Lady Business

There was a wave, about twenty years ago, of multiple cozy-mystery series featuring a heroine who had been in some occupation like accounting, and got fed up with how stressful it was and how full of contacts with criminal people, so she started a carpentry business, or a bakery, or just bought a big old house in the country and spent all her time repairing it. Which last is not even an income-generating activity, but these were written in the aftermath of a stock crash and economic recession. 'Accounting is high-stress and introduces you to the criminal element' was a direct reaction to the crash having revealed embezzlement, stock frauds, etc. And all these stories were fantasies of having a concrete, generative occupation where you could be your own boss, doing things that people often enjoy when it's a hobby or a now-and-then task. The bakery one acknowleged that getting up at four am every day to start the baking could be hard on a person's social life...but then she somehow always fitted in lots of cosy chats and freelance detection, and the sleep-deprivation never caught up with her.