Mystery novels

This week's Booking Through Thursday is:

Do you read mystery novels? If so, why? Is it the mysteries themselves that appeal to you? The puzzle-solving? The murders? Or why don’t you read them? What about them doesn’t appeal?


Going by my past reading list, you may have noticed that I'm quite a big fan of mystery novels. I do enjoy the puzzle-solving very much - I think it's great fun to try and guess the ending as you progress through the story, and often quite amusing to see how wrong you were by the end. The murder (or other crime) itself isn't as important as the investigation that follows, although sometimes if the crime is impressive and elegant enough I find myself admiring the planning that went into it.

However, the even more observant might have noticed that I read almost exclusively historical mystery novels. I much prefer stories set in the past, or in a fantasy world, to those set in the realistic present, because for me reading is about escapism, and why would you choose to escape to the place you already are? A good historical novel is full of accurate little details about contemporary life, and can really make you feel as though you're right there with them, and that, alongside the puzzles, is what makes me love historical mystery novels.