The Appeal of the Mystery Genre Essay

“This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last,” Oscar Wilde and many others have given us these small pieces of enlightenment, suspense is hated yet yearned for at the same time. Suspense is waiting for a decision or outcome to happen. Suspense makes everyone who reads it enchanted by it as if it were magic. If it's a book, they cannot stop reading if it is a film they cannot stop watching. People are engrossed by anticipation while trying to figure out what is lurking around the corner with suspense. The three most suspenseful texts I have read this unit are Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher, “Let ‘Em Play God” by Hollywood Reporter and “Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Two Kinds of Suspense All Authors Should Be Aware Of” by Victoria Grefer. I’m going to demonstrate you in the following three paragraphs how the texts show you things, but also leave you guessing.

Suspense. Mystery. Murder. This book kept you thinking about them all. There are ten people on an island they are all mysteriously dying one by one. Everyone is accusing each other of killing others. In the novel And Then There Were None written by Agatha Christie, the mystery elements that were used were: main conflict, setting, characterization, and the author's techniques of giving clues.

Suspense is a detail that many horror writer use to catch the attention of many readers and keep them holding on till the end. Just as W.F. Harvey does when creating suspense in his story August Heat. Mr. Harvey used three methods to create his suspense for his story, foreshadowing, withholding information, and reversal. With these three methods he is able to make the reader feel like, “ We may even hold our breath without realizing it as we read on eagerly to find out how the story ends”(Source 1).

* The author creates suspense by starting with the slow beginning and then making the story faster and more attention-grabbing. The author cleverly manipulates readers sense of disbelief by eliminating the possibility of police help or parental understanding. The author reveals the serial killer to the reader at the end of the story. By that time Duncan keeps searching him. Author slowly reveals the clues out of the lost journal of serial killer to make readers focus in the story. Also with the slowly

People reads books and they get their captured by the suspense the authors use to write their stories. Suspense is a key point for most readers it keeps them reading the book to see what happens next. Both Edgar Allan Poe and Richard Connell are very good authors that use a lot of suspense throughout their short stories. Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” and Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” are two stories full of suspense. It’s unpredictable, surprising that we can’t figure out what happens next. .Through conflict, setting, and diction Poe and Connell are able to build suspense.

For example, when Angela Wexler a perfect child who would not do anything harmful bombed her own face only to get caught by her mother, who cares so much about her. In the story it states that “ Angela glanced at her watch and reached for the tall, thin carton wrapped in gold foil.”this quote shows us that Angela knows when and where (it was in the parcel) the bomb in the Wexlers apartment will explode (Raskin 112). The reason why this part of the story shows suspense is because we don’t know the intentions of Angela, until the clues we find later in the story shows us Angela’s actual intention was to get caught by her mother and be an actual normal being. Another example of suspense is the cliffhangers. The reason why cliffhangers are suspenseful because they leave the reader dangling with questions, and want to read on to know more. A good example of a cliffhanger is after Turtle finds the answer to the game, we think Angela and Dr Deere are getting married, but it is actually Crow and Otis Amber’s wedding, which is very awkward moreover, we never knew what happened between them, like you don’t know what is happening when you are absent (Raskin 207). All of these are good examples of suspense which a good mystery novel

To write a good mystery novel takes time and only a few authors have been successful in writing them. Mystery novels has been around for a period of time with historical authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle and recent author Stephen King. In these novels, clues are provided by the author and Christopher Boone, narrator of the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, states, “If it is a good puzzle you can sometimes work out the answer before the end of the book” (5). In relation to this, the most valuable information is typically gained throughout the process of the investigation rather than the solution itself. Although the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is not classified as a detective story, the plot still goes through an investigation and shares elements of a mystery novel. The mystery within the story that keeps the novel going is to find the killer of Mrs. Shears’ poodle, Wellington, and in turn, shapes the ending where the audience sees the development of the protagonist, Christopher, through the investigation itself, the journey to London and his overall ability as a writer.

There are several types of mystery stories, one in particular, is known as hard-boiled mysteries. This specific genera was originated in the 1940s, they were created to veer away from the typical mysteries that dominated this era. This particular mystery genera is quite different from another mystery story, especially when it comes to the characters in the story. Within the hard-boiled mystery genera, there are several different articles and stories. Some of these include, “Red Wind”, “Three Dot Po”, “Film Noir and the Hard-Boiled Detective Hero”, other articles come from “detnovel.com.” Furthermore, within these articles and stories there are several ideas and themes discussed and introduced. However, there is one idea present in all,

The sense of suspense is carried out in the

Sharon Russell said in “What is the Horror Genre?”, “But that suspense is intensified by our knowledge of the genre. We know that characters involved in the world of horror always meet something awful when they go where they shouldn’t .”(Lines 20-23) This can be interpreted meaning what the reader feels is deepened when they know more about the background knowledge. Sharon Russell states an example when she wrote about how the reader knows characters are involved in horror when they meet something when they go somewhere they shouldn’t have. “The Monkey’s Paw” meets Sharon Russell’s expectations for this because in partⅠ, W.W. Jacobs wrote how the Mr. White ignores Sergeant-Major Morris’s warnings about how ghastly the paw actually is. Throughout the lines one through one hundred twenty-nine, Major Morris shares with the Whites how the paw is hurt him and how the paw affected the first man, who wished for death. “Better let it burn,” said the soldier solemnly. “If you don’t want it, Morris,” said the other, “give it to me.” “I won’t,” said his friend doggedly. “I threw it on the fire. If you keep it, don’t blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire again like a sensible man.” (“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs Lines 108-112) Although the suspense throughout the entire short story matched Sharon Russell’s definition of horror using suspense, lines

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The main purpose of a murder mystery is to keep the reader guessing till the very end, and Brian O’Hare has done a great job of it. The 11.05 Murders keeps you occupied till the very last chapter, wondering who the killer is, and however much you try to guess, you’ll probably still get it wrong. The twists and turns happening throughout the novel finally culminate into one grand finale which is so unexpected it will leave you reeling.

In an ironic twist of events, one of Chicago’s finest represented and stood beside one of America's most infamous serial killers and never knew. Larson includes this little fact to not only shock the audience but to further show Holmes’s charismatic persona. The irony is elucidated in the words “most surprising and perhaps dismaying” and is further played out before the eyes of the reader, invoking a feeling of astonishment and even admiration for the criminal whose charm can blind the eyes of even the chief of police.

This is all to have them anticipate the ending and the solving of the mystery, to keep them gripped. Even the very title of the novel is unclear and does well to conjure up ideas inside the readers mind. It is only until the whole story is took in and the ending is unveiled that the reader can fully appreciate and understand

Mystery and suspense is conveyed by never giving the reader an entire answer, which causes the reader to read on.