some thoughts on writing a mystery series & notice of upcoming reviews
I've been reading like crazy & not posting any reviews. Let's see if I can change that. :)
In the last year I've discovered several new mystery series, and a wonderful web site. The website is Fantastic Fiction. It lets you search multiple ways & it is very useful if you want to know what books are in a series. Go, explore, play, discover!
Before I post any reviews I have some comments about mysteries.
I read (& watch) a lot of mysteries. I've consumed enough that I am one of those annoying people who can discern the plot very early in the book/show. I've said things like The brother-in-law did it out of jealousy, but the red herring will be the mother's agent doing it for money & the 2nd red herring is that the son is involved in some other crime, so he's going to lie about where he was but he didn't commit the murder. Also, the dna will be muddled because the brother-in-law is a chimera. As such, it's hard to build a mystery that is still a mystery to me. Bonus points to any author who manages to do so.
Which leads me to my second point of discussion. Mysteries tend to come in series. There are pitfalls to writing a mystery series. Why is the protagonist coming into contact with dead bodies? Repeatedly? Does she have a legitimate reason to be investigating what happened?
And since we need tension for an effective plot, is there a good reason for the protagonist, or someone dear to the protagonist, to end up in peril? Repeated peril? Without being an idiot who doesn't know better than to go off to a meet in a deserted location without telling anyone? Furthermore, if you are seeking a reason for repeated peril, do you really expect me to believe that the protagonist is yet another person who has been targeted by a creepy serial killer? Seriously? (Without trying I can think of at least three authors who have done this (Cornwell, Grafton, Reichs). Fail!)
Also, dear authors, if, in order to solve the mysteries & survive the peril, your protagonist requires a morally ambiguous/sociopathic best friend who will kill or torture in order to get the information/save the day, please don't. Nor should there be deux ex machina involving shadowy government agencies or a debt owed by the mob. It's been done. You're not going to manage to do it any better. Figure out another way.
So if mysteries have become so predictable to me, why do I still read them? Because I hope for the author who will surprise me (and they exist). Because if the characters are any good I love watching them evolve over the course of the series. But most of all because mysteries are the genre where characters have reason to struggle with issues of what's right, what's legal, what's moral, & what's just, & that is a discussion that never ages.
In the last year I've discovered several new mystery series, and a wonderful web site. The website is Fantastic Fiction. It lets you search multiple ways & it is very useful if you want to know what books are in a series. Go, explore, play, discover!
Before I post any reviews I have some comments about mysteries.
I read (& watch) a lot of mysteries. I've consumed enough that I am one of those annoying people who can discern the plot very early in the book/show. I've said things like The brother-in-law did it out of jealousy, but the red herring will be the mother's agent doing it for money & the 2nd red herring is that the son is involved in some other crime, so he's going to lie about where he was but he didn't commit the murder. Also, the dna will be muddled because the brother-in-law is a chimera. As such, it's hard to build a mystery that is still a mystery to me. Bonus points to any author who manages to do so.
Which leads me to my second point of discussion. Mysteries tend to come in series. There are pitfalls to writing a mystery series. Why is the protagonist coming into contact with dead bodies? Repeatedly? Does she have a legitimate reason to be investigating what happened?
And since we need tension for an effective plot, is there a good reason for the protagonist, or someone dear to the protagonist, to end up in peril? Repeated peril? Without being an idiot who doesn't know better than to go off to a meet in a deserted location without telling anyone? Furthermore, if you are seeking a reason for repeated peril, do you really expect me to believe that the protagonist is yet another person who has been targeted by a creepy serial killer? Seriously? (Without trying I can think of at least three authors who have done this (Cornwell, Grafton, Reichs). Fail!)
Also, dear authors, if, in order to solve the mysteries & survive the peril, your protagonist requires a morally ambiguous/sociopathic best friend who will kill or torture in order to get the information/save the day, please don't. Nor should there be deux ex machina involving shadowy government agencies or a debt owed by the mob. It's been done. You're not going to manage to do it any better. Figure out another way.
So if mysteries have become so predictable to me, why do I still read them? Because I hope for the author who will surprise me (and they exist). Because if the characters are any good I love watching them evolve over the course of the series. But most of all because mysteries are the genre where characters have reason to struggle with issues of what's right, what's legal, what's moral, & what's just, & that is a discussion that never ages.