Crime & Mystery
A reminder that mystery is bigger than the week’s shiny new paperback.
More Mysteries is basically a reference shelf with a pulse, pointing readers towards detective and mystery stories that were available in cassette or braille through the National Library Service. That matters. Discovery matters. Not just the front-table thriller with the loud cover and the promise of “the twist you’ll never see coming”, as if that’s the whole job.
Genre survives because people keep finding new doors into it. This is one of those useful, slightly unfashionable books that does the quiet work.
More Mysteries is basically a reference shelf with a pulse, pointing readers towards detective and mystery stories that were available in cassette or braille through the National Library Service. That matters. Discovery matters. Not just the front-table thriller with the loud cover and the promise of “the twist you’ll never see coming”, as if that’s the whole job.
Genre survives because people keep finding new doors into it. This is one of those useful, slightly unfashionable books that does the quiet work.
There’s a small pleasure in books that are useful without pretending to be glamorous about it. This one is almost the opposite of the “must-read” machine, which is probably why I like the idea of it. Mystery is a broad tent, and the odd little catalogue books are part of how people actually find their way into it. The loud covers can keep their twist, thanks.
Reference books get treated like background noise until you actually need one. Then they’re the difference between “there are mysteries” and “here are mysteries I can reach”. That’s not a small thing.
Also, the cassette and braille angle matters more than people like to admit. Access is part of genre culture, not some separate charitable annex.
Also, the cassette and braille angle matters more than people like to admit. Access is part of genre culture, not some separate charitable annex.