31. Why mystery/thrillers are 'most read'

plus some great articles I read this week and the wonderful Agatha Christie

Hello friends! I’m quite touched with the kind and helpful words from Wednesday’s post - thank you.

A few weeks ago, I was putting my newsletter together and thinking, gosh, there are always so many mystery/thrillers on the bestseller lists. This is interesting to me because I actually don’t read much mystery. This does need to be fixed, and I plan on working on it during Spooky Season this fall.

It made me think though. Why? Why are mystery/thriller books “most read”? Why do these authors pump out book after book, and why are they always successful? Why are mystery/thrillers the genre most people turn to when they want to read more?

Some of these series have 30+ books in them, and without fail, I always see them on the NYT Bestseller list (side note: I would love to know what goes into deciding these books.)

As humans, we have an innate curiosity of the unknown. We slow down to look at a car crash. We are morbidly curious about death. It’s part of human nature. And I think that mystery/thrillers appeal to this side of us in a way that feels socially acceptable.

There is a puzzle to solve, a reason to keep turning the page. In its own way, they are straightforward as well. There is order amidst the chaos, a question that will be answered. These books allow us to explore some of life’s greatest questions - death and life, nature versus nurture, what regular people are capable of when pushed to their limit. How people are able to commit murder - something that is inconceivable to most minds. Everything wraps up - at least mostly - by the end. These offer us answers to our deepest questions, offer a look into that morbid curiosity.

This Times article says the same (and has some book recommendations):

These books sometimes get dismissed as formulaic or simplistic, but they’re a lot more than that. In a world that can often be chaotic and reasonless, we need these stories. During the first COVID shutdown, I was popping Agatha Christies like Smarties, and I talked to a bookseller who said they couldn’t keep her novels in stock. We need to believe that sometimes things can fit together and make sense, even when that seems impossible; that someday our crisis will end and we’ll be able to leave it behind. The clean resolution offered in the structure of these books—A kills B, C finds out whodunit—makes mystery the perfect genre to speak for the hard-won triumph of order and meaning.

So, why are mystery/thrillers the “most read”?

Because they are familiar. They offer stability during times of strife. They answer the great questions we have of life. They dive into the morbid, which we are inherently curious about. They are familiar. And, like Tana French said in the Times article, they show that our times of instability, of crisis, will come to an end. They offer that relief, at the very least.

I think this is also why many people who are starting to read turn to this genre. It’s familiar, a stepping stone into the unknown, since humans run on comfort. And I’m realizing that every book has some element of mystery, of the why. In every fantasy, they’re also solving some problem and sometimes a crime. Even in romances, there’s usually a conflict being solved, a problem being answered. They answer the question; they end. And we are comforted by that.

Well, sometimes the answer isn’t as long winded as I expect! Oftentimes, it is simpler than I imagine. What do you think? Do you turn to mystery/thrillers the most?

Some articles I loved this week

1. Reading: My go to coping mechanism by

   bookstrider

2. Lash: My Life with Trichotillomania by

   Emily Van Duyne
   for
   Jessica DeFino
   , The Review of Beauty

3. A royal memoir, a culinary mystery novel, classics, and more. by

   Jam Canezal
   , Books Worth Sharing

4. how to actually enjoy every book you read by

   Nora West
   , The Simple Library

5. The dreadful beauty of East of Eden by

   Natalie McGlocklin
   , Subverse Reads

6. books i'd sell my soul to read for the first time again by

   Madeline Mills
   , Lover of Stories

7. Am I Too Old to Change My Life? by

   Anne Boyd
   , Audacious Women, Creative Lives

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Some of the books releasing this week! These are using bookshop.com (affiliate links), but someone mentioned another website to use. I can’t find the note, though! If that was you, please remind me - so sorry!

1. House of Shifting Tides by Olivia Wildenstein (Fantasy): July 11, 2024

2. A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva (Mystery/Thriller): July 9, 2024

3. Play Along by Liz Tomforde (Romance): July 11, 2024

4. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (Fantasy): July 9, 2024

5. The Summer Pact by Emily Griffin (Romance): July 9, 2024

6. Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fiction): July 9, 2024

7. Summers End by Juneau Black (Cosy Mystery): July 9, 2024

Books I’ve compiled from mainly the NYT Bestsellers List, but also the B&N Top 100 and Amazon Bestsellers in no particular order. I’ve decided to simply add the books I haven’t before, since I’ve caught up to the new additions. If you’re curious, last week’s post can be found here.

1. All The Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Mystery)

2. Resurrection by Danielle Steel (Romance)

3. A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston (Romance)

4. The Housemaid’s Secret by Frieda McFadden (Thriller)

5. Reckless by Lauren Roberts (Fantasy)

Let’s talk about Agatha Christie. I had to stay in theme!

via agathachristie.com

This woman is an inspiration. Agatha wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She has sold over a billion copies in English and over a billion in translation. OMG?! Kudos, Agatha.

Born in 1890, Agatha was the youngest child and lived on the south Devon coast. She taught herself to read at age five. Her family moved to France during her childhood, which sparked her love of travel. While working as a nurse during WWI, Agatha met her husband, Archie Christie, in a whirlwind affair. She also wrote her first book during this time, after her sister bet her that she couldn’t write a good one. I love this.

While writing, she and her husband went on the Grand Tour, which was a fact finding mission to promote the Empire Exhibition of 1914. During this time, Agatha became the first British woman to surf standing up. What can’t she do?

Poor Agatha lost her mother, and in her intense grief, not only did her husband have an affair, but she also had a moment of amnesia. She must have been under immense pressure on all sides. After getting a divorce, she and her daughter moved to the Canary Islands. Here, she finished a Poirot novel and wrote her first fiction novel under a pseudonym.

Over her life, she traveled alone on the Orient Express, she found comfort in writing during WWII, went to digs, remarried, had a grandchild, wrote playwrights, and lived beautifully until she died peacefully in 1976.

I have goosebumps. What a life. What an inspiration. She was a yes woman, felt her emotions and poured them into her books, traveled always, loved deeply.

The website agathachristie.com is a wonderful source of information and also where I found my information for today.

What can I say at seventy-five? ‘Thank God for my good life, and for all the love that has been given to me.

Just a reminder to submit any books you think others will love on the R&R page or to my email: thesundayreads@gmail.com!

1. The Women by Kristin Hannah

   1. I’m three fourths through this novel, and it is breaking my heart. Beautifully written, heartbreaking and beautiful, the exploration of love and loss, the crossroads of returning home … just amazing. I can’t recommend it enough. Beware of tears.

That’s all for today. Much love

Izzy