There's a market for mysteries for adults. That feeling of opening a book and delving inside and not coming out until you've closed the book.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I just have mysteries in all my books, I think, whether it's a boy investigating or a girl. I have an enduring fascination with mysteries of all kinds.
Part of my motivation for writing mysteries for young people is that I loved mysteries when I was growing up, and now that I'm on the creative end of things, I'm discovering that they're even more fun to write!
It's good to have mysteries. It reminds us that there's more to the world than just making do and having a bit of fun.
I don't think the problem is that people don't read enough mystery books, but that people don't read.
I love mysteries, and I read them every night before I go to bed.
After I had written more than a dozen adult genre novels, an editor I knew in New York asked me to write a mystery for young adults.
Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.
I want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books.
It seems to me that good novels celebrate the mystery in ordinary life, and summing it all up in psychological terms strips the mystery away.
I have always loved reading books for children and young adults, particularly when those books are mysteries.