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Cracking the mystery

June 16th, 2008 by Kathleen Bolton

Here at WU, we try to be even-handed in the genre fiction we talk about. But one genre that I feel we’ve given less blogtime than others is the mystery genre. And I’m sorry about that. Mysteries are one of the bigger slices of the genre fiction market, and we’ve given it short shrift.

I’ll admit it right now: I’m not a fan of mystery novels.

I dig suspense, thrillers, literary who-dun-its. A genre novel with a mystery subplot I can tolerate. But classic mystery, eh, it leaves me cold.

My husband, however, loves mystery novels so much, he reviews them for library journals. We’ve got ARCs of forthcoming mysteries coming out the wazoo at our house.

But I’ve decided to make a real effort at discovering good mystery novels and interviewing those authors for you. Which is a plea for you all to recommend mystery authors in the comment section. I can’t promise they’ll agree to an interview, but I’ll try to snag them for us.

I asked my mystery-junkie husband what he considered a good mystery read. He said, “It’s easier to tell you what earns a downrating from me” (downrating is reviewer lingo for a pan review).

If you write mysteries, here’s a window into what gets a mystery reviewer’s gag reflex going:

Female in jeopardy subplot. Or ‘fem-jep’ as he calls it. “It’s a tired device to inject high stakes into a stalling narrative.” Coming in second place: ‘kid-jep’.

Cats. “If you have to put a cat in your book, be aware that most men will not read it.” I’m just passing the info on.

Protagonists who don’t bother to call the cops. “I can’t stand it when the amateur detective goes into the killer’s menacing lair without calling law enforcement. Sometimes the amateur has a good reason, but usually they don’t. It’s stupid.” Again, his words.

Killers who aren’t introduced early in the narrative. “The reader needs to be able to figure out the mystery just as if they were the main character,” he said. “I hate it when the killer appears in the last third of the book. It’s like the writer couldn’t figure out how to hide the obvious villain from the reader, so the solution was to leave them out until they couldn’t avoid it any longer.”

There you have it from someone who reads and reviews a good chunk of mysteries. Please use this information wisely.

And I’m looking forward to your suggestions. At least one of my beach reads this summer must be a mystery.

Posted in Book Talk |

8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Cracking the mystery”

  1. on 16 Jun 2008 at 8:47 am   Therese WalshNo Gravatar

    Hmm, how about this one, Kath: Too Big to Miss: An Odelia Grey Mystery by Sue Ann Jaffarian, about a plus-size sleuth in the making. It’s been a successful series.

  2. on 16 Jun 2008 at 8:53 am   Therese WalshNo Gravatar

    Also…
    People are saying John Hart is the new John Grisham.

    All of the 2008 Edgar award winners are probably worth checking out. Links HERE.

    Best Novel:
    · Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
    · Priest by Ken Bruen
    · The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
    · Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman
    · Down River by John Hart — Winner!

    Best First Novel by an American Author:
    · Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell
    · In the Woods by Tana French — Winner!
    · Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard
    · Head Games by Craig McDonald
    · Pyres by Derek Nikitas

    Best Paperback Original:
    · Queenpin by Megan Abbott — Winner!
    · Blood of Paradise by David Corbett
    · Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks
    · Robbie’s Wife by Russell Hill
    · Who Is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall

    Best Young Adult:
    · Rat Life by Tedd Arnold — Winner!
    · Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney
    · Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin
    · Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin
    · Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston

    Best Juvenile:
    · The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
    · Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman
    · Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn
    · The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh — Winner!
    · Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen

    Grand Master Award:
    · Bill Pronzini

  3. on 16 Jun 2008 at 10:26 am   EricNo Gravatar

    Someone who falls into the mystery genre (at least in the bookstore shelving category) but is a more action-oriented criminal/caper/heist author that I enjoy is Donald Westlake, who also sometimes works under the pen name Richard Stark.

    You might know him best from the 1999 film Payback, which is based on his Parker series of novels… even though in the movie he is called “Porter.”

    I would be impressed if you guys could get a hold of Mr. Westlake. :)

  4. on 16 Jun 2008 at 9:06 pm   Lisa AlberNo Gravatar

    Here’s some of my favorites of the more literary-type mystery writers:

    Minette Walters
    Elizabeth George
    Erin Hart
    Carol Goodman
    Susan Hill
    Kate Atkinson
    Diana Abu-Jaber — She’s interesting because she’s a reknowned literary novelist who put out her first mystery last year. Switched to mystery, similar to Benjamin Black, who is really Irish auteur extraordinaire, John Banville.)

  5. on 17 Jun 2008 at 5:59 am   Kathleen BoltonNo Gravatar

    Thanks for the tips, folks. This is a great start!

  6. on 17 Jun 2008 at 8:43 am   Kathleen BoltonNo Gravatar

    I would be impressed if you guys could get a hold of Mr. Westlake.

    Waitaminute, Eric! We don’t already impress you, LOL!

    We’ll do our best for Westlake….

  7. on 17 Jun 2008 at 10:22 am   EricNo Gravatar

    Hah, Kath…

    I just meant that I too am not the typical mystery fan. I like the action-y suspense novels that end up getting shelved in the mystery section more than the typical WhoDunit.

    But Westlake is not a huge name, and AFAIK he doesn’t do a lot of interviews.

    If you get a line on him I’d be happy to help formulate the questions!

  8. on 19 Jun 2008 at 2:03 pm   Kathleen BoltonNo Gravatar

    Its a deal, Eric. :0