Fountain of Knowledge

I'm a day late again - I'm very sorry peeps. I had this idea yesterday morning and by the time I remembered to write it down, it was Thursday.

Topic for the week - Mystery.

Here's the thing about Mystery for me - I loved to read it when I was younger. Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, I read it all, loved what I could get my hands on.

The problem I had with it, when I actually stopped to think about it, was the way the mysteries were solved. Sure there were hints dropped along the way in the well-written stories, but some of them you had to have just the most obscure knowledge to be able to solve before the detective did.

So...Is there more to a mystery story than the standard who-dunnit? Who are your favorite authors/characters? What makes the genre so appealing? Do you read it, write it, have a reason you dont' do one or the other?