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Mysteries

This version was saved 14 years, 11 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Tamara Simons
on May 6, 2009 at 10:33:27 am
 

Definition

Everyone loves a good mystery! It is one of the most popular genres for leisure reading. People love mysteries because they provide a story with a definite storyline, they love the challenge of solving the mystery, they can read about crimes that they could or would never commit themselves, or they can always count on good triumphing over evil. Also, mysteries are just fun - they are pure entertainment. There are several different variations of mysteries. One is detective fiction, where a central character like Sherlock Holmes, solves crimes. Another is suspense fiction, wherein the main character is involved in a roller coaster of adventure as he or she solves the mystery, like James Bond.

 

For a mystery to be successful, certain elements must be present according to Donelson and Nilsen in Literature for Today's Young Adults. It is only fair that the reader knows the same facts surrounding the case that the protagonist does and that he is introduced to all the suspects early on in the story. The fun of a mystery is trying to figure out 'whodunnit', but the reader should never be disappointed by actually being able to figure it out easily or prematurely.


 

Mystery writers


Son of the Mob, by Gordon Korman is a mystery of a seventeen year old boy named Vince Luca who's father and brother are both in the mob. He has a friend Alex that wants him to find a girlfriend and for them to have a good relationship since Alex can't talk to any girls on his own. After a while he meets a girl at a football game and they start dating. But things go horrible with their relationship when he finds out that her dad is in the FBI and that he is also one of the FBI agents that is investigating his father. Last, this book is very exciting,full of situational irony, and I recommended to kids of all races and genders. 

 

Recommended by Mr. Manley


 

Popular books with synopsis

Richard Peck is another well-known mystery author. One of his most notable books is Are You in the House Alone? Gail Osborne is the main character who receives a series of threatening and obscene telephone calls. The book deals with the loneliness and fear associated with the aftermath of rape. Osborne is austracized by her friends in the small suburban Connecticut community where she is stalked.


 

Black Mirror by Nancy Werlin is another mystery for young adults. Werlin is a past winner of the Edgar Award. In the book, 16 year old France Leventhal and her brother Daniel attend a preppy boarding school thanks to a scholarship from the charitable school organization Unity. But after her brother dies of a drug overdose, she begins to question his association with Unity and is convinced that his death was not really a suicide but a murder.


 

Yet another YA mystery is Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan. This is a mystery, but with supernatural undertones due to the inclusion of the topic of astral projection. The 17 year old central character thinks she is being spied on. It turns out to be her twin sister Lia who is projecting herself into Laurie's life to wreak havoc on it. The two were separated at birth, Laurie being adopted and Lia growing up in a series of foster homes. The mystery here is not 'who dunnit' but rather where Laurie's true loyalties lie. 


 

John Grisham, the king of the thriller, has written several mysteries, including The Brethren. The brethren are three judges who are in a low security prison for committing white-collar crimes. Inside the jail they run a mail scam in which they blackmail wealthy gay men. Congressman Anthony Lake, up to no good himself, becomes one of their targets. A complex plot keeps the reader enthralled although in this book everyone is corrupt and there is no good guy.


 

Where are the Children? is the first mystery novel written by Mary Higgins Clark. Nancy Harmon is on trial at the beginning of the book for the murder of her children. She is freed because of a technicality - one of the main witnesses flees the country. She moves across the country, changes her identity, remarries, and has two more children. The mystery begins when she looks out the window one day and finds that her children have disappeared and she is being framed for their murder.


 

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