The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Regarding my entry from June 18, 2012, called New to Me Cozy Mystery Author’s Characters (and Even Their Homes!):

First off, thank you all for your comments. In the past, I have always gone with my “50 page rule”, but not having the Kindle’s pages numbered makes this a little more complicated for me. (I can remember how to convert 50 pages into a percent, knowing the length of a book, but that just seems too complicated to want to do every time I read a book.)

Here’s a quick update of what I did about this particular mystery book:

I took your suggestions, and decided to pass on this author. I think you all are right: Too Many Books/So Little Time! However, I also did what some of you suggested, I tried to read for a little while longer, to see if I could get used to characters who were obsessed by people’s appearances and status. I thought that if the mystery was good, and the writing was pretty good, that I might be able to overlook some flaws with the book. >>> That did not happen.

So, once I decided not to continue reading the book, I went ahead and took the suggestion that some of you offered: I went to the back of the book to see what happened. Of course, I was right in predicting the sleuth would end up with the “handsome” police detective. This will come in very handy, no doubt, in future books when she is sleuthing … and can benefit from his unofficial help.

Boy, am I glad I skimmed the end of the book! I discovered that the mystery’s solution was idiotic, the handling of the case was insulting, and the sleuth did what I hate having done in a mystery: She withheld information from the primary detective, which by then was her boyfriend. Yow!!! This is something I absolutely cannot tolerate in my Cozy Mysteries! (It takes me back to Ebert & Siskel talking about “The Idiot Plot”!!!)

I totally agree, you should only spend time with books you know you will miss when they end. You should have characters, writing styles, and plots you want to read. Why spend time with a Cozy Mystery you (pretty much) know you will not want to revisit in the future?

With the “Too Many Books/So Little Time” phrase in my mind, I decided to start reading a mystery book by one of my favorite authors, Ruth Rendell. As soon as I started reading about Inspector Wexford’s current case, I knew your comments had steared me the right way. I found myself getting absorbed in the plot and three dimensional characters from the very beginning of the book. I wasn’t making myself overlook things that irritated me.

So, thank you all of your comments. As this author is a very popular author, I am very sure she will continue to thrive in the Cozy Mystery market and will not miss my monetary support…