Play Book Tag discussion

Mysteries, anyone?
Are you a fan of mysteries, why or why not?
What type of mysteries do you like to read?

It seems like I read more of them all the time. But I am a weird mystery reader in that I'm not that interested in "whodunnit" and why. I like a great sense of place and/or time and some compelling characters. I like series where a whole group of characters in a family/town/police station return and change over time. I like humor, though it shouldn't be so wacky as to be totally unbelievable.

I love historical mysteries because you learn about the times, and the detective can't just use a cell phone call or internet search to find things out. Some of my favorites are the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C. S. Harris, the Wrexford and Sloane series by Andrea Penrose, the Gaius Russo series by Ruth Downie, the Sir John Fielding series by Bruce Alexander, and the Sherlock Holmes & Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. I like Sherlock pastiches in general, unless they throw in something weird like vampires.

I don't like thrillers and there's often a fine line between mysteries and thrillers. I don't like psychopaths, serial killers or true crime. I don't like chapters written from the POV of a psychopath. My rule of thumb is to stay away from any book with the words "gripping" or "chilling" on the cover. I also don't like a lot of gore. But if I care enough about the characters, I am ok with some dark themes, for instance in the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny, or in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, who is actually of course J. K. Rowling.

Some mysteries with humor are the Bernie & Chet series by Spencer Quinn, narrated by the dog, the Peculiar Crimes Series by Christopher Fowler, and The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.

I'm sure I"m missing some favorites, I may have to comment again later! Oh yes, almost forgot my literary crush - Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy Sayers.

I think I'll just copy Robin's post. Ditto, Ditto.

I know we are already GR friends, Jgrace, so I just looked at your shelves and found a couple new mystery series! I didn’t know Rowland Sinclair or Frances Ffolkes and they look good .

The Sinclair series is my current favorite. The Frances Ffolkes series has its faults, but was ok for its light entertainment value. You reminded me that I should try the Bernie and Chet books.

I'm not really a fan of mysteries because I'm not interested or I really don't like mysteries because it's boring but I have some of the mysteries books I like. The type of mysteries I like to read is not really scary. Some of the mystery books I read is I think Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol. It's a kind of mystery but this book it's paranormal. Next is The lemonade crime which is book 2 of the lemonade war but this book is about stealing and this book is Mystery also.

With Patricia, not much of a fan, but known to pick up some of the quirkier ones like Bruno, Chief of Police and totally enjoy the story.

I love mysteries ... both cozies and police procedurals.

I also read thrillers, though I'm less of a fan than I was when I was younger. I enjoy the psychological suspense, but it seems that I am bored by most of them pretty quickly because the formula is frequently obvious to me. Ah, well. Still a fan.

Mysteries - Crime Fiction generally - are my absolute favorite genre to read, starting when my brother gave me 3 Nancy Drew books for my 10th birthday. One friend, a renowned crossword puzzle constructor, made me a Birthday Crossword Puzzle one year which included the clue 'reading passion' for MYSTERIES. Generally, when books are gifted to me, or passed on, they are 98% of the time mysteries.

Nancy Drew led me to:
Agatha Christie
Rex Stout
Mary Stewart
Helen MacInnes
Dashiell Hammett
James M. Cain
Mary Roberts Rinehart

Once I started working in NYC after college and had some money, the discovery of bookstores dedicated to mystery genre - like Murder Ink, Foul Play, and Mysterious Bookshop, introduced me to:
Sue Grafton
Joan Hess
Edmund Crispin
Elizabeth George
Minette Walters
Kate Ross
Ed McBain
Valerie Wolzien
Catherine Aird
Tony Hillerman
Martha Grimes
P.D. James

As the years passed, I added many more authors of lighter fair given the high demands my profession demands:
those who do cozy mysteries set within specific hobbies or the art or food worlds or set in a specific city like Cara Black uses Paris or Sue Henry in Alaska.
More historical mysteries: Lindsey Davis, Andrea Penrose. Elizabeth Peters

I have added a few authors in recent years whose books I'm now working through: Tana French and Ruth Ware, for example.

I like those with thriller or suspense elements as well, and even those that lean more espionage than mystery. I like noir though I read less of it than I would like. There are precious few mysteries that I don't read -- although if the book catches my eye I will read it. Generally I do not like:
Psychological -- not my first or second choice of reading -- but I do read some here and there, especially the works of the Grandes Dames of the genre - Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell
Serial Killer - only read once in a very great while.
True Crime -- since most seem to be about really awful murders and serial killers - pass. But books like The Feather Thief I love. Plus I just prefer keeping my crime reading fictional.
Children in jeopardy - I have read very few Mary Higgins Clark because so many have a kidnapped or murdered child - I know from an interview she gave that the Lindberg kidnapping occured during her childhood and left a huge impression that ultimately influenced her writing. Makes sense but I don't have to read them.
Paranormal/vampires/werewolves - I mostly avoid these. Just not my thing though I have and continue to enjoy an occasional one with witches and other creatues -- Jim Butcher and Juliet Blackwell for example.

I also don't read many that are set in Academia or worlds of medicine or law. Murder in a school setting little interests me. Zero interest in hospitals and such. Law -- courtroom dramas mostly - irritate me as they tend to either portray lawyers as sleazy and unethical or they just get the law and procedure so completely wrong (I don't watch legal tv shows either) - I'm too close to it. However, authors whose legal mysteries I read are John Grisham, William Bernhardt, and now Michael Connelly.

I could go on and on and on about authors I have read and loved. Although since about 2016, my reading of mysteries has fallen by the wayside a great deal because of challenges like Popsugar and groups like PBT - but that's good because I was in a rut.

So what do I like so much about mysteries? Why did they ignite a lifelong passion? I echo much of what Robin and JGrace have said - and we've certainly shared our love in the past. I like puzzles and solving puzzles so the 'whodunit' part appeals to me a great deal. I usually figure out the who part and even most of the why pretty early on, so if someone manages to fool me until the end and all the clues were there in plain sight, as Turow did in Presumed Innocent, that gets lifetime adulation from me! I'd say that reading mysteries for the puzzle is really me being in competition with the author.

But I also want settings and characters that capture me in some way. I love humor in a mystery, and a touch of sarcasm can make me grin in appreciation. A great or cute pet (Chet & Bernie of course) and some funny eccentric side characters absolutely can keep me reading a series even if the mysteries themselves are thin or even non-existant like in the Cat Who series.

And even though I will read just about any mystery, if they are not written very well and never improve, or the characters just seem stalled in a series (i.e. the Stephanie Plum ones), I will stop reading them. There are too many others to read. Waiting in the wings right now are 2 books gifted to me by a client: Razorblade Tears and The Cold Cold Ground.

Joanne wrote: "With Patricia, not much of a fan, but known to pick up some of the quirkier ones like Bruno, Chief of Police and totally enjoy the story."

I read a review of the newly released Bruno's Challenge & Other Dordogne Tales , which Bruno is described as starting out like Andy Taylor(Mayberry) and finishing like James Bond with a bit of Anthony Bourdain thrown in. I think that is accurate, I always like the Andy Taylor part so much more than the James Bond.

I have long been a fan of mysteries and really started out with Agatha Christie, who I discovered after high school and my first stint in college and was on my own to explore. They hooked me and I have done the full gamut of mysteries, police procedural, PI, Noir, thriller/suspense and Legal.

While I am always intrigued by the puzzle of the mystery, it isn't always at the forefront of my love for them and in recent years, I am like Theresa and look towards settings and characters which capture me.

Interesting settings help me travel both back in time and across borders, as well as quaint towns and villages around the world.

That mysteries lend themselves so well to series helps the wonderful characters develop fully and grow.

Joanne wrote: "With Patricia, not much of a fan, but known to pick up some of the quirkier ones like Bruno, Chief of Police and totally enjoy the story."

Hey, I haven't heard of this book before but it sounds interesting. Maybe, I should try it:)

It was a fun read. The folks here love Bruno, so I figured there must be something to it-very entertaining, short and fits a tag I did not care for

I avoid mysteries for the most part. I find them too formulaic. I don't care to read fiction about murderers or psychopaths. I particularly dislike those mysteries where the Great Detective to arrives on the scene to show his or her superior knowledge in unmasking the culprit. I'm not a fan of books in a series, so that's another factor in not reading mysteries. I don't care for thrillers with lots of "twists and turns." These seem manipulative to me.

What I do like is books that keep the reader engaged by establishing a reader's curiosity about something. Now this can be a mystery, but more often it is a mental puzzle of some type or a complex situation with lots of diverse components to unravel.

A few books that contain an element of mystery that I have enjoyed are:
Arthur & George
The Blind Assassin
All the Light We Cannot See
The Round House
Once Upon a River
In the Lake of the Woods
Embers

I have thoughts similar to Joy's about mysteries. For those here who feel like we do, here are some books that fall within this genre that I've enjoyed.

Long Bright River
Case Histories
Abigail
American by Day
Spoonbenders
The Violin Conspiracy

I did not realize that Abigail was a mystery! I am reading the violin Conspiracy right now!

Hi Amy, Abigail is a mystery set during WW2. I think that you would really like it. I myself gave it 5 stars. It's been awhile since I read it , but I don't think that there is a detective in the story, if that matters to you.