Ruminations on the mystery genre
Jul. 6th, 2022 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkI've been reading—or trying to read—mystery books because that's where I see my writing career going in the future (since I've run out of the ability to emotionally invest in enough characters to ever be a career romance writer). And I've learned a couple of things about myself.
Mostly, I've learned that when I read a mystery, I want a fast-paced mystery. I've had a hard time enjoying Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries (gasp, yes, I know) because I just don't have patience for a hundred pages describing all these random townspeople living their lives before the murder happens, even if the information turns out to be important later. I don't know if this is because I used to watch a lot of police procedural TV shows (like Elementary and Lucifer) and am used to a dead body turning up right away, or if I'm more suited to reading thrillers. All I know is that if there's going to be a murder in this book, I want to see the dead body and the investigation begin ASAP.
On a related note: I might have mentioned this in previous entries, but I've tried to read some fantasy murder mysteries—since Novel #4 is my attempt at writing a fantasy murder mystery—and I find that they're often paced more like fantasy novels than like mysteries. In other words, their pacing is often quite slow. Slow enough that I usually DNF those books. I might hate the Dresden Files for being misogynistic dumpster fires, but at least they have mystery pacing nailed down correctly. Again, if I'm reading a murder mystery, I expect murder mystery pacing. I don't want very slow, drawn-out sequences explaining the fantasy elements or recruiting the protagonist to a fantasy agency; at least, not at the very beginning of the book. I want a murder investigation as soon as possible.
I don't know; maybe when it comes to books, unlike movies or TV, authors feel like they have to spend time getting the reader to like the protagonist before the murder happens? But I've always been of the opinion that getting the reader to like the protagonist should be something that can be accomplished quickly, in less than a chapter. I don't need to know everything about a character to like them; I don't need to know about their complicated family situation or relationship issues or whatever. I just need to find them intriguing and someone I can root for.
All of this is to say that I've had an awkwardly difficult time finding mystery books I like outside of Agatha Christie's Poirot books. Excluding thrillers (which are crime fiction but aren't always murder mysteries), the only other recent books I've enjoyed that are structured like mysteries have been Michael Mammay's Planetside series. (I guess technically they aren't murder mysteries, but they are investigations, at least.)
Sigh.
Mostly, I've learned that when I read a mystery, I want a fast-paced mystery. I've had a hard time enjoying Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries (gasp, yes, I know) because I just don't have patience for a hundred pages describing all these random townspeople living their lives before the murder happens, even if the information turns out to be important later. I don't know if this is because I used to watch a lot of police procedural TV shows (like Elementary and Lucifer) and am used to a dead body turning up right away, or if I'm more suited to reading thrillers. All I know is that if there's going to be a murder in this book, I want to see the dead body and the investigation begin ASAP.
On a related note: I might have mentioned this in previous entries, but I've tried to read some fantasy murder mysteries—since Novel #4 is my attempt at writing a fantasy murder mystery—and I find that they're often paced more like fantasy novels than like mysteries. In other words, their pacing is often quite slow. Slow enough that I usually DNF those books. I might hate the Dresden Files for being misogynistic dumpster fires, but at least they have mystery pacing nailed down correctly. Again, if I'm reading a murder mystery, I expect murder mystery pacing. I don't want very slow, drawn-out sequences explaining the fantasy elements or recruiting the protagonist to a fantasy agency; at least, not at the very beginning of the book. I want a murder investigation as soon as possible.
I don't know; maybe when it comes to books, unlike movies or TV, authors feel like they have to spend time getting the reader to like the protagonist before the murder happens? But I've always been of the opinion that getting the reader to like the protagonist should be something that can be accomplished quickly, in less than a chapter. I don't need to know everything about a character to like them; I don't need to know about their complicated family situation or relationship issues or whatever. I just need to find them intriguing and someone I can root for.
All of this is to say that I've had an awkwardly difficult time finding mystery books I like outside of Agatha Christie's Poirot books. Excluding thrillers (which are crime fiction but aren't always murder mysteries), the only other recent books I've enjoyed that are structured like mysteries have been Michael Mammay's Planetside series. (I guess technically they aren't murder mysteries, but they are investigations, at least.)
Sigh.
