  Mystery
This week: The Mystery of the Criminal Mind Edited by: Kit of House Lannister  
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The criminal mind can be fascinating. What drives a person to commit horrible deeds?
Does the mystery of how the criminal mind works explain part of the reason we love the Mystery genre? Through fiction, we can explore crime, in the knowledge that we are safe and that, in the end, the wrongdoer will be caught...
Your guest editor - kittiara |
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It is no mystery why the mystery genre remains popular. Life is full of puzzles, and humans learn to solve problems from a young age. On top of that, crime holds a fascination for many. Not because we want to be a criminal, but because it surrounds us, because we're trying to figure out the mindset of those who do bad things, and because we want to know that, in the end, those who do evil deeds will get caught.
Through mystery novels and stories, we get to track down the bad guys and bring them to justice, no matter how clever and tricky they are. It feels right for us, on the hunt as the main character, to win, and for the antagonist to lose. We have no such control over the actual criminals amongst us. When a terrible crime takes place, armchair detectives may discuss the case on Internet forums, writing up theories on whodunnit, but in reality, there is little or nothing any of us can do.
For the last twelve years I have lived in a countryside village in the north of England. I count myself lucky. Crime levels are low around here. Parcels can be left on someone's doorstep and nobody will steal them. I can leave the door unlocked, even open, when I go to the local shop for a pint of milk, without fear that by the time I get back, my living room will be empty. What little trouble there is tends to come from neighbours falling out, or people getting slightly too merry at the pub on a Saturday night. The one, rather unpleasant whodunnit of the last year was – who left the dog's business on Mrs. Brown's doorstep? The poor lady could have stepped in it when she went to bring in her milk delivery. None of the local dog owners have owned up to it...
The peaceful life I live now is in stark contrast with my life in the big city. The sound of sirens was a familiar one. Whilst now I can sit on my doorstep in the middle of the night, when I cannot sleep, in the city I would have felt unsafe outside during the hours of darkness, as a woman alone. When, last year, I visited the city I grew up in, I realised that I'd lost a lot of my street smarts, because the thought of pickpockets and other petty crime had completely abandoned me.
Perhaps it is at this relatively safe distance – because you never know – that I have grown to enjoy mystery novels. I love Michael Connelly's work, because there are always unexpected twists, and sometimes, when I think I know whodunnit, it turns out that I am wrong! This is especially the case in The Poet, a dark but captivating read, which I can highly recommend.
I admit it – the criminal mind holds a certain fascination for me. I'm the kind of person who feels terrible if I accidentally step on someone's toes, so the mind of someone like Ted Bundy or, more locally, Harold Shipman, seems incomprehensible. Or is it? Is there something deep inside all of us that could turn us into a monster? It's a frightening notion.
That may be why I prefer fiction to harrowing real life accounts, so long as both the main character and the antagonist have multi-layered personalities. Purely good and purely evil characters don't do it for me, because they don't seem realistic.
My question to you this week is, why do you write mystery novels or stories? Why do you read them? Are my speculations correct, or do you have a completely different reason? Feel free to write in  .
kittiara
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Here are some of the latest items in the Mystery genre .
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The Mystery Newsletter team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in!
As your guest editor this week, I have no questions to answer or feedback to respond to, but please, share your thoughts! They will be read.
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Mystery Newsletter Team
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Mystery: August 07, 2013 Issue [#5826]
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