I know I'm not alone in enjoying Christmas mysteries. After all, what goes better with Christmas than murder?
There are lots of Christmas murder mysteries in print--I referenced a website on my last post that gave a list of available titles. Why is this, though?
I think that mysteries are wonderful stress relief. You have a crisis in the book that affects the entire fictional community. At the end, we heave a huge sigh of relief as the killer is taken away in cuffs and order is restored once again to the town/idyll.
Christmas, for all its joys, is....stressful. You're trying to wrap presents, shop, cook, corral children into some semblance of order, and visit with family. Plus there's this idealistic view of Christmas everywhere (commercials especially--doesn't everyone look extraordinarily happy, attractive, and organized?) to try to live up to.
A little murder fits in nicely.
I'd love to try my hand at a Christmas mystery and have lots of ideas floating around my head. I wonder if writing one would provide as much escape as reading one?
I think it's worth a try.
BEST BLOG POSTS: I'd like to have a better list of cool blog posts this week, but I really haven't been at my computer as much (Christmas crunch, you know.) Instead I've been baking cookies (don't panic, people who know me---it was from pre-packaged cookie dough so the cookies were actually edible), volunteering at the schools, and fighting the crowds in Target. But I still found:
Jezebel's list of 75 books every woman should read. And Esquire's list of 75 books every man should read. Thanks to Moonrat for discovering them.
Some interesting posts on the Make Mine Mystery blog on creating suspense in your book.
The Renegade Writer blog addresses perfectionism for those of us to are inclined to go there.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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