Ransom Notes

[#1]

I still remember the exact moment I got hooked on mysteries - and it was real life, not fiction, that did it. I was six, I was doing homework, and one of the reading comprehension pieces in my schoolbook was a very simplified (and partly inaccurate) version of the story of the Mary Celeste, the ghost ship found drifting in the Atlantic in 1872. The weather was fine, the ship was in good condition, the table in the galley was still set for breakfast, the captain's logbook didn't report any problems, there was no sign of any kind of struggle or violence; there wasn't a single sign of anything wrong, except that all the crew had vanished, never to be seen again...

In retrospect, I have to wonder who on earth was writing that schoolbook - nowadays, when everything that's taught in schools seems to be sanitized to the point of extinction, you would probably get sued into orbit for exposing a precious little snowflake to a scary story like that - but I was fascinated. All these years later, I can still remember lying on the living-room floor reading, with the hair on the back of my neck going up, and vowing to myself that when I died and got up to heaven, I was going to ask God what had happened. That unsolved mystery enthralled me more than any solution ever could have.

Looking back at that moment, it feels to me like that fascination touched on one of the core things about being human: we love mysteries. Animals will check out something they don't understand, but all they care about is getting answers: is it edible? is it dangerous? is it useful? If the answer to all those is no, or if the questions aren't giving up their solutions, animals eventually get bored and move on. But human beings love mysteries for their own sake, not just for the sake of the solutions - otherwise no one would ever read entire mystery novels, they'd just read the first chapter and then flip straight to the last. We love the stories of the Mary Celeste and the Oak Island treasure pit, Jack the Ripper and UFOs, mysteries that we'll almost certainly never solve. And we come back to them again and again, even when it's hopeless, even when it's dangerous. People have died because they won't give up and walk away.

There's no point in trying to protect children from that wild, wonderful shiver down the back that comes with the first awareness of how unconquerably mysterious this world can be. That magnet pull towards mystery is built into our blood; it's irresistible. And we'd be less than human without it.

What are your favorite unsolved mysteries?

Editor's Note: Tana French is the Edgar Ward-winning author of In the Woods. Her latest novel, The Likeness, has been described as "police procedures, psychological thrills and gothic romance beautifully woven into one stunning story."

[#2]

It's an honor to have you with us. Both of your books were wonderful, but I was blown away by THE LIKENESS.

[#3]

The mystery surrounding JFK's assassination will always fascinate me. I doubt we'll ever know the real story, as it would probably unhinge some major agencies in this country, but if Oswald was the lone shooter than I'm Anastasia Romanov!

[#4]

Hmm my favorites

The 18 truck killer, every now and again some FBI guy will talk about this killer for a few sentense. But just a paragraph. I think they teasing me.

Jack the Ripper, who doesn't like that one

There's that explosion? That happened in Serbia around 100 years ago. Was it gas, death ray, what????

And no I don't think Oswald was alone, seen too much footage to think it was just that one "magic bullet".

Bigfoot and all his buddies.

(chuckle) I think I'm an easy buyer for these things. I bought one book after another for years as a kid, on this stuff.

I litterally stopped cold went I saw last months LIFE "the 50 mysteries never solved" cover.