Why Readers and Writers Love Mysteries
I didn’t become a major mystery fan until near middle age—the time when such writers as Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller, Sue Grafton, and Margaret Maron were breaking through the male-dominated genre with tough but relatable women detectives.
By the time I decided to switch from writing nonfiction to fiction, the field offered many great models of writers with both professional and amateur sleuths. I chose to join them. You don’t have to write about what you already know, but you better write about what you read.
As the books in my Show Me series have come out, some interviewers have danced around the question of why I write mysteries. The unasked question is why I don’t write literary novels instead. That ignores the fact that the art and craft of the best mystery writers equal that of any other writers.
But the question has forced me to consider why so many people read mysteries—many more than read literary novels—and why I write them. I came up with three reasons.
- Mysteries challenge readers’ intellect, calling on them to solve a puzzle, analyze information, detect deception. That challenge appeals to every age, every educational level, and both sexes.
As a reader and a writer, I enjoy weaving together apparently unrelated strands to develop a complete picture and come to a conclusion.
2. Mysteries reveal the human psyche—what drives someone to kill, how individuals react in a crisis, and even how good and evil battle within the individual and the society. That sounds pretty grim, but writers often use humor to lighten the situation. On the page and on the street, people really are funny.
The standard form for mysteries is the series. Readers follow these primarily because of the appeal of the ongoing characters. I like writing a series because it allows me to develop characters, to show how crises and relationships change them over time.
- Mysteries satisfy the desire for justice, which we often don’t get in life. One way or another, the baddies lose in a mystery.
Whatever I’m reading or writing, I want an entertaining story. Mysteries offer that and, quite often, incorporate insightful observations and thoughtful questions. Don’t tell anyone, but they can be downright literary.
—Carolyn Mulford
Exactly . . . except you said it sooo much better than I could. I very much enjoyed the blog info. Marilyn (aka cj petterson)
Thanks, Marilyn.
You hit the major reasons why people read and write mysteries. Modern literary fiction often dispenses with plot to explore psyches, but from the time we are children, we like stories with plots.
The love of story is universal, I think.
Well put, Carolyn!You totally nailed what attracts so many of us to writing – and reading – mysteries.
Great blog and right on. I love trying to figure out the “who done it”. Love to figure it out, but love to be surprised too. The series mysteries are my favorites because I am following the characters as the grow and go through life. Thanks for the “Show Me” series and I especially like your young reader book, “Thunder Beneath My Feet” Not a series but great historical fiction.
Thanks, Blenda.
Mysteries are just plain fun. Lit fic is often not. Mysteries often end ”happily”, ie with the justice you spoke of. And even those in series are often tending towards some happy-ish resolution: Maron’s Deborah marrying at long last, for instance. Lit fic? depressing endings are “more literary”?
Good points, Margaret.