Welcome to Genre Journeys, where we explore the wild world of the many, many genres and subgenres in publishing! Today, we’ll be starting off with a genre that is so popular, most libraries provide it with its own section! I won’t keep you in suspense for long. Allow me to clue you in. The genre of course is that of mysteries!
It’s a Mystery!
Mysteries as a genre can be summed up as a story where there is some sort of puzzle, riddle, crime, or…mystery to be solved. Usually, a crime is committed in the first few chapters, but the big reveal is saved until the very end, so that readers spend most of the book wondering who killed the heiress or where the treasure is hidden. These sorts of stories use clues to direct the reader (and the detective) to the conclusion.
Speaking of detectives, the main character is almost always a detective of some sort, whether a professional PI or someone who was forced into the role by circumstance (in the subgenre Cozy Mysteries, for example, the detective is never in law enforcement–they’re usually a shop-owner, an artist, or even a librarian!) In some cases, like in the Sherlock Holmes series, the protagonist is a friend of the detective’s. But, either way, our leading cast of characters features someone who is trying to solve the case.
Why Read Mystery?
Mysteries are fun because they keep you guessing! If you’re looking for a real page-turner that really makes you think, then you might enjoy reading mysteries. And perhaps the most obvious reason to read a mystery is that you get to play detective! Many mysteries leave clues for the reader to solve (although others keep their cards close to their chests) and it can be fun to try and guess the culprit before the detective does. With fast-pacing, lots of twists and turns, and usually a shocking conclusion, well-written mysteries are rarely ever boring and will leave readers with sleepless nights until the case is closed.
A Sampling of Subgenres
With such a big genre as mystery, there are plenty of subgenres, or niche variations. We’ll eventually cover many of these in the series, but here are a few to get you started:
- Cozy mysteries: A usually bloodless mystery with a non-professional detective (like a baker or a painter)
- Locked Room: An impossible crime is committed!
- Celebrity Sleuths: Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, or some other famous figure (who again, is not a detective) has to solve a crime
- Noir: A dark and gritty story featuring a hardened PI
Related Genres
As you might guess from the description, mysteries are part of a larger category known as the crime genres. This somewhat nebulous grouping contains topics like caper novels, police procedurals, and thrillers. If you like a story where crime is the central theme, with detectives, cops, and crooks, you might enjoy exploring these genres as well:
- Caper: The crime takes place in plain sight and the reader is rooting for the crooks!
- Police Procedurals: Crime novels with police protagonists, usually very realistic
- Thrillers: Fast-paced, intense plot, usually featuring a crime
- Espionage: Spies!
Reading Recommendations:
A Study in Scarlet (Arthur Conan Doyle): I couldn’t write a list of mysteries without mentioning one of the most famous detectives of all time! Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet is the first of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. John Watson, a down-on-his luck doctor just retired from the army discovers that his new roommate, Sherlock Holmes, has a most unusual passion for crime. When Holmes invites Watson to join him on a case, the two find themselves in the midst of the most baffling mystery–a dead man found in an abandoned house, poisoned. And high up on the wall, the word “rache” written in blood.
Still Life (Louise Penny): Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
The Chinese Orange Mystery (Ellery Queen): The offices of foreign literature publisher and renowned stamp collector Donald Kirk are often host to strange activities, but the most recent occurrence–the murder of an unknown caller, found dead in an empty waiting room–is unlike any that has come before. Nobody, it seems, entered or exited the room, and yet the crime scene clearly has been manipulated, leaving everything in the room turned backwards and upside down. Stuck through the back of the corpse’s shirt are two long spears–and a tangerine is missing from the fruit bowl. Enter amateur sleuth Ellery Queen, who arrives just in time to witness the discovery of the body, only to be immediately drawn into a complex case in which no clue is too minor or too glaring to warrant careful consideration.
Catering to Nobody (Diane Mott Davidson): Even though working a wake isn’t Goldy Bear’s idea of fun, the Colorado caterer throws herself into preparing a savory feast featuring Poached Salmon and Strawberry Shortcake buffet designed to soothe forty mourners. Her culinary efforts seem to be exactly what the doctor ordered . . . until her former father-in-law, gynecologist Fritz Korman, is struck down–and Goldy is accused of adding poison to the menu. Now, with the Department of Health impounding her leftovers, her ex-husband trashing her name, and her business close to being shut down, Goldy knows she can’t wait for the police to serve up answers. She soon uncovers more than one skeleton in the closet, along with a veritable slew of unpalatable secrets–the kind that could make Goldy the main course in an unsavory killer’s next murder.
The Thin Man (Dashiell Hammett): Nick Charles seems to find trouble wherever he goes. He thinks his sleuthing days are behind him when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, turns up dead. Nick–thanks to some persuasion from his enchanting wife, Nora–finds himself falling back into old habits and making a few polite inquiries. The prime suspect, Julia’s lover and boss Clyde Miller Wynant, has vanished without a trace. Everyone is after him, but Nick is not so sure Wynant is the culprit. And when another dubious figure bursts into their bedroom, waving a loaded handgun, it seems Nick and Nora’s adventure is only just beginning.
