As I read through the posts on several writer/reader forums I've joined, it strikes me that we're different. Now isn't that profound?

Different means that a book I like, for example, Craig Johnson's A Cold Dish, made a reader post that she'd given up on it because it took too long to tell the story, and a book I find corny and in fact irritating is someone else's "brilliant read." If you've read earlier posts you can guess which authors I don't care for in the mystery genre, and my list of "greats" gets smaller as I become more tuned in to how a good mystery is concocted. There has to be a clear plotline and a good reason for the killer to kill. The protagonist can be flawed but not disgusting, tough but not superhuman, and wiseass but not cute about it.

It also becomes clear to me these days that the type of book/hero/mystery I enjoy is hard to sustain. Authors have to be very good to make me want to read the third or fourth work, and they have to be well-edited in addition, which tends not to happen in the rush to get a new book out every year.

Makes me wonder if I'm up to the challenge, but I'm certainly willing to try.

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