I love mysteries. I always have. I started out with those Encyclopedia Brown books in first grade. I thought it was so clever the way Encyclopedia solved one case by realizing the reflection in a spoon is upside down. 
Then I moved on to Nancy Drew. Nancy was it for a long time. She was determined, smart, had great titian hair (a word I had to look up in the dictionary in second grade), and even had a neat boyfriend, Ned (who wisely didn’t discourage Nancy from crime-fighting.) The books had just the right level of spookiness and danger. Sometimes I had trouble going to sleep, but that was mostly because I wanted to go on reading and find out what happened next. I read all of the books in the series–many more than once.
After Nancy came Trixie Belden. Trixie was different. She sometimes got in trouble with her parents, and even with her much-older brother, Brian. They were more of the “meddlesome kid” variety of detective (sort of like the Scooby Doo kids.) These books had strong characterizations, cool plots, but maybe weren’t quite as spooky as Nancy. Well, there was one in particular that gave me chills, but I’m talking generalities here.
Once I found Agatha Christie, I was hooked. I had to read all of her books immediately. Hercule Poirot and his odd idiosyncrasies was my favorite, but Miss Marple came in as a close second. Some of her books scared me to death. I really couldn’t sleep after several of them, and it wasn’t just because I wanted to go on reading. It was because Mrs. Christie had totally freaked me out. I remember one, not even one of her well-known books, where we discovered at the end that the narrator was the killer…he was psychotic. Arghhhhh!! I was up for hours. And loved it.
Since then, I’ve had many favorite mystery series. Mysteries remain my favorite genre for one major reason: escapism. By identifying with the sleuth/detective/police, I can be plunged into danger in the pages of a book and escape by the skin of my teeth. It’s terrific stress relief. All of your tension can be tied up in this one place….and you know that somehow everything will work out in the end.
By the time I wrote my first mystery, I felt I’d read enough through the years to know what makes a good mystery. I didn’t feel like I had as much of a handle on other genres, which is why I didn’t take a stab at them.
I felt most at home writing mysteries. I think familiarity with a genre gives us confidence when writing it.
Yep – for me it was Trixie all the way! Nancy was too good for my taste. And then Christie and then Dorothy L. Sayers who I still adore. The mystery I just finished the second draft of is my first novel mystery but I have a company that I own with two best friends called Catchword Productions and we write and produce murder mysteries at hotels and on trains, boats and so on. We’ve had the company for 24 years I think and we almost always write new plots so I’ve probably written about 120 or so mysteries. Totally differnt operation than a novel but still we need to have it make sense, be big enough so people laugh, have outrageous characters and so on. It is a formula and we’re good at it. It all has to work in the confines of one space (resort etc…) and over a weekend or one night. We have developed some characters that we bring back – the Pinkney sisters being one set played by my English pal and me who don’t look, sound, or act anything alike but people accept it all. Even when we play really aging circus performers!
I agree with you that familiarity with a genre gives us confidence with it.
Maybe I should stick to writing grocery lists.
I started with Nancy Drew and The Bobbsey Twins. Dabbled briefly in The Hardy Boys. I remember being puzzled how there could be any other genre of writing – how could there be a plot if there wasn’t a mystery to solve?
As much as I enjoy many different types of books mystery plots just seem to come very easily to me. In this case familiarity has not bred contempt.
I also found Cherry Ames and her nurse adventures in there somewhere before I graduated to my mother’s mysteries (Ngaio Marsh, Erle Stanley Gardner, Agatha Christie, etc.). But then I discovered McDonald’s Travis McGee and my reading world was never quite the same. I’ve read some of those books three or four times.
Labanan–That is so cool about your business! Wow, that must be really fun. And nice to get instant gratification for your writing through an audience. 120 mysteries! That’s incredible.
Alan–Oh, I’m a grocery list expert, myself. I even organize the list by aisles. Scary…
Elspeth–I read Hardy Boys a little , too. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of YA mystery reading opportunities back in the day. I’m glad to see there are more out there for my kids to read.
I read Cherry Ames, too! My mom made the recommendation to me.
I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t read Travis McGee…I need to correct that.
Elizabeth
Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys for me. I got into fantasy and sci-fi as I grew older (funny twist on the usual). Now, I’m writing a fantasy detective novel with ’40s film noir sensibilties. So much fun!
This comment has been removed by the author.
I love mystery. Fantasy was my first love, so I’ve been spending a lot of time writing in that genre. It’s the genre of the trilogy I just completed. However, when I’m in the bookstore, I always (ALWAYS) visit the mystery aisle and walk away with something new and exciting. I love a cozy mystery with a ghost or three. That must come from my “Scooby Doo ” days. Oh, and I must confess, I’m a shamless watcher of old “Murder, She Wrote” re-runs!
Jen
Nancy Drew was the person I grew up with. And when I finished reading all her 100 odd books several times each, I reluctantly moved onto Hardy Boys.
And then Agatha Christie (and I so loved Seven Dials Mystery too) and Sherlock Holmes.
My teen years were spent with mystery plots buzzing around my brain all the time, but then I read my first Asimov and got completely sidetracked :-(
But even now, I often pick up a Nancy Drew – I am that greying middle aged woman who haunts the teen shelves at bookstores without even pretending to be browsing for the kids.
Lorel–Your WIP sounds really interesting. Have fun with it!
Jen–Scooby Doo! I could write a whole post on Scooby. I loved him, too.
Carnimire–Too funny! I still love Nancy, too.