The Best Mystery Novels
Everyone has their own personal taste when it comes to reading works of best mystery novels and if murder mystery is the genre of your choice then you probably have a preferred style of writing. For example, some readers like to find out who committed the crime on the very last page of the book, while others like to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together themselves as they are reading to try and play detective themselves.
Things for the Best Mystery Novels
The actual plot is the key feature of any self-respecting mystery novel. If you want to determine whether you have just read one of the best mystery novels then you should look out for who the main characters are early on, because you can safely assume that a person who is only mentioned once at the beginning is not largely involved with the crime.
The crime itself should be intriguing to read about and be sufficiently violent, preferably a cold-blooded murder or two. Of course, the method of murder is also a significant factor. The crime needs to be believable so if aliens are involved then you can quickly dismiss your book from being a serious contender for a listing in the best mystery novels category. A talented murder mystery writer should draw the reader in by introducing various details about the murder to make it appear plausible.
The reader should be able to distinguish between the dark characters and the innocent people, but without being blatantly obvious who the killer is. The actual murderer needs to be a multidimensional, believable character who is made up of different layers. As well as perhaps having vicious or evil traits to his or her personality, the writer should also give the killer a certain vulnerability or quirky demeanor.
Setting the Scene for the Best Mystery Novels
It’s essential to make the location amusing but fairly straightforward. An up and coming author has written a murder mystery novel called ‘Secrets in the ice’
which is set during winter time in Michigan. A quick summary of the novel is that a young couple is taking a romantic winter vacation at the same time that a body is found in a frozen lake. Locals are quick to suspect the couple
simply because they are strangers to the town. Anyhow, the couple begins to look into things for themselves when a second body is found. They soon learn that a double murder happened 24 years ago in the same lake and the local townsfolk have been covering this murder up for years. They then set out to see whether there is a connection to the past and the present and whether the locals know more than they are letting on. This synopsis weaves the perfect web for a gripping murder mystery novel, because of the added interest of crime committed years ago. These murders are cleverly introduced into the story as a result of the most recent killings to add a further twist.
Setting the correct scene for the actual murder is crucial, and the fact that this particular author has chosen a freezing cold town and a frozen lake, add to the overall atmosphere of the novel by making it appear colder and eerier. Certainly, it’s an excellent idea to have a historical element to a book, but the writer must get his facts correct to make the storyline credible.
Avoiding Clichés in Best Mystery Novels
Readers like to stumble upon the unexpected and don’t like the novel having a supernatural ending or that the story was ‘just a dream’. All clues need to be revealed by the writer as the crime-solver discovers them so that the reader is kept tightly in the loop. The murderer should also fit comfortably with the actual genre of the story. For example, a reader would not believe that a man in his eighties would have the strength to drag a heavy body a certain distance then dispose of it. The whole story should fit together naturally so that the reader has already started to try and make their own assumptions regarding who committed the crime and what their motivation was.
The best mystery novels will leave the reader hungry for more. This is why sequels are so in demand. Readers get comfortable with a certain style of writing and will always go back for more if the author decides to write further novels in a similar style. A winning formula will guarantee success to a writer and can entertain millions of readers for many years to come. A thrilling murder mystery should offer suspense and should always have some brilliant twists and unusual characters or places and should ultimately be believable and not too far fetched.
