One for you bibliophiles this month as we celebrate Mystery Series Week.
I came across a site that lists 30 outstanding detective series from around the world. They all have a mystery to solve often in the way of a crime.
It’s interesting to see authors from so many countries represented, and well worth discovering the different styles.
Living in Wales, I even found a website that lists the best Welsh mysteries.
There are several books I’ve read in this list, and the comments are just as interesting with many mentioning different books, and I’ve read those too.
Readers can literally turn into amateur sleuths as they try and solve the clues. That’s the beauty of this subject. The mystery genre has entertained readers for many years. A good one should contain some of the following elements, and of course, there are many more used to create a truly compelling story.
- Atmospheric background
- A crime
- A sleuth
- A great hook.
- Red Herrings
- A satisfactory ending
It’s a new genre to me, only coming to my attention in the last few years. I looked up cosy mystery on Wikipedia
‘Cozy mysteries, also referred to as “cozies”, are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur off stage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community.’
You may have noticed the different spelling for cosy. American writers use a Z and we in the UK use an S. So that also means you can generally tell which country the book is set.
I recently read a good cosy mystery by Diane Bator and really enjoyed it. So, if you like reading these, or would like to start, I’ve carefully selected a few first books from different series.
Happy reading!
