Why We Read Mysteries

People who don’t read mysteries tend to say things to me like. 

Voted the Greatest Crime Novel of All Time

“Why do you want to write about murder? That seems like such a downer. Why don’t you write about something more comforting and uplifting?”

But here’s the thing: mysteries do give us comfort. And they can be uplifting. That’s because they make order out of chaos.  We are taken to the brink of disaster, then brought back to safety by the use of logic, human ingenuity and the “little grey cells.”

They also offer a puzzle to be solved, which exercises the brain. Humans generally feel better about ourselves when we’re actively engaging our brains in something rather than passively observing.

It’s not a coincidence that a lot of mystery readers are also fans of crossword puzzles.

A Mystery Story Restores Order to the Universe

Academics love mysteries. I once spent a semester at the American

Reading a classic mystery is like listening to Mozart

Academy in Rome and it had one of the best libraries of mystery novels I’d ever seen. That’s where I discovered John Dixon Carr and Ngiao Marsh

One of the visiting professors there compared reading the classic mystery to listening to Mozart. The form is stylized, but there’s lots of room for creative flights of fancy, and in the end, everything is resolved.

It’s our yearning for resolution—that orderly conclusion—that keeps us turning back to classic mysteries.

Reading a mystery is like going on a roller coaster ride when you’re a kid. You're there to get a thrill, but you know it’s essentially safe. And everything will be okay in the end.

Edmund Wilson on Why People Read Detective Stories

In a 1944 article in The New Yorker, Edmund Wilson wrote a piece called, “Why People Read Detective Stories.” He said:

Literary Critic Edmund Wilson

“Everybody is suspected in turn, and the streets are full of lurking agents whose allegiances we cannot know. Nobody seems guiltless, nobody seems safe; and then, suddenly, the murderer is spotted, and—relief!—he is not, after all, a person like you or me. He is a villain.”

Of course he’s talking about the classic mystery, the mysteries of Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers—from the golden age of the English mystery.

Amateur Detective—Oldest Type of Mystery Story

Edgar Allan Poe is usually credited with writing the first detective fiction with Murders on the Rue Morgue in 1841. The unnamed

The First Mystery Novel

narrator is an amateur detective who’s way smarter than the police and uses superpower observation skills to solve a mystery which baffles the poor plodding policemen.

But Rue Morgue is a short story. The first mystery novel didn’t come for about 30 years. That was The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, published in 1868. It went on to define the genre. It does feature a celebrated detective, but he’s not an amateur. He’s a police sergeant, Sergeant Cuff. But Cuff doesn’t solve the mystery. One of the suspects does.

Amateur detective novels blossomed in the 1920s and 30s, with Miss Marple, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Albert Campion. They often take place in English country houses or American ones happen in isolated hotels like Earl Derr Biggers' 7 Keys to Baldpate, which became a famous play written by George M. Cohan. I have to admit I haven’t read the book, but I have acted in the play.

Crime Fiction is the Most Popular Genre in the UK

Today, we have a lot more subgenres of crime fiction to choose from. The mystery umbrella covers a huge percentage of the novel

One of the most popular crime novels of the decade

 market. In fact—the largest in the UK.

At the London Book fair this year, Nielson Bookscan reported that crime fiction sales are up 19% since 2015 and it is now the best-selling genre in the UK.

I can imagine that as the UK reels from the ever-escalating dramas of Brexit, readers crave that sense of order that reading a mystery can bring.

Sales of mysteries are way up in the US too.  As the world continues to destabilize politically and violence returns to areas have been at peace for the last couple of decades, like Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka, we may see all kinds of crime fiction sales increase.

Mysteries give us at least the illusion that reason and law and order can prevail.

What about you, readers? Are you a mystery fan? Do you find the genre calming and uplifting? Who is your favorite mystery novelist? 

Central Coasters! Let's Talk! An Afternoon with Central Coast Mystery Authors

Three Central Coast mystery authors, Anne R. Allen, Sue McGinty, and Victoria Heckman—with the help of Audible book narrator CS Perryess—will present an afternoon of reader’s theater for mystery lovers. 

We’ll be featuring scenes from our novels, which are mostly set on the Central Coast.  I'll also lead a discussion of the perennial appeal of the mystery story and talk about its origins and ever-expanding subgenres.​

Friday, April 26th at 1:00 PM at the Cayucos Public Library. 

My Central Coast Mystery NO PLACE LIKE HOME is on sale for 99c

No Place Like Home: Camilla Randall Comedy-Mystery #4

(But it can be read as a stand-alone)

SALE!! ONLY 99C! at all the Amazons

Until May 1st, 2019

Wealthy Doria Windsor is suddenly homeless and accused of a murder she didn't commit. But Camilla, with the help of a brave trio of homeless people, the adorable Mr. X, and a little dog named Toto, is determined to unmask the real killer and discover the dark secrets of Doria’s deceased “financial wizard” husband before Doria is killed herself.

"A warp-speed, lighthearted comedy-mystery"...Abigail Padgett

"A fun, charming novel about the rich and less so" ...Karen Doering

"A cross of dry British humor and American wackiness, and it all adds up to a fun read." ...Deborah Bayles.

"It's comedy about a dark topic – homelessness – and it succeeds without ever descending into tasteless insensitivity, or tipping over into sentimentality."...Lucinda Elliot

Available at all the Amazons and NOOK,  Page Foundry, Kobo and iTunes It's also available in paperback from Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Barnes and Noble, in regular and LARGE PRINT. LARGE PRINT is also available at Barnes and Noble.

And NO PLACE LIKE HOME IS ALSO  AN AUDIOBOOK!!

Narrated by award-winner C. S. Perryess and Anne R. Allen (as Camilla)

Nearly 8 hours of hilarious entertainment!Only $1.99 if you buy the Kindle ebook

Available at Audible  and iTunes

Poisoning People for Fun and Profit, Part 9—Botulism

Botulism, the fatal condition caused by Botulinum toxin a.k.a. Botox™ , is something I was taught to fear when very young. Botulinum is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

Badly Canned Green Beans Can Cause Botulism

It is the one of the most lethal toxins on earth, according to the Journal of American Medicine. It kills by paralyzing the muscles, including heart and lungs.

It's that ability to paralyze that has led to its current popularity as a deterrent to wrinkling in aging skin. But it must be administered by a professional, or the protein can go into the bloodstream and cause death.

When I was a kid growing up in rural Maine, botulism caused by tainted canned goods was a real threat. The bacterium grows in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) low-acid environment.

Everybody in our town had a garden and most of our moms "put up" the summer's bounty by "canning" it in Mason jars which were kept in the cellar during the long Maine winters. (Often along with big coffin-sized freezers full of venison provided during hunting season. But no, my patrician Latin-professor father did not hunt.)

My mom did a lot of canning, but she never canned green

Botulinum Toxin

beans. She'd had the fear of botulism instilled in her too.

I remember hearing a story about a whole family that was wiped out after eating three-bean salad at a family reunion picnic. Probably an urban (or in this case rural) myth, but it stayed with me.

To this day I can't stand canned green beans. And I have no desire to have the lethal toxin injected into my face to erase my wrinkles.

Hey, I've worked hard for these wrinkles. I display them proudly. 

But green beans are not the only source of the toxin. It occurs naturally in soil and can grow almost anywhere it's in an oxygen-deprived environment.

It was first isolated in pork products in the early 19th century and its name comes from the Latin word for sausage, botulus. 

Does 3-Bean Salad Kill?

It can kill whether it's ingested, injected, or inhaled. Drug addicts sometimes unknowingly inject themselves with it in tainted needles and it can be hard to diagnose.

The symptoms are double vision, slurred speech, muscle weakness, and droopy eyelids, followed by vomiting and difficulty swallowing. Sometimes the symptoms can be mistaken for intoxication.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the fatality rate from botulism was 60% or more, but it has been reduced to 15% because of modern treatments. But patients need to be diagnosed soon after poisoning and they can take several weeks to recover. 

Just today, I read of a case of botulism poisoning in a federal prison in Mississippi. 20 inmates have been hospitalized after drinking homemade moonshine. They are expected to live because of getting immediate treatment, but they are seriously ill.

In the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock Holmes series episode The Great Game, botulism features heavily.

(The series combines a number of Conan Doyle's original plots in each episode.) In The Great Game, a schoolboy is poisoned with botulinum in his eczema cream, and a housekeeper is murdered by her brother's lover, who increases the woman's Botox dose.

Botox would make a handy weapon in contemporary fiction, since it is so popular for cosmetic use. It's also used in treatment of an increasing number of medical issues, including bladder control, muscle spasms, excessive sweating, migraines, and bruxism (teeth clenching.)

Author Garry Rodgers, who's a former coroner, has written about what an awful death botulism causes. Here's his full story of the "Red Pepper Paste Man". It also might make you think twice about buying food from China at the Dollar Store.

Can you think of any other mysteries where botulinum is featured? Are you thinking up any plots where it might be used? 

Here are links to the other posts in this series. 

Part 1: Digitalis

Part 2: Wolfsbane

Part 3: Hemlock

Part 4: Poison Dart Frogs
Part 5: Arsenic
Part 6: Oleander
Part 7: Cyanide
Part 8: Belladonna

SHERWOOD, LTD: Camilla Mystery #2

Suddenly-homeless American manners expert Camilla Randall becomes a 21st century Maid Marian—living rough near the real Sherwood Forest with a band of outlaw English erotica publishers—led by a charming, self-styled Robin Hood who unfortunately may intend to kill her. 

When Camilla is invited to publish a book of her columns with UK publisher Peter Sherwood, she lands in a gritty criminal world—far from the Merrie Olde England she envisions. 

The staff are ex-cons and the erotica is kinky. Hungry and penniless, she camps in a Wendy House built from pallets of porn while battling an epic flood, a mendacious American Renfaire wench, and the mysterious killer who may be Peter himself.

Sherwood, Ltd. is only $2.99 in ebook from all the Amazons, iTunes, GooglePlay Scribd, Inktera, Kobo, Nook, and Smashwords. 
And it's  $11.99 in paper from Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Sample Reviews:

"A wily tale of murder, deceit, and intrigue that can stand with the best of them. Her characters are all too real and her dialogue took me from laughter to chills" David Keith on Smashwords

"Smartly written and nearly impossible to put down, I found myself counting the hours until I could leave work and get back to reading! Well done!" T.L. Ingham on Smashwords

"An intriguing and fast paced novel that demands you read on to the next page and beyond. The characters are well constructed and believable and I enjoyed the difference between the USA and UK people. The plight of our heroine is complex and well -managed and in the beginning I was striving for her to find some genuine help and support. The flip over to the UK added more spice! Highly recommended."—David L. Atkinson, author of The 51st State.

Poisoning People for Fun and Profit—Part 2: Wolfsbane

Wolfsbane, aka Monkshood or Devil's Helmet (aconitum) is one of the more magical and romantic-sounding poisons. It carries connotations of witch's brews and wizardry. It often appears in fantasy novels and is rumored to turn people into werewolves. 

But it's very real. And very nasty. People can be poisoned by simply touching the leaves of the plant, since it can be absorbed through the skin, and strong enough tincture can cause almost instantaneous death. 

Wolfsbane is also known as Monkshood

The victims appear to die of suffocation, because it causes the heart and lungs to stop functioning. If the dosage hasn't been very high, a victim can be saved if they get treatment within the hour. Charcoal can decontaminate the intestinal tract, and Lidocaine or similar drugs will combat the heart arrhythmia. 

But without treatment, death usually happens within two to six hours. 

The initial signs are nausea and vomiting, followed by tingling and numbness in the face and burning in the abdomen.

 

Aconitum napellum

The numbness then spreads to the arms and legs, and the victim will feel dizzy and confused.

Death is caused by paralysis of the heart and lungs. The only post-mortem signs are the same as asphyxiation. 

The flowering plant is a lovely purple color and grows in moist, shady soil. Over 250 species of it are found all over the world. It belongs to the genus Ranunculaceae and is a cousin of the innocent buttercup.

Wolfsbane is related to the buttercup

Aconite has been used since ancient times, and early Greeks used it on their arrows to kill their enemies more quickly. (The word aconitum probably comes from "akon" the Greek word for "arrow".) In Greek mythology, Medea attempted to kill Theseus using aconite.

The emperor Claudius is said to have been poisoned by his wife, Agrippina, using aconite in a plate of mushrooms, and the Romans subsequently made it illegal to grow the plant.

Aconitum variega

In small doses it also has medicinal properties, and is used in Ayurvedic and Chinese traditional medicine.

The victim in my fifth Camilla book So Much for Buckingham is poisoned with wolfsbane, and because Plantagenet discovers the body—and he had been seen admiring wolfsbane flowers in the nearby garden earlier—he is arrested for the murder. 

Does it protect you from vampires? 

A docent warns him not to touch it, and hints that it might turn him into a werewolf. But much more mundane horrors are in store.

Wolfsbane is very common—and amazingly versatile—in werewolf mythology. Some stories say the plant can turn people into werewolves and others say it can prevent the transformation. In the Vampire Diaries, wolfsbane protects vampires from werewolves, and in the classic 1931 film Dracula, it's used to protect people from vampires.

Personally, I think I'd rather take my chances with the vampires.

SO MUCH FOR BUCKINGHAM: Camilla Mystery #5

This comic novel—which takes its title from the most famous Shakespearean quote that Shakespeare never wrote—explores how easy it is to perpetrate a character assassination whether by a great playwright or a gang of online trolls.

It's a laugh-out-loud mashup of romantic comedy, crime fiction, and satire: Dorothy Parker meets Dorothy L. Sayers. Perennially down-and-out socialite Camilla Randall--a.k.a. "The Manners Doctor"--is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but she always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way. Usually with more than a little help from her gay best friend, Plantagenet Smith. n this hilarious episode she makes the mistake of responding to an online review of one of her etiquette guides and sets off a chain of events that leads to arson, attempted rape and murder. 

Sample reviews:
"Delicious wit, wonderful eccentric characters, and a beguiling plot. Camilla Randall is a delight!"...Melodie Campbell, "Canada's Queen of Comedy."

"Both a comedic romance and a crime suspense thriller, it presents the 'Perils of Pauline' adventures of a modern author, Camilla, whose mad-cap follies are hugely entertaining. But the novel has a serious undertone of social comment. Even the craziest of its zanies have their counterparts in the real world and the author faithfully depicts their grim, and often deadly, sub-cultures behind a veneer of knockabout wit. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys romance, and crime suspense, with a lethally satiric edge." Dr. John Yeoman.

"Anne Allen's ability to weave throughout her stories a current social commentary easily and throughout the story amazes me. She does this without jeopardizing her plot or her characters' development."...book blogger Sherrey Meyer

So Much for Buckingham is available in ebook at all the Amazons,

Kobo, Nook Smashwords, iTunes, Inkterra, Google Play, and Scribd.

And in paperback you can find it at

Amazon, Amazon UK , and Barnes and Noble