This past summer and fall were filled with fun appearances, from country fairs to library and bookshop presentations. One of the best parts of the fairs is meeting new people—and reuniting with childhood friends. At the Hancock Shaker Village Country Fair alone, I saw six different people I knew from elementary through high school!
One of my very favorite things to do is to make up a mystery with a group, and the people at the Hamden Public Library in Hamden, CT were terrific collaborators. Mystery lovers all, they participated in coming up with the suspects, motives, and alibis needed to write a mystery.
What fun!
What made the Hamden event even more special was that it was done in conjunction with the town’s high school production of the musical Clue. Among all manner of mysterious doings over town, the students designed a scavenger hunt, and the library screened the movie Clue. Fabulous!
Now, to the subject of mystery. Officially, it may not yet be winter, but it is super cold where I live, and we’ve already had snow and sleet. That means it’s a
perfect time to curl up with a mug of hot chocolate or tea and a good mystery. And I have a few ideas for you!
But first, let’s talk about what makes a mystery a mystery. How is this genre unique? Mystery stories have specific conventions, and although they can vary somewhat according to the sub-genre, they are fairly strict.The most basic convention is, of course, that every one starts with a crime that needs to be solved. And the crime doesn’t have to be murder! For example, Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Purloined Letter” and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” center on theft, the former of a letter, the latter a gem.
To be continued…
(It’s amazing how the choice of a character’s name can change the tone of a story. A cozy with Gretl the baker turned into a much darker story with the introduction of Dante.)