When You've Got It, Flaunt It
I've been known to complain about bad writing in this little spot, so I guess I have to admit it when I find a writer who can do it all. Allowing for my prejudices and such, here's my idea of a great mystery writer.
The main character has to be both real and heroic, at least in some way. She/he can have flaws, even big ones, as long as I feel as a reader that he's fighting them rather than indulging them.
Secondary characters also have to be real, and they can't be so smart-alecky that I want to punch them.
Plot is EXTREMELY important in a mystery. It has to make sense within the accepted realm of the genre. In other words, we understand that the writer has to get the characters into certain situations. We simply ask that it be conceivable. Yes, she can go into the empty building to investigate a noise IF we know that this character would do that or IF she appears to have no other options. Another plot thing that is important: the end has to be a result of what the reader learns as the book progresses. The killer can't emerge from nowhere or be a person so unlikely to have done it that we think, "Where the heck did that come from?"
I could give examples of all of the above done badly, even from well-known, often-published writers. I guess that means that enjoying a mystery is subjective, and if we like a character we can ignore some plot silliness and vice versa. Still, authors that put it all together well stand head and shoulders above the rest, and my latest nominee is Julia Spencer-Fleming. I'm new to her books, which horrified a certain knowledgeable friend so much that she gave me one of her books. All I can say is wow.
Yes the characters are flawed, in fact there's adultery, which I heartily disapprove of, fictional or not. But they're so darned REAL, and so very, very unhappy about the whole mess. The secondary characters are so much like people I know that I can picture them speaking, moving, disapproving. And the plot pulls me in so that even though I haven't got a lot of reading time, I'm anticipating the next chance I get to return to the book.
I've mentioned others who've got it: Laura Lippman, Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, for three. It seems so easy for them that I'm sometimes jealous. But I'm pretty sure it isn't easy, and even if it is, I can't blame them. If I could put it all together that well, I'd flaunt it, too.
The main character has to be both real and heroic, at least in some way. She/he can have flaws, even big ones, as long as I feel as a reader that he's fighting them rather than indulging them.
Secondary characters also have to be real, and they can't be so smart-alecky that I want to punch them.
Plot is EXTREMELY important in a mystery. It has to make sense within the accepted realm of the genre. In other words, we understand that the writer has to get the characters into certain situations. We simply ask that it be conceivable. Yes, she can go into the empty building to investigate a noise IF we know that this character would do that or IF she appears to have no other options. Another plot thing that is important: the end has to be a result of what the reader learns as the book progresses. The killer can't emerge from nowhere or be a person so unlikely to have done it that we think, "Where the heck did that come from?"
I could give examples of all of the above done badly, even from well-known, often-published writers. I guess that means that enjoying a mystery is subjective, and if we like a character we can ignore some plot silliness and vice versa. Still, authors that put it all together well stand head and shoulders above the rest, and my latest nominee is Julia Spencer-Fleming. I'm new to her books, which horrified a certain knowledgeable friend so much that she gave me one of her books. All I can say is wow.
Yes the characters are flawed, in fact there's adultery, which I heartily disapprove of, fictional or not. But they're so darned REAL, and so very, very unhappy about the whole mess. The secondary characters are so much like people I know that I can picture them speaking, moving, disapproving. And the plot pulls me in so that even though I haven't got a lot of reading time, I'm anticipating the next chance I get to return to the book.
I've mentioned others who've got it: Laura Lippman, Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, for three. It seems so easy for them that I'm sometimes jealous. But I'm pretty sure it isn't easy, and even if it is, I can't blame them. If I could put it all together that well, I'd flaunt it, too.
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