Since I was a kid, disappointed that Agatha Christie mysteries were written so as not to be predictable in advance, I wanted to read a mystery series where at the end of each chapter, there’s always enough clues to predict who the murderer is. But it’s very, very hard after the 1st chapter, a little bit easier after the 2nd chapter, etc. That’s good mystery writing, in my opinion. Not creating a solution in the last few paragraphs that’s impossible to predict in advance, because its not grounded in any of the prior clues.
I read a couple of Agatha Christie mysteries, and it looked as though she believed that only one sort of person (sociopathic) would commit an interesting murder. That’s probably reasonable, but if the solution is to look for the sort of character rather than pay attention to the details of the mystery, the books became not interesting for me.
Admittedly, I didn’t update by reading a few more Christies, so I may be unfair.
Since I was a kid, disappointed that Agatha Christie mysteries were written so as not to be predictable in advance, I wanted to read a mystery series where at the end of each chapter, there’s always enough clues to predict who the murderer is. But it’s very, very hard after the 1st chapter, a little bit easier after the 2nd chapter, etc. That’s good mystery writing, in my opinion. Not creating a solution in the last few paragraphs that’s impossible to predict in advance, because its not grounded in any of the prior clues.
I read a couple of Agatha Christie mysteries, and it looked as though she believed that only one sort of person (sociopathic) would commit an interesting murder. That’s probably reasonable, but if the solution is to look for the sort of character rather than pay attention to the details of the mystery, the books became not interesting for me.
Admittedly, I didn’t update by reading a few more Christies, so I may be unfair.