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Just like I did for the romance genre version of this topic last year, I will share three things I like and three things I dislike about mysteries.
What I Dislike About the Mystery Genre
1. Graphic descriptions of death and corpses.
I rarely like to read this stuff in the horror genre these days, much less in genres that have much more realistic explanations of how someone could die. Please give me a fluffy overview instead and then let’s move on to solving the case.
2. Red herrings
This doesn’t seem to be as popular these days, but I dislike mysteries that try to purposefully mislead their audiences early on. Why not share fewer clues overall instead? I don’t mind being confused or not figuring everything out before the main character does.
3. Inspired by true events
Unless the crime in question is a really silly one where no one was physically harmed, I don’t like mixing fiction with fact in this genre. I’d rather see how creative a mystery author can be instead. Fiction is escapism for me the vast majority of the time, so there’s no need to be reminded of real-life tragedies when I’m reading a mystery.
What I Like About the Mystery Genre
1. Puns
The cozy mystery sub-genre excels at titles that are filled with puns, and I love every single one of them I’ve seen so far. If the titles reference food as well, I basically have to pick them up and at least read their blurbs if nothing else.
2. Justice
Criminals are almost always brought to justice in this genre even if they’ve managed to fool everyone in their lives up until the point that the protagonist figures out what’s really going on. I find that so emotionally satisfying. If only real life could be like this, too.
3. Mixing Genres
Mysteries are often mixed with other genres like romance, historical fiction, paranormal, or fantasy. When they’re done well, these tends to be the sorts of books that I cannot put down because I simply must know if the sad attic ghost will finally find peace after their untimely death or if the main character is ever going to realize that his or her neighbour is totally flirting with them and would make a great boyfriend/girlfriend for them.
There’s something about the mystery genre that really lends itself to being combined in these ways in my opinion! Pure mysteries are fun, too, but that blending can really bring out the best of two or more genres.
I agree with all your points, especially the ‘based on true events’ thing. Either give me non fiction with the facts, or an imaginative story, but not both at the same time.
I’m glad you get it. 🙂
I’m with you on the graphic part. A friend got her mystery published but it was just too grim and graphic for me. Much prefer a cozy mystery.
Congratulations to your friend! But cozy mysteries are more my speed, too.
Good day! 🙂 The shock factor you mention with the graphic description of all the gruesome mystery things seems to be becoming more and more popular in all genres. I noticed it a lot when I worked on the publishing side of writing for a small press a few years back; over the top descriptions of everything were popping up. There are some things we as the reader just do not need to know the dirty details of.
Exactly!
It must have been so interesting to work on the publishing side of writing while that was taking place.