The Readers' Advisory Guide to Mystery, Second Edition

VOYA - Courtney M. Krieger

This book offers a comprehensive guide for readers to examine the many defining characteristics of the mystery novel. The first two chapters focus on defining "mystery," as well as chronicling its history, to set it apart from the common misconception that "suspense" and "thriller" are synonymous with it. After addressing specific criteria, the authors discuss the many subgenres within the one, providing specific titles and brief synopses of each. Some of the subgenres include amateur sleuths, private investigators, police procedurals, historical sleuths, and genre-blended mysteries. In addition to providing numerous lists of titles, the final chapters focus on resources available to readers' advisory groups to increase their knowledge of the genre, as well as suggestions for collection development and merchandising a mystery collection. This book focuses on providing strategies to match books with readers. Each chapter goes into painstaking detail for what qualifies as a mystery, the different levels of "graphic"—cozy, classic, hard boiled, or noir—and ways to match a reader with the perfect mystery subgenre. As a result, the book reads like an instruction manual that includes numerous annotated titles with the authors' personal comments and preferences sprinkled throughout, which makes the reading extremely dull and monotonous. If librarians want a reference tool to help them find popular mystery titles, this book is an excellent source, but if they are looking for innovative strategies to introduce readers to the mystery genre, this book misses the mark. Reviewer: Courtney M. Krieger