Someone told me once, or maybe I read it somewhere, that Oxford and Cambridge professors dabbled in mystery stories so as to have something to read while in bed with the flu. My memory of this fact is no doubt highly suspect. I'm not positive that Oxford and Cambridge were specified. It might have been a broader term like "English academics." And I can't remember if these academics were supposed to be writing mystery books or just reading them. And perhaps the type of illness which would afford reading opportunities wasn't limited to influenza. My point in recounting this dubious memory is merely to make an observation: the mystery genre is very English. Or at least that's how it seems to me.
Some years ago I discovered Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey stories. This woman impresses me. She also wrote advertisements for Guinness (ever seen old posters of zoo animals enticing you to pint or two?), and she's most well known for her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. And she enjoyed a personal friendship with C. S. Lewis.
Agatha Christie audiobooks are a staple of our family road trips. The venerable Masterpiece Theatre (Sunday evenings on PBS) has produced many excellent TV adaptations. When the murderer's true identity is finally revealed it's always the last person I suspected, but, after seeing the facts laid bare and interpreted rightly, the only person it possibly could have been. This is why the stories are so fun.
In the past few weeks I've managed to read two books that have been sitting idly on my shelf for years, both mysteries: Sir Arthur Conan Doyles' The Hound of the Baskervilles (a Sherlock Holmes story) and G. K. Chesterton's The Scandal of Father Brown, a collection of short stories featuring the crime solving Roman Catholic priest Father Brown. Both lots of fun.
All these stories share three patterns: (1) The stories don't just revolve around the plot twists and solutions to the crimes but the eccentricities of the main protagonist as well. Christie's Hercule Poirot seems to stand out in particular. (2) The protagonist solves the crime by observing facts which anyone could have seen, if only he had eyes to see. (3) The protagonist usually figures out the murderer's identity well before he reveals his/her identity, but chooses to keep his discovery secret until the final opportune moment.
Not all mystery books and stories are equally enjoyable, but if you've got the flu they're a great way to spend your convalescence.
I went through a Holmes kick several years back, and they're all pretty great reads. In fact, the time might be ripe to re-visit those. I also have several of the movies with Basil Rathbone in my Netflix queue (though admittedly, I've never gotten around to watching those).
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