Hey from a Newby

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There's really two types of mysteries. There are those that are just puzzle-solving ones, usually they fall into what's called the "Cozy" catigory, and read like a game of Clue.

But good mysteries are more about character study then actual mystery solving. The plot is important, but it's the characters that really drive it.

Example of this is Dashielle Hammett, who's considered the grand-daddy of hard-boiled mysteries. He's the one that made mysteries realist, basing it off his own expirance as a detective. Before him, mysteries where the "cozies" like Sherlock Holmes.

His stories deal with human nature, corruption, ect. Take his character Sam Spade from the Maltese Falcon. (Spoiler warning if you want to read the book) Spade is not really a likeable guy. He slept with his partners wife, is kind of cruel, and doesn't even like his partner that much. But when his partner is killed, he feels a need to find his killer, who happens to be the woman he has fallen in love with, and hands her over to the cops.

ok... i still dislike most of them, all types included.

i assume you are going for the more character driven kind? i hope your novel writing goes well.

oh wait! i lied. i like a couple of charleine harris's books, and they are all in the mystery section of the library-- even though i don't think they should be. her earlier stuff is really bad crappy mysteries, but now she has a series with a chick that gets mixed up with vampires and one that finds dead people after she gets hit by lightning, so i guess sookie stackhouse and harper connelly are ok charcters. but every other genre still trumps mystery in my book.