Monday, August 12, 2013

Why Read Murder Mystery Books?

By Andrea Davidson


Many people find that when they want to relax that reading is a good way to accomplish this. Relaxing with a good book can be therapeutic. Murder mystery books are a popular genre in the fiction category.

With the popularity of TV shows that deal with forensics, there has been a rise in the purchase of murder mysteries. In books, crime solving seems glamorous and often fun and exciting. People love to solve puzzles, and guessing whodunit based on the clues given in the book is a challenge.

People also love mysteries because they are thrilling and full of action and suspense. The characters are engaging and have personality quirks that endear them to readers. The villains are tricky, mysterious, and often evil behind a convincingly normal persona.

Lots of the news these days deals with calamities and disasters. Everyone slows down when they drive by a car crash. Mysteries allow us to see what goes on behind the scenes of such occurrences and what it is really like to solve a crime. The good guys get into trouble and back out again, which is not always certain in reality. These stories can also make us feel how important life is and that it is snuffed out way to early that it is still important.

People often have a fear of death and these stories allow us to face it nonconfrontationally. In our modern society we often do not experience death in all its glory, it is handled by hospital workers, law enforcement personnel, and funeral home workers. This can enable us to see what happens after murder or death without becoming emotionally distraught.

One thing that people enjoy about this genre is that justice is always served, in comparison to reality when criminals go free and murders go unpunished. In real life, there may not always be an answer to every question. In fiction, the loose ends get tied up, the criminals get what they deserve and predominantly there is a happy ending.

These stories give us a glimpse into the psychology behind what makes a person commit murder and the thought process of the criminal, the victim, and the protagonist. Finding out what makes people tick is fascinating. What is the driving force behind a murderer? How is a criminal different from everyone else?

Murder mysteries are also a form of fantasy that appears very realistic. Some readers have a hard time getting into science fiction or other genres that may require them to be immersed in a whole different world, learn a new societal structure, or pronounce unfamiliar words in make believe languages. Mysteries are usually set in our own world, either in the past or in the present, and do not require a lot of thought to become immersed in the story.

Humans just seem to like to be spectators at tragic events. Everyone stops and slows down to look at the car or train wreck; the top news stories are often calamitous. We seem drawn to the bizarre, unusual, and spectacular. This genre of fiction allows us to experience these types of occurrences without fear of harm. Murder mystery books are entertaining, often educational, and most importantly, they make us think.




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