I love reading a good mystery. I love watching a good mystery. Basically, I just love a good mystery. I love the suspense, I love the mental exercise of trying to keep track of all the breadcrumbs and guess the ending before I get there (I inherited this from my mum who used to annoyingly call out who did it about five minutes into every single mystery film we ever watched – nearly always correctly). It’s rare these days that I don’t guess the ending before I get there – but I’m thrilled every time it happens. The Thursday Murder Club series has been a wonderful reading experience because they’re so clever, and I do not guess the endings or the whodunnits. The only thing I didn’t used to like about mysteries was that they tended to be simplistic outside of the central plot. I was okay with that, because I read them for the plot. But these days there are more mysteries that also have interesting characters who have depth and who evolve over the course of the book. I like that combo of the plot of a mystery and the more complex elements that are typically found in literary fiction books. So I guess the only thing I can say I don’t like in mysteries is if they’re too simple and too easy to figure out. And if they have no surprises or twists.
What about you guys? Are you mystery fans? Is there anything you don’t like?
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I’ve never thought of mysteries being a mental exercise before. But yeah, you’re right. Trying to work the mystery out is like a brain workout.
Yes, it’s fun to play at guessing! I’ve been in quarantine from my family the last week because they have COVID and I’m trying not to catch it (I’m in the middle of driving lessons and only have a month until my test, and my kid starts school this week, so I can’t afford to be sick for a couple of weeks right now!) so I’ve been watching murder mystery TV shows and trying to figure out the culprit before the detective. I had a good score with Monk, but I’ve concluded it’s because of the formula. The guest star is almost always the killer, so as soon as someone I recognize shows up on the screen, it’s pretty much a done deal. I was annoyed to figure that out because it took some of the fun out of it! Ah well, on to a new show if I can find a good one!