"It’s not really a good mystery if the fundamental “mystery” is that someone didn’t tell someone something or a miscommunication."
A closely related one, which I really hate, is "it's only a mystery because key information is kept from the readers, rather than the protagonist," which is sometimes paired with "the mystery wouldn't be a mystery if the events had been presented in chronological order."
I'm not 100% sure I agree on the second one though- in a normal mystery in chrono order, we are seeing things from the same structure as the characters. In the case where the author deliberately structures pieces differently--out of sequence or through different POVs--the narrator (present or not) takes over the direction of how the story is told. I'm not sure I'm explaining this well! perhaps if I think about it more I could write a post on it. I think a good example of a book that does this well is All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld (which is not really a mystery, but some mysterious things happen).
Great article, Vera. Thanks for the book recommendations too. I absolutely loved
So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell and the book Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (the movie, no). Looking forward to checking out the others on your list.
"It’s not really a good mystery if the fundamental “mystery” is that someone didn’t tell someone something or a miscommunication."
A closely related one, which I really hate, is "it's only a mystery because key information is kept from the readers, rather than the protagonist," which is sometimes paired with "the mystery wouldn't be a mystery if the events had been presented in chronological order."
on that first point, I totally agree- i wrote about this in a long article I wrote for Craft magazine which you can see here https://www.craftliterary.com/2022/08/30/against-twists-by-vera-kurian/
I'm not 100% sure I agree on the second one though- in a normal mystery in chrono order, we are seeing things from the same structure as the characters. In the case where the author deliberately structures pieces differently--out of sequence or through different POVs--the narrator (present or not) takes over the direction of how the story is told. I'm not sure I'm explaining this well! perhaps if I think about it more I could write a post on it. I think a good example of a book that does this well is All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld (which is not really a mystery, but some mysterious things happen).
Great article, Vera. Thanks for the book recommendations too. I absolutely loved
So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell and the book Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (the movie, no). Looking forward to checking out the others on your list.