Why do you read this genre? Do you prefer modern crime novels, the golden age? or the classics? Well the floor is yours!

>the floor is yours!

Has it got a chalk outline of a body on it?

I've been reading the Hard Case Crime publications lately. Just got a Mickey Spillane. He's one of my favorites, mostly the stand alone books & shorts. Mike Hammer is OK, but I don't like Tiger Mann.

I think that is a hard question to answer. I think I read them because I like a good puzzle. It is fun to try and figure out whodunit before the end of the book. I also read them because most of the time, in the fiction world, the bad guys get caught. I like the logic of that. Sometimes I just like to be held in suspense; caught in the momentum of the story. I pick up different types of crime novels depending on my mood; some are dark and some are light and cozy. Ok, maybe not that hard of a question to answer. (-:

I am thorughly hooked on all types of mysteries, police procedurals, and psychological suspense. I switch up depending on my mood.

When I am in the mood to concentrate I pick up P.D. James, when I want to get lost in the story I might pick something in the Hannah Swenson series.

This is a funny question for me because a co-worker stops by every day to see what I am reading and more often than not the title has the words death, blood, or murder in the title lol! I know he probably wants to ask why do I read so many of these books.

I've been getting some funny looks lately!

It's a chicken or egg question for me - I've enjoyed these types of books since I was a kid reading Encylopedia Brown and then I went to college and got a degree in Social Work minoring in Criminal Justice and now I work as a paralegal - but nothing is as exciting in my work life as the things that happen in the books that I read. So I did I get into this field because I love these types of books, or do I love these types of books because it's the field that I chose to work? Good question. I haven't a clue.

I will read any type of mystery as long as it's not too graphic for me - I have a hard time reading books with graphic violence, lots of swearing and sex. So I read a lot from the Victorian 'cozy' genre, but some modern day mysteries fit the bill too.

Why do I love to read mysteries? I've recently figured that out: I enjoy a book the most when I have no idea what's going on!! When a book tells me everything I get bored and impatient. When I don't know 'who done it', or a character has a mysterious past, I'm hooked. My brain keeps running scenarios to see if I figure it out before the truth is revealed.

Even books that are not traditional mysteries work this way for me. I decided to read Bleak House this year, and the past lives of many characters are hidden and only gradually revealed. I couldn't get enough until all my questions were answered.

So, that's why I've decided I enjoy books most when I don't know what's going on!

Zpráva editována jejím autorem, říj 26, 2009, 10:12pm.

I think amwmsw, above just nailed it for me! I love a book that keeps me guessing. I like to try to figure it out and love it when the book makes you say wow, didn't see that coming.
I get bored with predictable books of any genre...but unlike amwmsw, I like the blood guts and gore! lol

Whenever I am reading a book, I like to collaborate with the author to tell the story. I enjoy doing a little work to understand what's going on. Mysteries are an obvious opportunity to participate in the telling while trying to figure out what's really happening. But this enjoyment is not available only in mysteries; I find it in various other genres, including F/SF and mainstream fiction. I think being able to read a certain way depends on the author extending an invitation, if you will, to the reader. Some authors clearly do it better, and more intentionally, than others.

It is a good question. I tend to read more in the 'crime' side of the genre than the 'cozy'. What keeps me reading is the atmosphere, the snappy dialogue, the edginess, the vibe. Like jonesli (Hi Lisa!), I sometimes get strange looks from family when they see the titles I read!

#10..ooh, good description Victoria...snappy dialogue and edginess, I concur. I like a character with somegood old sarcasm and wit.

Great question! I find reading mysteries very comforting, as strange as that may sound. In many mysteries (especially classic ones like Agatha Christie's), logic and order prevail. There are motives. People are killed for specific reasons. The good guys figure it out in the end. The world is again a safe place to live.

Reading mysteries gives me an escape from the real world, where the violence I read about in the newspapers seems to be senseless and random for the most part.

I like that: "The world is again a safe place to live."

I agree. And I guess that's also why I like the cozy books - they are an escape from all the graphic violence I see on the news (or on TV crime shows) everyday.

See now, you're watching the wrong shows. The violence on Jeopardy is hardly ever graphic.

I am actually fascinated by the structure, how those books are written and put together and what is done within those structures. There is a central driving force in the plot, the question is how the reader is taken there.

I also enjoy the morality play many of them put together, whys and hows, as they usually present them in more effortless way than the books where those questions are central pieces. Christie has some fine examples of cold-blooded evil in her books as well as noble downfalls...

The effortlessness goes also for things like characterization, dialogue, descriptions, style. Sayers and Hammett books would be a treat to read even if I ignored the plot, they are just natural.

Basically I enjoy several mysteries even better when I read them a second time and know whodunnit, while some noteworthy mystery books are dull for me because they get the dressings wrong, no matter how good the actual plot is.

#14 - LOL! But don't you get the idea that Alex Trebek wants to choke some of the contestants at times??? (Reminds me of that Saturday Night Live Jeopardy skit...)

No Victorians or English cottage mysteries, please. Different authors for different reasons: George Pelecanos for the sociology, Bill James' s Harpur and Isles for the sociology, mordant humor and quirky villains, James Crumley for the hardboiled and way-out-there ness, Ruth Rendell for the psychology, Elmore Leonard for the humor, dialogue and efficiency and so on....

Mysteries can give readers an insight to the part of humanity that most of us don't understand. The meaning behind the madness. Why does a person kill, the logic murderers use to justify what they do. The reader will never accept the 'logic' or reason, but through the steps given for the murder, the reader can see what drives people to kill. What desire, what compulsion, what mania, what passion drives a murderer.

The 'true' answer would be way too long and involved to type out, so I'll give you the simple answer.

I find that Crime novels, moreso than any other genre, have more captivating characters and are more often than not part of a series which you can end up feeling like you know the character after readng a few of the books. Sometimes it's maybe seeing a bit of yourself in the character, but more likely it's seeing who you wanted to be when you were a kid as a character in a novel, and every once in a while, it's about respecting that character as if they were a real person.

Alex Cross, Harry Bosch, Lucas Davenport, Dirk Pitt, etc... What I wouldn't give to share a few beers with these people, if they really existed.

>>McCoog . . . sign me up for a night out with Myron and Winn!!

SheClimber -

I just finished Promise Me a few weeks ago and I loved it. I definitely have Coben on my "to read" list!

Sheer escapism--especially with cozies. Seriously, how many bodies can a quilt museum curator from San Celina, California trip over in her lifetime? Depending on the author, I enjoy the subplots and window dressing more than the mysteries themselves.

Another reason is the way Mystery books, espcially series, seem to tie so much into the plot line. With the Cross Series, you have Alex's kids, Nana Mama, his current girlfriend, Christine and Little Ali, Maria, and all of that before you even get to the subtleties of the case he's working on.

I just finished Sahara by Clive Cussler and I loved the way the book was about more than just the contamination. You had Kitty Mannock, the Texas, The mine at Tebezza as well as the Fort Foreau plot line, all with a love story built in.

I think I read crime because it is pure escapism and for the thrill of a puzzle. I want to be taken to a world more exciting than mine while also being safe in the knowledge that it isn't a world that I have to live in, if that makes sense. I think that is why I particularly like crime novels set in foreign countries (I'm British) because they are literally far away from my reality.

My reasons track many of those identified above, including Tope96's: escapism and the thrill of the puzzle, and armchair travel to other countries. I particularly like it when I enjoy the detective or other main character in the series - the humorously cranky, food-loving, unpredictable Inspector Montalbano in the Andrea Camilleri series, the sexy, wise-cracking, self-deprecating Stephanie Plum in the Janet Evanovich series, the calm, deeply humane and upright Inspector Gamache in the Louise Penny series, the skilled, ex-military, improvising drifter Jack Reacher in the Lee Child series, and so on.

The continuity and chance to share time again with such appealing characters is a big part of why I read crime novels. As McCoog40 said, how great it would be to have a beer with any of these folks.

I've always been fascinated (in real life just as much as in books) with why people do what they do. So many time in RL we hear about terrible crimes and we never really know either who or why they dun it, so to speak. But in mysteries, generally speaking, all is explained. It doesn't have to have a happy ending, but it has an ending, in a way that RL often doesn't.

I guess I like that the bad guys in mysteries are always "guilty with an explanation," to borrow a phrase.

Zpráva editována jejím autorem, lis 14, 2009, 11:09pm.

I want to pick up tips in formulating the perfect murder. Where better to get them than from books where the criminal mastermind only gets caught by a lucky break in an investigation?

>27

Yes, but you'd be in a mess if they gave the case to a detective who concentrates on arresting the criminal within the first five pages rather than spinning it out to 250 by first getting drunk, arguing with his boss, and agonising about his failed marriage...

I started out reading mysteries as a kid. I was always looking to get my hands on something to read, and my brothers had a set of Hardy Boys mysteries . . . and I've been reading mysteries ever since!

I read all kinds of mysteries, depending on my mood.

Like McCoog40 said in Message 19, one of the main things I like about mysteries is that many of them are written in series, so you get to see the characters develop over time. Most of all, though, I like how it feels like the books are always working toward something--the mystery will be solved. With other fiction, I get to the end of the book and I have sort of a "so what" feeling. With mysteries, I'm compelled to keep reading and when I get to the end, I'm satisfied with a job well done.

I believe mysteries fulfill different needs for different people. The mystery genre is far reaching and you can find something for most everybody within it. Mysteries range from the gritty detective novel; Legal thrillers, medical murders, the heart pounding suspense story; the comfy cozy book; the romantic mystery romp; the amateur sleuth adventures and the themed tales. Themes relate to us via common interests, everything from hobbies, travel, pets, age, and occupations to the setting being your town or state. With all this variety, how can you not discover a book or series that you can connect with? Not that I am biased here in the least.

One of the great aspects of mystery stories I suspect sustains the genre’s popularity is flirting with danger – safely. It is a vicarious thrill. The reader is behind locked doors snuggled up with a cat sipping tea while following a murderer.

Read more here: http://mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/2009...