with quirky characters, unforgettable small towns, and main characters who somehow juggle sleuthing with baking, knitting, or running a bookstore. Cozies (as their fans affectionately call them) come in just about every style imaginable—nearly as many as there are books on a library shelf.
Most cozies follow a comforting, tried-and-true formula: the romance stays sweet, the murder details remain politely offstage, and there’s a sacred promise to the reader that the mystery will be solved—preferably before dessert.
And let’s be honest, who hasn’t tried to outguess the detective? We all do it. Humans love a good puzzle, especially one involving suspects who are a little too friendly. How many of us have quietly celebrated figuring out the killer before Jessica Fletcher did? (No judgment. She set the bar high.)
Cozy mysteries have been around forever—dating back to Greek tragedies and Shakespeare, when people were already getting murdered and someone sensible had to sort it all out. But times change. Chalk outlines, dusty fingerprints, and the ever-loyal human sidekick are slowly being replaced by digital clues, online sleuthing, and possibly a helper that needs charging instead of treats. Even cozy mysteries have to upgrade eventually.
According to the FBI, over 90% of reported crimes involve some kind of digital element. Which means modern criminals aren’t leaving behind lipstick-stained glasses anymore—they’re leaving metadata. Lots and lots of metadata. Apparently, even committing crimes requires Wi-Fi now.
Robotic dogs are already being used by the military, police, bomb squads, and fire services for search and rescue. While science fiction has repeatedly warned us that robots are not always trustworthy (and we really should have listened), today’s models at least come with safety features and fewer world-domination tendencies.
In the 21st century, it’s going to take AI and a robotic sidekick to help cozy detectives, amateur sleuths, and the occasional coffee shop owner bring criminals to justice. Finding obscure digital trails, herding stray algorithms, or poking around in very “off-limits” databases is quickly becoming just as important as noticing who had the worst alibi and the cleanest apron.
In Let Sleeping Dogs Lie: A Hope and Pip Cozy Cyber Mystery, Hope gets help she absolutely did not ask for from Pip (Personal Integrate Pet), a robotic dog created by her old friend Tate Everwood. Pip was designed to be a programmable service dog—practical, efficient, and very much not supposed to be involved in murder investigations. Unfortunately, Hope finds Tate dead, and Pip becomes part of a mystery no one programmed him for.
Because Hope doesn’t just inherit a robotic dog—she also gets a mysterious AI that promptly moves into every electronic device she owns. Helpful? Sometimes. Invasive? Constantly. Possibly evil? Let’s just say Hope’s complicated past suddenly has an audience.
Robots have been fixtures in science fiction for decades, from Isaac Asimov’s Robot series to Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries (which proves robots are just as done with humanity as the rest of us), and Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which explores whether robots might have feelings—and better coping skills. Robots are even appearing in children’s books, like James Patterson’s House of Robots, because nothing says bedtime reading like a robot uprising.
Meanwhile, electronics, robotics, and AI are advancing at lightning-cable speed. In the very near future, all this innovation is going to require serious legislation—copyright laws, Fourth Amendment rights, plagiarism, and exactly how much AI is allowed to know about us before it starts finishing our sentences.
Glad I’m not a lawyer.
Until then, instead of worrying about everything that could go wrong in this new age of cozy crime and chilly code, let’s enjoy the perks. Let robots diffuse bombs, sniff out drugs, search disaster rubble, and take the dangerous jobs so real K-9 fur-rockets don’t have to.
And maybe Pip will inspire the next generation to build the ultimate service dog of the future. No allergies. No feeding. No walking in freezing rain. No cleanup duty (a true miracle). These robotic service dogs could be adapted for countless needs or disabilities and would only require the occasional power boost to keep working.
Of course… there’s always the chance they’ll reprogram each other.
Or us.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
It all started—predictably—with a dog.
Not your everyday tail-wagger. No, this was a billion-dollar robotic prototype with a titanium skeleton and enough processing power to correct my grammar in real time. And I’m Hope Remmie: software writer, dedicated introvert, and someone who only ever expects danger when the coffee pot breaks. Yet danger apparently has my home address.
My employers forced me to attend an electronics convention—because nothing builds morale like mandatory mingling—and the whole event ended with one dead body… and a cyber-dog who decided I was its new best friend.
PIP—Personal Integrated Pet. Cyber-Service Dog. Mechanical marvel. Stainless-steel cuddle hazard. And somehow the most normal thing in my life right now.
Because lurking in the background is something far stranger: a human-conscious AI who keeps popping up in my devices like an overeager tech support agent. It offers “helpful suggestions,” and unsolicited life advice. Whether it’s a guardian angel or a digital menace is still up for debate.
Now I’m stuck in the center of a cyber-storm, juggling a murder investigation, a clingy robot dog, and an AI with too much personality. And the only way out is to find the killer—before the killer, or my accidental AI life-coach, gets to me first.
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie: A Hope and Pip Cozy Cyber Mystery by Jocie McKade
Publication date : September 25, 2025
Print length : 250 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8264451669
ASIN : B0FQ3G6VL4
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