Why Are We Drawn to Mystery Novels? Part 2 of 2

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Generally, diverse mysteries are stories set around a wrong doing (especially in the case of paranormal mysteries), or it could be a crime or a murder or theft. Some of the traditional categories of this type include drawing room, locked room, and hard-boiled whodunits. Recently, more realistic mysteries that delve into genuine police forensic and investigative crime-solving procedures have become increasingly popular. Some 1800 mystery novels and short fiction have been made into television shows, movies, and radio drama series. Their plots are usually hinged on amateur detectives outsmarting villains and solving crimes. Some have been cleverly written with clues planted all around the story, puzzling and encouraging readers to try to guess the outcome before the story ends. This riddle element serves as a brainteaser and is a factor to the enduring popularity of diverse mysteries.



Crimes and murders have always been popular features in stories for centuries but the genre of mystery fiction was only acknowledged on the release of The Murders in the Rue Morgue written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1841. The story is considered a locked room mystery because the method used in committing the crime is a mystery as is the identity of the criminal. This type of mystery fiction has become increasingly popular up to the present time and its true master is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with his Sherlock Holmes series. These detective novels and their main character remain hugely popular.



Towards the dawn of the 20th century, mystery fiction readers were served with cultured and sophisticated suspects, detectives, and victims. The writer who became known for this type of mystery was Agatha Christie and her brand of novels have been labelled as drawing room or cozy mysteries. In the meantime, American readers were becoming more inclined to hard-boiled mysteries which were published in pulp detective magazines. Some of the popular heroes in those days include Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. These characters every so often worked beyond the boundaries of the law to find justice. For the young adults, mysteries which featured the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew also flourished during this period.



Today, the old and the new are continuously making a killing in terms of patronage. Some still like the classics while others prefer the mysteries solved with a combination of footwork and forensic science. This paved the way for television series such as Bones and CSI. But Sherlock Holmes is still a force to reckon with, with a modernized series being watched by millions on TV.



Mystery novels don’t always follow a set structure, as we will explore later. It is still, one of the most popular styles and genres to embrace, and also one that can get away from the first time writer if they are not careful to keep close watch on the red herrings and clues provided. Paying fair with the reader, regardless of genre, is the key to producing exciting characters, engaging plot lines, and audience identification that sells.