My goodness, your comments are terrific! Thank you! Also, thank you, Pam B, for coming up with such an interesting entry idea!
I was going to try to answer all of them, but then thought I would write a short entry instead. I have gone through your comments for yesterday’s entry (Does the Age of Your Amateur Sleuth Make a Difference to You?) several times, and came up with the following:
It looks like most of us agree that the age of our sleuths doesn’t really matter. We’re looking for well-written, intriguing mysteries with both interesting sleuths and locations. We like our sleuths to be normal, not always fretting about their clothes, make-up, shoes, nor boyfriends. Some of us think the younger the sleuth, the more drama we may have to wade through while trying to pay attention to the author’s clues about the mystery.
Those of us who prefer our sleuths to be 50 years old (and older) don’t want our sleuths to be gray-haired, doddering grannies, rather we would like them to be young-at- heart, vibrant, with strong, likeable personalities. Several of us started with Miss Marple, which in turn has made us partial to older sleuths. (I guess it’s sort of like riding a bike…)
However, several of us prefer our sleuths to be in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. The age doesn’t seem to be as important as the author’s ability to write well and give us believable sleuths.
MJ then brought up a really good point about multi generational Cozy Mysteries. Among the authors who use this type of sleuth age spans are Sally Goldenbaum (Seaside Knitters), Kylie Logan (Literary Ladies), Maddy Hunter (Passport to Peril), Nancy J. Parra (Gluten Free series), and Elizabeth Lynn Casey (Sewing Circle series). These types of Cozy Mystery sleuths are sort of like a smorgasbord of ages, where everyone can relate to at least one of the sleuthing partners.
Again, thank you, ALL, for your comments. They are terrific!
I got a letter from MJ with a great idea for a blog entry! It’s a spin on something we do, but with a better focus. She says it better than I can, so here are some portions of her letter:
I have been waiting patiently for December to begin. Well, I guess it has been more like IMpatiently! Two months ago MJ wrote a couple of comments that caught my eye. I wanted to showcase her comments during December, since most of us like to do special things around our houses during December. You know, things like decorating a tree, or baking cookies >>> perhaps from a recipe out of one of our Cozy Mystery authors’ culinary mysteries!