In this edition of “Ask the Readers,” I would like to know what you do when you read a mystery. Do you like to follow the clues and solve the crime yourself, or enjoy the read and let the gumshoes figure it out?
If you’re a reader who wants to piece together the clues on your own, do you appreciate it when the writer pauses the narrative and informs you when you have all the clues?
Do you like mini mysteries, short who-done-its with a puzzle to solve?
This inquiring writer wants to know. How do you read a mystery?
I don’t usually try to puzzle out the solution to the mystery…but I like when you can look back and clearly see the trail that led to the answer. One of the things I like about your stories is how clever they are!
Thanks for the kind words, Dianna. I try to make sure the trail of Easter eggs is there if you look for it.
I guess I leave it to the characters to figure out the mystery. That’s what their challenge is, anyway. And I think I was conditioned early on to not have any expectation of being able to figure it out myself, because it always seemed that *key,” crucial clues were always omitted by authors who apparently didn’t want the readers to be able to figure out their puzzles. In the final chapter, the amateur sleuth would inevitably reveal that he had discovered the final clue in that box that they found in the attic in chapter 3—but never told the reader what the box contained. So I read for narrative, setting, and character development, not mystery-solving. And if those things aren’t present, it probably doesn’t matter how intricate & fascinating the mystery portion is, it won’t hold my interest.
I hear you, Ben. See my note to Spike Rendalls about The Detection Club’s oath to “play fair with the reader.”
Flower and I like to try to figure things out ourselves. It gets easier when you read books by the same author, because you kind of figure out the pacing and what kind of red herrings to expect. I generally leap to a conclusion sooner, but I’m not always anymore correct! What we really hate is when the author holds back a key detail to the last chapter that completely changes everything, which, had we any inkling of it earlier would have given us a fair chance.
That’s why The Detection Club, a Secret Society of Mystery Writers that was founded by the greats in the Golden Age of Mysteries; Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L Sayers and John Rhode, adopted a “play fair with the reader” rule. Even before that, “The Red Headed League,” a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is heralded as an example of “playing fair with the reader,” giving the reader all of the clues and every opportunity to solve the mystery themselves.
Follow along
Thanks, Jan.
Hi Don –
Mystery is not my favorite reading genre, but all stories need a little bit of mystery to keep them interesting. I don’t try to figure out ‘who done it’ but go along for the ride. I sometimes pick up on clues and then feel very smart.
That is so true, all stories do need a little mystery to keep them interesting.