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Mysteries are a great form of escapism.
I love the way that books in this genre virtually always end with justice being served and criminals being held accountable for their actions, especially since neither of those things are at all guaranteed to happen in real life.
Figuring out how clues fit together amuses me, too. I’ve previously mentioned not being a big fan of red herrings, but I do like when a clue can be interpreted in more than one way. This leaves plenty of space for readers – and protagonists – to change our mind about who the culprit is depending on which explanation of what is going on we decide to accept as the most accurate one. It can also be a nice way to practice skills like critical thinking, observation, and developing a stronger memory.
While I don’t read a lot of romances, paranormal romantic mysteries can be appealing to me. This is especially true if they’re set in the past, involve ghosts, and/or are about a cold case. It makes me smile to think of a ghost helping to solve his or her own murder case before finally being able to rest for good.
My favourite niche in this genre are cozy mysteries. Not only do they often have delightful puns in their titles, many of them seem to be set in or near cozy places like bakeries, libraries, or coffee shops. This softens the edges of the murders in them and makes it more likely that I’ll keep reading.
Historical mysteries can be interesting, too, as they generally feature characters who lived many years before the development of modern investigation protocols like dusting for fingerprints or testing blood or hair left at the scene that might have belonged to the culprit. This can leave a lot of room for other types of evidence like eyewitness testimony, letters or diary entries that talk about the crime, or, if the investigator is lucky, maybe even a straightforward confession!
In short, I think this genre is cool to visit on occasion and am open to any suggestions you all may have from the cozy, paranormal, historical, and/or romantic mystery subgenres.
Here are my answers for this week’s prompt.
(I received my annual covid and flu vaccines yesterday, so I may be a little late responding to other people’s posts depending on how I’m feeling today.)
If I’m bored but cannot leave my surroundings because I’m sitting in a waiting room or the weather outside is frightful, I’ll probably people watch, read a book, or play Royal Match (a tile matching game) on my phone.
One of the biggest improvements I’ve seen since I was a kid has to do with how much easier it is now to find people who share the same hobby, interest, identity, or diagnosis.
This is one of those topics that makes me wish I could take a peek at all of the other answers before publishing my own! Will most folks choose serious or frivolous answers, I wonder?
I love becoming immersed in a world so unlike modern life.
I started working on this back in March and have been slowly adding to it as I find more examples of things that tickle my funny bone. Some posts work better if they’re allowed to percolate for a long time.
My first impulse for this week’s prompt was to discuss books with fantastic endings that I’ve talked about here before, but I’m going to try to stretch myself and choose titles I have rarely or maybe even never discussed on my blog instead.