Mystery Fiction Discussion

Off-Topic
#42

The Mysterious Package Company that I mentioned above is doing a Kickstarter for a new Victorian thriller that sounds very cool.

[quote] What is it about being watched that causes the hairs on the back of one’s neck to prickle? Is that the weight of a baleful gaze that presses upon the skin? Or a psychic finger drawing shivers down the spine? Without observing the observer, one can never be completely sure. Even spinning quickly ‘round to catch the voyeur does no good, no one is ever there. And yet… and yet one simply knows a watcher is lurking somewhere.

Could it be an unquiet spirit, or is it flesh and blood? Either way, it is probably best not to react, best to sit quietly and hope the feeling goes away. Even though it never really does…[/quote]

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#43

I’m really into mystery stories even though I have barely read any. I’ve been wondering what a good story or author would be to start delving into the genre more. Didn’t know that And Then There Were None was public domain until now, so I guess I’ll start with that one.

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#44

There’s a lot of public domain older mystery novels (Agatha Christie and G.K. Chesterton, as mentioned, but others in the Detection Club as well); after a few, you can probably look into some more modern ones. Honestly, the genre can vary a lot; the individual spins the authors give can change a lot of the mystery experience.

#45

Thanks for letting me know. I’ll get started on reading those and hopefully will be able to contribute more to a discussion on mystery novels. Do you have any recommendations for what I should try after And Then There Were None just so I can make a small list so I don’t forget.

#46

Hmm, I certainly suggest you start with And Then There Were None, that’s the one I’ve begun with too, it is a classic for a reason and it portrays the pioneering years of the mystery genre quite well. As for after that, I’m not very sure cause I’m new to mystery novels myself, but maybe continue with some other works of Agatha Christie or some of the other pioneering works from the Detection Club. Or whatever Ghagler suggests, he seems to be pretty knowledgeable on mystery novels.

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#47

I don’t know about recommendations; there’s so much out there that you can’t really go wrong with just taking a glance through lists of mysteries and picking out ones that sound interesting. My favorite is probably Chesterton (google Gutenberg Chesterton, and you should find a catalog of all his public domain stuff for free), but that’s because his prose is very unique; I’m honestly not sure how interesting his writing will be. I love it to death, but I’d imagine it varies.

He’s a great place to start, if you want to check out the “extremes” that you won’t really find anywhere else. For the more usual stuff that you’d expect from classic and modern authors, you should try Christie (her stuff’s the general “Golden Age of Mystery” kind of writing), The Maltese Falcon (a great example and highlight of the “hardboiled” mystery genre that gained weight in the 50’s and onward, after the decline of the Golden Age), and perhaps one of the more popular current mysteries; you can find them on Amazon or in your local bookstore (generally more psychological: like The Girl in the Train, I think it’s called? Haven’t read many of those kinds). I’m admittedly not as well read in the current mysteries, given they cost money I don’t have right now, but there’s a lot out there.

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#48

Alright thanks again for getting me on track with mystery novels, I guess I’ll concentrate more on the older ones too since I don’t have much extra cash right now as well.

#49

I haven’t read it yet, but I went out and bought ‘And Then There Were None’ so I had it available to read after I finish Umineko.

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#50

I read And Then There Were None after playing the first episode of Umineko, since figured it might give me some clues as to where Ryukishi was going with it, and it completely kicked my ass. At the end I was honestly a little salty because I hadn’t been able to make any progress on figuring out the solution, but looking back it was a very solid, well structured mystery.

The reading circle that was proposed in this thread seems like a very fun idea. I’d be interested in some of the authors Ryukishi cited as inspirations (I know he mentioned Edogawa Ranpo and Seishi Yokomizo) but anything could be interesting.

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#51

Good that this was brought back, reminds me that I should really get to reading G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown series.

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#52

Well I finally got to finishing, And Then There Were None I loved it. I also really enjoyed seeing all of the inspirations of Umineko, that were in it. Just disappointed I couldn’t figure out the truth before it was revealed (sadly I was a little rushed in reading it for a school book study, if I didn’t I’d probably spent more time which might have allowed me to solve it). Oh well, it was a great mystery that was well written.

Wonder what I should check out next though.

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#53

I finally read through the thread, and I very much agree with the book club idea, maybe have a general topic for that book? Or maybe they could even be considered gameboards, would appreciate to have more of those, really.

Anyway, I haven’t read much mystery after Umineko, buuuut I did read Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, and man I loved it! Disappointed I didn’t figure out the solution back then, but oh well, I definitely recommend it as something to read next for those looking for another book.

I do want to read some other mystery books, but I honestly want to have a physical copy of them in English, since reading from the screen bothers me a bit. But I won’t be able to find anything in English here since I’m live in Portugal still. Oh well.

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#54

You should be able to find most popular works from the golden age of detective fiction online legally since they aren’t under copyright anymore, and you can get ereaders 2nd hand for like 20€ if you look around for a bit.

I read a study in scarlet recently. It’s not that great of a mystery, but as an introductory story to Holmes and Watson it works pretty well… the great alkali planes came out of nowhere though.

#55

Again, I honestly don’t like reading stories from screens, especially when I want to try to sleep, I rather like the feel of turning pages and just putting a bookmark there without the need to press any buttons and wait for the thing to load, and I’m trying to save up to move out, so I can’t really afford to spend money on anything really.

Also, I feel like the Sherlock Holmes books aren’t actually fair mystery, but it’s mostly to see a really smart individual pull a weird fact out of nowhere. I guess that’s what we get for being too interested in space and shenanigans. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
I also read a story from that, and I was angry because I couldn’t have possibly have known about whatever fact Sherlock proposed.

#56

Yeah; Sherlock is fun as a look into extreme inductive reasoning, but it’s not a challenge to the reader. The details for his reasoning aren’t presented prior to the reveal, so it’s more a story than a game.

#57

It’s been quite some time since I posted here, but this is quite an interesting thread so I’m reviving this. So say, has anyone of you read Megan Abbott’s novels?

#58

I’ve read one Megan Abbott novel! Does this make me a fan? The Fever is all I’ve read, but I liked it a lot! For those who haven’t read it, it’s a book about a girl named Deenie whose friends get sick with life threatening illnesses (stuff like comas, tics, etc). At first she thinks it’s due to a lake they went swimming in, but then a friend who was not at the lake also gets sick. It also tackles issues with sexuality, as the reasons for said illness are blamed on stuff like the HPV vaccine and toxic sperm. For a while, we even start to think that perhaps Deenie herself is behind the strange string of illnesses! It’s a mystery with a lot of fun twists and turns.

I liked it a lot though. Especially the end when you are left to wonder whether Gabby was really faking her facial tics or if it’s just hysteria as the police say.

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#59

Darn, your description really wants to make me click that spoiler so much just to find out what it says. Argh, might be a book I have to read.

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#60

Yeah it was a good mystery. Made me really want to check out more of her stuff!

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#61

Can I recommend a video game? The fiction that got me into the mystery genre was ‘The Last Express’, a game that got no advertisement because the company was in the middle of shutting down when it released.

Basically you play on The Orient Express and there’s been a murder that you could be implicated in, so you have to sneak around the train snooping on people’s conversations and breaking into compartments to figure out what’s going on.

The game simulates real time so if you’re not in a certain place for an event it will just happen without you, and if you get a game over (there are a lot of them) the game turns back the clock to a point in one where you could have prevented it. It’s super neat!

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