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Hooked on Mysteries

by Susan-Wittig-Albert 10:11 AM

I've been reading mysteries for more decades than I care to admit to, and writing them since the mid-1980s. As a child, I reached for Nancy Drew, of course. But my father loved British mysteries and introduced me to Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Patricia Wentworth, Ngaio Marsh, Rex Stout. I've been reading ever since. I am passionate about mysteries. I am a terminal addict.

 

What keeps me reading mysteries, feeds my addiction? I like stories that challenge me, ask me to guess what happens next, and then prove me wrong. I reach for books with strong, creative plots, stories that have an anchoring center and twist dynamically around that center. The best mysteries are anchored by a central compelling act, usually a crime, and the plots (for I like mysteries that have more than one plot) grow organically--but unpredictably--out of that central action. Elizabeth George is a writer who deftly handles multiple plots and surprises me at every turn. I read her often. She keeps me guessing.

 

What else? I like stories that teach me something. The best mysteries introduce me to an unfamiliar world where I wander happily, a wide-eyed, thirsty stranger, drinking it all in. John Dunning's Bookman mysteries, for instance, lure me into the greedy community of book collectors. Steven Havill's Posada mysteries, set in New Mexico, show me a different place and culture. Kathy Reichs instructs me in forensic anthropology. As a writer, I want to learn too. The Robin Paige mysteries I wrote with my husband, Bill Albert, immersed me in the politics, inventions, books, and ideas of the late Victorian-early Edwardian eras. I was so intrigued with what I learned there that I've continued to explore that fascinating period in the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter.

 

 

One more thing. I am addicted to books in series. As a reader, I like getting acquainted with a character and watching that central character evolve throughout a series of books. As a mystery writer, I appreciate the opportunity to create characters that have time (literally, years) to grow and change: China Bayles, for example, who (over seventeen books and some six or seven years of life experience) has softened from her original I'm-a-tough-cookie stance and become a more mature and compassionate woman. In the best series books, each encounter with a mystery impacts the central character, changing him or her in some important ways. The next book in the series builds on that character change. The series itself has an overall, developing narrative arc, just as each book has an arc--a character-driven arc, not a contrivance of plot. I'm seduced by that arc. I'm hooked.

 

 

A reading challenge, new discoveries, a long-term relationship with people who learn and grow -- for me, all this good stuff is bundled into a strong, well-written mystery. Some addictions can kill you. This one can sustain you for life.

 

What mystery series are you addicted to?

 

 

Editor's Note: Susan Wittig Albert is the author of more than 30 novels as well as one of the book world's most respected authorities on herbs and their uses.

 

5 comments
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by Moderator becke_davis on 11-12-2009 03:47 PM
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I like many of the series mentioned here, and I would add Robert B. Parker's books (Spencer, Sunny and Jesse), Charlaine Harris' Shakespeare series, Alexander McCall Smith's 1st Ladies' Detective Agency, Nevada Barr's National Parks series, Charles Todd, Peter Robinson, Deborah Crombie, Martha Grimes, Ngaio Marsh, Katherine Hall Page -- more than I can list here.

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by brenintx on 11-12-2009 11:09 PM
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I am a huge series fan.  I love to learn more about the character and what goes on in their lives.  Like you I started out reading Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie.  Now I read Stephanie Plum mysteries--Janet Evanovich, Kinsey Millhone mysteries (my daughter is named Kinsey after the character)--Sue Grafton, The Cat Who mysteries--Lillian Jackson Braun, and of course China Bayles mysteries.  There are a lot more but those are the ones I always look for first.

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by Moderator dhaupt on 11-17-2009 10:34 AM
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I am addicted to a lot of different mystery series from crime drama, to legal thrillers, to cozies and more.

Some of my favorite authors of those series are:

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Hank Phillipi Ryan

Deborah Crombie

Linda Fairstein

John Sanford

Michael Connelly

Ridley Pearson

Emilie Richards

JD Robb

 

and many many more

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by SusanAlbert01 on 11-23-2009 12:19 PM
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These are all great series. Don't see P.D. James on the list, so I'll add her. And also John D. Macdonald--his books always seem so simple but they're not. It's a temptation to read them quickly, but I love to linger over Travis Magee. Also, from the 80s and early 90s, Nancy Pickard's Jennie Cain series: intelligent, always intriguing. Another from the 80s: the Kate Fansler mysteries, by Carolyn Heilbrun, writing as Amanda Cross. Loved Kate's character and was sorry when Carolyn stopped writing the series.

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by on 11-25-2009 02:22 PM
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Oh, dear, which series am I addicted to?  Well, one of the latest is your own Beatrix Potter series!  I have loved her little books since I was a child, and your mysteries are absolutely charming.  I especially love the way the animals talk to one another, and am constantly amused when they try to tell the humans something, and are rebuked for barking or meowing too much!  And the biographical notes, glossary, and recipes at the end are more frosting on the cake!

 

Other current series I follow are Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series, Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand and Henrie O. series (so far am resisting getting pulled into still another series by her new ghost sleuth, but it's only a matter of time!), and Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series.  Sadly, Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who... series appears to have come to a close, but I have read them all.  I also like Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen series, but have not read them all.  Although I read most of them after the fact, I also have read all of Agatha Christie's, Ngaio Marsh's, and Dorothy L. Sayers' mysteries.

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