Why Mystery

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I think the first real novel I read as a child was Little Women (a Christmas gift from my grandmother). I remember reading it several times, until I discovered the public library, where miracles occurred and i could check out whatever I wanted to read (somehow I was guided to the children’s and YA section–by a librarian).

I moved on to the entire Nancy Drew series, which were quick and easy to read, and there was always the promise of another book in the series. And so, I became hooked on series mysteries. Of course, I read others, like A Wrinkle in Time, which is more like Sci Fi, and even read a few “boys” Pirate books and other types of books, even non-fiction. I joke with my husband that I read most of my dad’s Popular Mechanics magazines. I also found some very scary true crime novels, but found my way back to more “cozy” mysteries.

Here’s why I like reading and writing mystery: anything can happen, and does; they are predictable in style and plot; the good guy always or usually wins; there’s not a lot of blood and gore.

Of course, I love reading biographies and auto-biographies, non-fiction adventure books (my favorites, for some reason have been books about climbing Mt. Everest, even though I will never come close to doing that.)

Then I come to this point: please don’t mess with public libraries, cutting funding, banning books. Please help keep this part of our great democracy alive!