Nancy Smith
“What the detective story is about is not murder, but the restoration of order.” So says mystery author P.D. James. The dictionary defines MYSTERY as secretive or a curiosity. It is something uncomprehending and beyond human understanding.
You have only to walk through the MYSTERY section of our SunBird library to wonder at the variety of mysterious subjects. For decades authors have written about unsolved plots and crimes. The dime mystery novels began in the early 1930s and were non-fiction as well as fiction. Those who enjoy reading a mystery say it’s the realistic action while looking for the whodunit. You wait for the detective’s solution at the end of the story.
A favorite mystery writer is Mary Higgins Clark. She has over fifty books to her credit and her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark is a fine author, too. Tony Hillerman’s books are Indian-Navajo based stories. Lillian Jackson Braun has the cat helping solve the crime. And C.J. Box’s hero is a Wyoming Game Warden tracking down the bad guys. Kathy Reichs writes about forensic anthropology to solve her “bones” mysteries. And our own SunBird resident, Rom Wick, writes Southwestern mysteries.
Our library does not have a Suspense section, but you will find the feeling of mystery-suspense in most Westerns, romance or mystery novels.
Our library does have a mystery we cannot solve. Why do you readers return the cover, but not the book? Why do you return the case, but not the DVD? Why do you “forget” to return what you have borrowed?
We wish you happy mystery
reading!