Roberta Alexander ponders in the Contra Costa Times as to what makes some mysteries work and others not. "Every mystery contains its own mystery," she writes. "Will it satisfy the reader? Is this a favorite author who has recycled old stuff and needs a new shtick? Is this a first-time author who shouldn't quit his or her day job? Or, if you're lucky, is this someone who has found a new and perhaps ingenious way to solve a puzzle and take you on an adventure for several hours?"
To answer some of her own questions, she takes as examples five recent, but diverse, mysteries and analyzes them as to what works and what doesn't. The books under investigation: The Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes, Nail Biter by Sarah Graves, A Long Shadow by Charles Todd, Hornswoggled by Donis Casey, and Bones to Pick by Carolyn Haines.
Read her very entertaining analysis of these mysteries on the ContraCostaTimes.com here.
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006
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Thought you might want to know how I found your blog. I looked up "whodunits" and clicked over to this. I will check out the newspaper article and see what the writer has to say about the four she reviewed. Interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteFrom someone who likes to read and write whodunits:-)
Cheers,
Pat Harrington
mysterywritingmusings.blogspot.com