Shannon Work on Why Readers Love Mystery Novels

Author Shannon Work shares why she thinks readers love mysteries

I read widely in an eclectic mix of genres—history, westerns, romance and mystery. But if you said to choose just one, I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d choose a good mystery novel every time.

Since the publication of Now I See You, I’ve been asked why I chose to write a mystery. The answer is simple. It’s what I most love to read.

Traditional detectives, amateur sleuths, hard-boiled cops, cozies—I like them all.

Some of my favorite mystery authors are no longer with us: Agatha Christie, PD James, and Mary Higgins Clark. A few favorite contemporaries are Ruth Ware, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.

When I pick up a mystery, I know what I’m going to get. There will be a crime (usually murder), there will be good guys and bad, clues and red herrings, an intriguing puzzle that will keep me turning the pages to find out ‘whodunit.’ And in the end, justice will prevail.

Predictable tropes? Maybe. But a good mystery promises the reader a story of action and adventure. We can step into exotic settings and dangerous situations, living vicariously through the story’s characters from the safety of our own homes.

Most of us are law-abiding citizens. We’re not crime-solvers or criminals. But reading a good mystery allows us to step out of our lives for a few hours and lose ourselves in stories of danger and intrigue. We are offered a thrill without the threat. We’re given a courtside seat as the hero gathers and sifts through clues, and hunts down the bad guy.

Playwright Oscar Wilde once said: “The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.”

We know the stories never last. There’s always the last chapter, the last page, the final sentence. But when the story is done, when good has prevailed and evil is punished, when all is right with the world again, that’s when it’s time to scan the bookshelf and grab the next.

About Shannon Work

Shannon Work grew up in Del Rio, a border town in the dusty wilds of West Texas. When she graduated from high school, she moved east to College Station and graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Land Economics and Real Estate.

Most of her working life has been spent developing real estate, earning a national Best in America Living Award for one of her developments. After two failed starts at writing a novel while raising three kids and working, she retired to pursue her dream of writing mystery novels full time.

Shannon and her husband are recent empty nesters and split their time between Houston, Texas and Telluride, Colorado. Always with their laptops and dogs in tow.

About the Book

Now I See You Mountain Resort Mystery Series Book 1 by Shannon Work
Genre: Mystery

Synopsis

Two murders. A terrified mountain resort. Can a daring reporter help stop an avalanche of dead bodies?

Celebrity TV anchor Georgia Glass wants out of Denver and far away from her obsessed fan. Set to host her own investigative crime show in LA, she’s surprised to inherit a Victorian house in Aspen from a mysterious uncle she never knew. But while exploring the gothic property, she discovers the frozen corpse of a missing heiress.

Georgia’s journalist instincts kick in and she is determined to help police track down the killer. But by investigating the murder, has she made herself the killer’s next target?

Can Georgia help solve the case before she becomes the next victim? Or will the stalker that followed her to Aspen get her first?

Now I See You is a fast-paced whodunit set amidst the spectacular scenery of Aspen, Colorado, and the first book in the suspenseful Mountain Resort Mystery series.

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