I have a constant struggle when selecting mystery novels. I have read so many of them at this point, and my taste in novels is pretty consistent. As a result, oftentimes i find myself perusing the mystery department at Duane Reade, or Barnes and Nobles, and selecting books that seem intriguing. After I pay and go home, I will eagerly settle in to read my new book, only to discover that I have already read this particular novel! I guess because I read at least 2 or 3 a week, sometimes more, they all meld together and I forget about some. 

The disappointment I feel when things like this happen is so intense. I was excited to read THAT particular book, but now that I read the first couple of pages the entire plot has come back to me and the story is no longer fun. I will have to put aside my desire to read for the day and revisit the bookstore another time. 

After making this mistake more times than I would care to admit, i always read the first few pages in the store to make sure I don't already own the book. However, I have to wonder if this is a larger problem within the mystery novel industry, or if it is my own personal plight. Are all the mystery novels so similar in plot that they are forgettable? Or do i simply read too much of the same genre to really appreciate it anymore?

Mystery Review-The Lake Of Dead Languages

The Lake of Dead Languages, by Carol Goodman, is one of my all time favorites. My aunt read it with her book club and passed it along, knowing I would love it. This is one of the few mysteries that I am capable of re reading. Usually the second I try to re read a mystery I instantly remember who the culprit is, and am immediately disinterested.

The story is about a Latin teacher, Jane Hudson, who returns to the elite private school where she was a scholarship student to teach. She is in the process of getting divorced, and has a young daughter. The school, which is set on a lake, has had many tragedies. While Jane was a student, her two roommates, as well as one of her roommate's brother, died in the lake.

Now that Jane is back, more students are dying, and odd things seem to be happening. It is obvious that past events are linked to the current ones. Large chunks of the book are written in the present, while other chunks of the book are written about Jane's time as a student, and how her roommates came to die.

What makes this book so intriguing is that the protagonist knows the everything about why her roommates died as she was present at the time that they were killed. As a result, she is able to fill in any holes or questions a reader may have as the story progresses. But she knows nothing of what is going on in the present, so the reader has the opportunity to figure that out with her.

By the end of the novel, a very dark, yet believable story, has unfolded. The culprit is someone that no one would ever suspect, someone who has links to both the past and the present, and who also has a motive that makes sense. The story is full of intrigue, drama, well developed characters, love affairs and growth. It is a fabulous read that anyone who enjoys fiction could easily appreciate.

Great Mystery Authors

In my seven years of devouring mystery novels, I have established a list of authors whose works i prefer to read. If nothing new is available by any of these authors I will occasionally branch out. Here is a short list of some of my favorite authors, and some reasons that I love them.

Lisa Jackson: Lisa Jackson's novels, even the mysteries, are found in the romance section. Even though the process of standing in the romance section and selecting one of her books makes me feel kind of shameful, I love how dark her stories are. The characters are always very well developed, and she often follows the same characters in different stories. She uses such descriptive language, and always manages to surprise me with some unexpected twists.

Tess Gerritsen: This author's books are more medically inspired, as one of her main characters is a medical examiner. These books feature very strong female characters as the leads, which is a quality that I appreciate. I am not the only person who likes Tess Gerritsen, her novels are wildly popular. There is even a tv show called Rizzoli and Isles, that is based entirely on the medical examiner and detective that solve all of the cases in her books. When i first heard about this show, I was super excited to watch. But after a couple of episodes I grew bored, as the show is complete and utter trash.

Jonathan Kellerman: My boy Jonathan Kellerman's books are some of my favorites. His central character is a psychologist named Alex Delaware. Delaware often teams up with his detective friend, Milo Sturgis, to solve grisly cases. Because the central character is a psychologist, Kellerman's novels often have very cerebral undertones to them. Kellerman's wife, Faye Kellerman, also writes mystery novels. Hers are also pretty interesting.

That is just a little sampling of some of my favorite authors. Next week I think I will do a review!

Ludicrous Love Stories

One of my favorite parts of a mystery novel is the love story inevitably woven into all of the dark intrigue and drama. Almost every mystery that I have read has some sort of passionate affair in it’s pages. Everyone knows that sex sells, and adding a love story to a juicy mystery helps to make the characters more three dimensional. As a general rule, most people want to read about characters that are interesting and likeable. There is nothing particularly unique or dynamic about a detective who only thinks about solving the case. But once you make that detective a divorcee who is afraid of getting hurt again, and throw in an attractive love interest with a dark secret, you instantly have richer characters and a more propelling plot line.

            Sometimes however, the love stories within a mystery are so ludicrous that they ruin the rest of the story. I recently read one such mystery, called The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker. This novel is about a serial killer who murders beautiful women, drains them of their blood and glues them to a wall. The FBI has been unsuccessfully trying to solve these murders with no trace evidence. Abruptly, a lead takes the head detective to a residential facility especially for people who are exceptionally smart, but who have severe psychiatric disorders. The detective enlists the help of four of these individuals in solving the case, and they are able to make a lot of progress and see patterns that the police are unable to find.

            However, the lead detective begins to fall in love with one of his helpers in the psychiatric ward. This is where the story takes a sharp turn into unrealistic garbage. An accomplished FBI agent with commitment problems has fallen in love with a young woman who has severe agoraphobia, delusions and schizophrenia. She has been in the mental facility for seven years, and has no intentions of leaving.            

            I don’t mean to imply that mentally ill people do not deserve to be in loving romantic relationships. But the fact of the matter is, that if someone has such severe psychiatric problems that they are unable to cope with the demands of mainstream society, and as a result reside in a mental health facility, then perhaps they are not ready to be in a romantic relationship until they have their medical issues under control.

            Dekker makes a valiant effort to ease the reader into this relationship, and justify it by drilling into the readers head that loving a man is good for the mentally ill woman’s health. But at the end of the day, this was not a relationship that I, as a reader, found to be at all believable, and because this relationship was such a focal point in the novel, it really ruined the fun of it for me.

Mystery Novels 101

Hello All!

This blog will focus on one of my favorite things in the entire world-mystery novels. I am an avid fan of all things creepy, and I love a good surprise. As a result, i usually read at least one mystery novel a week. Except when I am in need of some form of escapism, then I will read many many more. This week, i read four.

As a child, I watched wildly inappropriate scary movies with my dad, read every goosebumps book i could get my hands on and took great pleasure in sneaking off to the bathroom to write cryptic messages on the mirror in lipstick to terrify my younger brother.

My personal taste in mysteries tends to run towards the trashiest books i can find. Duane Reade and CVS usually have a fantastic collection of these types of mysteries. Sure, I can appreciate a good Agatha Christie or a Sherlock Holmes story, but really I prefer the dark stories sold to the masses. Something about the mediocre writing, inane descriptions and lewd sex scenes sprinkled throughout really appeals to me.

My posts from week to week will contain reviews and summaries of some of the more popular mysteries out on the market, as well as observations about the genre as a whole. I am open to suggestions for further reading material, and looking forward to chronicling my favorite past time!

Arielle