 Tina Turner sang that she never did anything “nice and easy.” As authors, we know nice and easy can be a boring read. People want confrontation, tension, and battles-of-wills between the characters in books. Even Cinderella had to deal with three mean stepsisters and an evil stepmother. So how can you tell if a book has just the right amount of tension? As a reader, how do you choose? Books are put into a category but often the style of the writing makes it difficult to cast the book in only one classification. Is it a thriller? Mystery? Romance? Crime story? The problem is most books have a bit of all these genre types. Even the typical cozy, which is intended to be a fun and comfortable read, has crime elements at the core of the story. You say that you don’t read cozies. You might still recognize the style. Ever heard of Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Agatha Christie? These books are classified as cozy mysteries. Cozies can also be found on television, Murder She Wrote, or The Aurora Teagarden Mystery series on the Hallmark channel. So, what do you like reading? Romance, murder mysteries, thrillers, cozies. It can be a daunting task to know what your likes are in books. All genres need confrontation, suspense, and tension, even romance novels. Think about the scenario of boy gets girl, boy loses girl, and then boy gets the girl back. No romance goes perfect. Perhaps, there is a dead body or two that comes between the couple getting together. Nothing can cool a romance like murder. Who can the protagonist trust? Is the murderer her boyfriend? Maybe, you like a challenge of a mystery and want to try to solve it before the answer is revealed. Then, mystery and crime stories might be for you. Was the murder premeditated or a crime of passion? Crime and mysteries books are considered to be an intellectual read but hardly ever like the machete-wheeling, slasher thriller movies. For me, I love to read (and write) plots with a love story and a mystery both. A crime or murder is a twist that interrupts the romantic couple’s story. Sandra Brown has become an internationally known author of romance and suspense novels. Her books have a mix of love and crime. Brenda Novak writes in multiple genres. I love The Evelyn Talbot mystery series, which are romantic thrillers about a psychiatrist who studies serial killers at a remote facility in Alaska. It is very hard to classify a book to cover the writing style of an author. I once had a relative say that he could not buy one of my books for his wife because she was too sensitive to read, “books like that.” I was so floored that I failed to ask what kind of book he thought I had written. I can only guess that since murder was in the title he had the misconception that it was filled with bloody details of the crime. It does not. There’s no gory description of the crime scene anywhere in the book. This got me thinking of categorizing books and the misunderstandings that some of these classifications give to many people. Books can be very different from what you watch on television on the crime channels, or in a forensic program. Some books might zero in on the details of the crime, however, many authors who write mystery or crime story novels, often mix love and crime in the storytelling. The crime is a tension-building device for storytelling. Not to mention buzzwords in titles like murder, killing, and die can mislead. The publishers choose these types of buzzwords to catch the attention of readers browsing books to buy. These are attention grabbers, not warnings of what is inside the book.  The master of films, Alfred Hitchcock, used crimes to create intrigue, much like many authors do today. He pulled the viewers into the story as participants with his method. He didn’t rely on shocking his audience with special effects of a bullet piercing through a man’s chest. The movies, Rear Window and The Man Who Knew Too Much, are good examples of this. Both centered on a crime, without any bloody close-ups. I love studying his films and his style has influenced my writing. When I write, I don’t give graphic details of a crime scene unless absolutely necessary for story plotting. The crime is to add a suspenseful escape for my readers from the everyday stress of life and to entertain them. Who would want to read about a boring life of a person who has retired, sits all day, goes to bed, wakes the next day, and only to start over again?  The book that my relative thought his wife could not read was, The Rainbow Murders. I have had fans argue that this particular book is more of a love story than a psychological thriller. Guess what? It’s both, with a heavy dose of romance. The description is “A Cocktail of Love and Terror.” It is about a killer on the loose, a frightened community, and a beautiful protagonist who is seeking to find true love. All the while she is dealing with a stalker, a homicide detective, and doubts about a handsome stranger.
The lesson learned is if murder is in the title, do not assume it is violent, and set the book aside. Something caught your eye to the title or cover, so investigate the book further. Turn it over and read about the story. You just might be surprised that the title misled your thinking. Check out different genres and experiment with reading new authors. If you hate reading, don’t give up, you might find out that you actually do love reading but just have been reading the wrong types of books. So, don’t be left behind, jump on the train of adventure with the world of books.
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Author
Chris Coad Taylor’s passion is writing suspense/mysteries, and romantic suspense/thrillers novels. Her writing style is character-driven books. She is a fan of the famous film director, Alfred Hitchcock and believes like him that your audience does not need bloody details. Suspense builds better in the minds of your audience. Taylor gives only enough detail to the crimes in her novels that are necessary while planting clues and painting romantic scenes with enough spice to keep you captivated to the very last page. Archives
June 2023
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