The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Carrie posted a comment a while back that I thought was particularly interesting. I think I had just added a whole bunch of “novellas” to an author’s page on the site, and I sort of was left wondering about this very same thing.

Carrie:

“I was thrilled to see a new Deanna Raybourn listed, until I saw the dreaded word “novella”.

According to your link the printed length of this novella is 58 pages and the Lady Julia mysteries are usually 400 pages or more. So, unless it is going to be sold at an eighth of the price of her other books then it can’t be considered any where near value for money. (Usually novellas are priced at approximately two thirds of the cost of a full novel by the same author.)

I buy a lot of books and, for some books, am prepared to pay over the odds. Such as obtaining the missing volume in a favorite author’s series. However, I do object to feeling as though I’ve been “ripped off” by the author or publisher and novellas do tend to make me feel that way.

Either write a full length novel or include the novella in a book of short stories, but to expect people to pay over the odds for what is after all a short story just doesn’t seem right.

Am I the only one who feels like this?”

Several of the “classic authors” including Agatha Christie wrote short stories. Some of the Poirot and Miss Marple books were collections of stories put together to make a mystery novel.

To me, it seems like we are seeing more and more authors getting on the “novella” bandwagon. E-books make it easy to get the “novellas” to the reader. I know that some authors really like the “novella” format, but I wonder about the readers.

When you have a choice between reading a mystery with one of your favorite sleuths, do you prefer reading a full-length mystery book or a short story? Do you have a preference?

So, I’m asking (for Carrie) what you all think about this new wave of  “novellas”? Do you prefer mystery books over mystery “novellas” (stories)?