>>>The mystery. On the shelves sit Stout, Tey, Heyer, Sayers, Elkins and Papazoglou. (Haddams are read, but mostly go to storage in Indiana. The mystery element seems to be fading away.) In the mystery, the facts are set before the reader, and, properly interpreted, it points to only one person. Any mystery in which someone else could have committed the murder–unless the trick is in how someone was gotten to incriminate themselves–is an unsatisfactory mystery, as are any in which not all the facts are in evidence prior to the denoument.

So, on the one hand, the Detection Club Oath and the thrill of the hunt. I also have a fair bit on celebrated historical mysteries–Custer, Richard III, and everything I can get on the history of Cryptanalysis and the decyphering of unknown scripts. On the other hand, a strong sense of place–series mysteries with a familiar cast, and, except for the poor coppers, homes: Wolfe’s brownstone, the Picadilly flat and Tallboys, and Pay’s apartment. These people have gone out, set the world right by their intellectual ability and integrity, and gone home. More power to them. They are not so very different from some of my swashbucklers and SF, though, which also feature people who set the world aright sna go home.

One of the nice things about my present status is that I can take chances with my purchases. I’ve spent money on about three books last year which were supposed to be classic mysteries, just like the golden age. All three were donated to various sales. I think I only finished one. Elkins is fading. If there is someone out there the equal of the golden age mystery greats, a name would be appreciated. But do you remember complaining about one of the New Englanders with a good idea for a story poorly executed? And you complaining that you wouldn’t take the idea and run with it because now it was used? I think the desire to be original and not to get too close to the classics may be one of the things which closes out a golden age.

But how you start one, I don’t know. A successful book spawns imitators, obviously, but there’s a diference between a family resemblance and clones. At a guess, a few strikingly successful authors, a readership for a type and low entry costs are necessary. I don’t suppose anyone’s read a paper at the MLA on the subject?

But on the deeper issue of the mystery novel, I wish I knew how one produces a golden age. Please note that there is also precious little SF published today which would have passed muster when John Campbell Jr edited ANALOG/ASTOUNDING–the golden age of SF. When I feel the need for a good swashbuckler, I generally have to buy something about a century old. Detective fiction isn’t the only genre in the doldrums. Good job it IS a golden age of romantic comedy. By the way, I don’t think there were two golden ages of the mystery novel. I think there was one beginning after WWI, and continuing into the fifties, though World WAr II was a bit of a distraction. None of the mystery greats began after the War, and many would continue writing mysteries as long as they were physically able.

I suspect part of the golden age is writers taking inspiration from one another, and part of the problem afterward is that those authors remain competition. A new swashbuckler has to bear comparison with Sabatini, and a new SF writer with early Heinlein or Poul Anderson. Show me a new detective fiction writer who holds up next to Stout and Sayers, Tey and Heyer, and I’ll burn rubber getting to Borders.

But that’s a lot to ask. As for why I love a mystery, I’ll pass for now.

When I’m really anxious about something personal, the only antidote is a bout of serious mystery reading. I think it gives me an illusion of order. So when the world economy is tanking, the bad guys got away with your 401C, your government resigned, your country is bankrupt, and war is breaking out – I’d say that the illusion of Good triumphing over Evil thanks to human intelligence is pretty comforting. Better than mashed potatoes.

I read old and new, but a favorite old book just adds to the comfort, particularly if the action takes place in a time and location and society I can romanticize. Modern mysteries remind me too much of the bad stuff outside the window.

As for cheap entertainment? I’m not sure – TV, cell phone “stuff,” going to the mall and hanging out with a bit of money to buy some little trinket?

As for sacrifice – no, we don’t do it much anymore. Delaying gratification — saving up for things, putting things on layaway, making due, repairing things, reusing things, making things, renting things, borrowing things – I don’t think any of this is part of American life these days.

I don’t think there are a lot of really good MYSTERY writers out there (though I am fond of Nevada Barr who also has a protagonist I find appealing) with the exceptions of JH and P.D. James.

But I don’t read for ‘escape’ as much as for the challenge and for the aesthetics of good writing and for the characters, many of whom have become my friends over the years.

You asked about why the rise in supernatural writing during the Recent Economic Pleasantness. You are right, for much of that period, the money seemed to come out of nowhere. Ridiculous rises in home values, imaginary billions created out of internet startups gone wild, etc. Well, when your money seems to come out of thin air, why *not* believe in magic, and want to read about it? Certainly there were no valid economic theories about where the money was coming from, and in spite of the prosperity, the underpinnings of the whole time were uncertain. In times of uncertainty, even prosperous uncertainty, people turn to magic.

Mysteries, puzzle-based novels, have been with us since they were invented. People like them because they can be read on many levels. The reader can compete with the detective in solving the crime, or relax and go along for the ride if they crave entertainment. Newer authors *don’t* get the publicity to be top of mind when a library patron asks a librarian to recommend a mystery. Publishing houses will cut back on publicity during hard times, so that may be one reason why fewer mysteries are read during that time. But I tend to think that it’s a parallel to the 30s movies..people want more fantasy and fluff, to read about something or someone that has nothing to do with home foreclosures, unemployment and reality. In many ways a nice Christie novel describes a world so different from reality it might be a different planet.

I know what you mean about the unthinkability of the concept of sacrifice though. Last year my husband & I saved money so we could pay cash for a new (used) car. The salesperson treated us like we were Mr. & Mrs. GotBucks. He actually told us we were “rich.” No, we explained, we saved our money until we had enough, it took a couple of years of foregoing some discretionary spending and skipping a vacation or two, not to mention working more. He looked at us like we were speaking a foreign language. I know when we left he still thought we were “rich.”

I don’t know what the solution to that is. Our kids have never seen us struggle, the way we saw our parents struggle. We’ve tried not to give them too much, and to encourage them to get out and experience their own “lean times” the way we did when we were newly adult. Doesn’t seem to be working. The next 20 years are going to be interesting, that’s for sure.

Actually, I thought yesterday’s responses weren’t about the fact that everything is more expensive, but rather provided guesses as to why they were. And these guesses generally didn’t have anything to do with willingness to pay, but focused instead on changes in organization and technology that have developed in the movie industry and education. People don’t make profitable movies these days with black and white film, elementary (and cheap) special effects and unknown actors willing to work cheaply.

Part of the increase in educational costs is, in fact, an attempt to ‘do things properly’, although a cynic like me often wonders how effective these efforts are. Sure, it’s cheaper and probably better for hearing and visually impaired students, especially those with moderate impairment, to be taught in their local school by regular teachers with support by itinerant specialists than in boarding schools hundreds of kilometres from home. And if you can’t provide specialist science or French teachers in rural schools, a roving specialist can help the generalist. It does sound like it’s gone to extremes in your state, but systems of funding and responsibilities for the management of schools differ so much between the US and Canada I really shouldn’t speculate further. Well, I can’t resist making a few comments.

I think there probably is a focus on the self that causes a reluctance to sacrifice in contemporary culture, but I’m not sure that has much to do with the conditions of the schools because I think there’s a tendency to assume that there’s lots of money going there already; it’s just mis-spent. So why send good money after bad? Plus there’s a minority who don’t understand why they should pay taxes to schools when they don’t have children. I don’t have children, and that attitude drives me crazy. I want all the younger people who will be helping me in the future with everything from checking out my grocery purchases to providing my medical care to be as well-educated as possible.

As for where the modern poor find entertainment equivalent to the cheap movie of a couple generations ago, I’d guess TV and gambling. And I bet both Canada and the US are well-enough off that almost all poor households can scrape together enough for cable or satellite TV. Gambling is even cheaper, particularly the lottery tickets which seem to be replacing bingo and card games.

I’ve read other genres. I still do. I suppose I read mysteries most (at the moment) followed by science fiction/ fantasy/ supernatural. I haven’t read much in the romance category for a while. I don’t know why people read mysteries, or why they read more in difficult times. I read them because I like the puzzles.

I read both the old stuff & the new, when I can find it. I wish there was more of the new to read. When I do mystery displays (contemporary or older authors) in the library, they fly off the shelves. I suspect their limited sales may have more to do with limited promotion than anything. Right now thrillers get on all the best seller lists, & lots of people find their reading from those lists. So they’re self-reinforcing. People don’t know the names of new authors if they’re not on those lists, so they go with the names they know–Christie, Sayers, etc. We do displays & book lists in the library, but that probably mostly affects in-library use, not sales.

As to why people read more mysteries in poor economic times, I’m just guessing. But maybe it’s because they have unsoluble problems in their own lives. When they read mysteries, at least that problem gets solved. Even if it’s not their own problem, it may be comforting just to feel that some solutions do exist.