cleodoxa ([personal profile] cleodoxa) wrote in [personal profile] skygiants 2025-05-13 02:08 am (UTC)

I think for me the appeal of the mystery genre is less about the restoration of order than the dance of the seven veils. The constant discovery of secrets and alterations of the picture is what I like, and also simply the way the structure of the mystery genre makes a collection of character portraits and an atmosphere into a novel. I don't mind much if we never actually discover the ultimate secret, though I do much prefer to know that going in. A really great mystery solution instantly turns the whole story you've just read into a different, more intriguing story that tantalises even while it delivers because it's compelling in retrospect. A lot of mystery solutions are more "Ah, yes, I see" because even when they're plausible but not overly predictable they are just the end of secrets, not the culmination of secrets.

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