Genre: "Mystery" Books
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term that is often used as a synonym of detective fiction — in other words a novel or short story in which a detective (either professional or amateur) solves a crime. The term "mystery fiction" may sometimes be limited to the subset of detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle element and its logical solution (cf. whodunit), as a contrast to hardboiled detective stories which focus on action and gritty realism. However, in more general usage "mystery" may be used to describe any form of crime fiction, even if there is no mystery to be solved. For example, the Mystery Writers of America describes itself as "the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre".
Although normally associated with the crime genre, the term "mystery fiction" may in certain situations refer to a completely different genre, where the focus is on supernatural mystery (even if no crime is involved). This usage was common in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, where titles such as Dime Mystery, Thrilling Mystery and Spicy Mystery offered what at the time were described as "weird menace" stories – supernatural horror in the vein of Grand Guignol. This contrasted with parallel titles such as Dime Detective, Thrilling Detective and Spicy Detective, which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of "mystery" in this sense was by Dime Mystery, which started out as an ordinary crime fiction magazine but switched to "weird menace" during the latter part of 1933.
New Releases "Mystery" Books
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter
by Alexis Hall
The Gone Dead
by Chanelle Benz
Big Sky (Jackson Brodie, #5)
by Kate Atkinson
One Night at the Lake
by Bethany Chase
This Storm
by James Ellroy
Wherever She Goes
Magic for Liars
The Last House Guest
Tell Me Everything
by Cambria Brockman
by Jo Baker
The Starter Wife
by Nina Laurin
The Spies of Shilling Lane
by Jennifer Ryan
Most Read This Week "Mystery" Books
The Perfect Child
by Lucinda Berry
The Dark Bones (A Dark Lure, #2)
The Woman in Our House
by Andrew Hart
Forgotten Bones (Dead Remaining #1)
by Vivian Barz
A Merciful Promise (Mercy Kilpatrick, #6)
by Kendra Elliot
Backlash (Scott Harvath, #19)
by Brad Thor
Everything I Never Told You
by Celeste Ng
In the Darkness (Zoe Bentley Mystery, #2)
by Mike Omer
Popular "Mystery" Books
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2)
by Stieg Larsson
The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1)
by Robert Galbraith
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)
A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)
by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)
by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)
In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)
Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)
by Gillian Flynn
Genre: "Mystery" eBooks List