the Blacksheep Project: [WEEKLY MUSING] my undeniable relationship with mysteries

Hello,

Last week, I posted that we're having a long weekend vacation. We went to a beach over at Zambales - Anawangin Cove. The place was great and very relaxing to look at. It was my one and only actual vacation this summer break and I think that it was totally worth it :)

book genres I bother with.
This past week, I actually had that moment of wondering about which books genres I really care about. I do know that I'm not fond of high fantasy since I didn't really enjoyed Shadow and Bone as well as The Young Elites. Please don't hate me. I do think that both books were really great. I was just not fangirling over those series. Well okay... I didn't really care about Shadow and Bone. Magics and shiz like that just don't attract me. But I'm still willing to try the genre :)
ANYWAY, as I ponder over the books I actually LOVE, I realized that aside from my typical YA reads: generally scifi-dystopian and contemporary-romance, I'm really inclined to reading mystery novels - could be YA mysteries, adult mystery-thriller, crime fiction (especially this!), police procedural/detective novels, and cozy mystery. Then I asked myself, WHY?

WHY?
Here're somethings:
(1) I like the whole looking over at things, the investigation process - the clues, questioning other people, interviews, rumors heard, looking at CCTV cameras, phone recordings, etc. There're a lot!
(2) I like thinking about who did what.. Don't you think it's very thrilling to think about who did what whenever you read? :D
(3) The team working on each mystery. Okay, so this is kind of a bonus on books. It's about how fun or interesting the characters solving the mysteries are.
(4) The twists! mystery twists are always fun. Several times I'd guess who did what but then around half the book, I'll doubt myself only to find out that I was right all along. It's also very interesting to see how each suspect goes around their reasons. Mystery revelations MUST always be good.. That's one of their best parts, really.

Let me tell you this, I think mysteries are not about the mystery.. sometimes a really normal mystery can turn into a great novel just from how its solving is done (because this is where all the thrills happen and where the novel really absorbs you), how quirky the characters are (because you solve the mystery with them), and how well the revelation is made (because this your 'I KNEW IT' or 'WTF?' or 'I seriously didn't expected that' moment).

Mysteries easily absorb me especially if they're crime fictions. Robert Galbraith's (aka JK Rowling's) The Cuckoo's Calling is the one that brought me to crime fiction. I read the book because of its overwhelming popularity. I tried it and I was instantly hooked. I tried to read a few more crime fiction and I really enjoyed them. Then I came across a cozy mystery, Meet Your Baker, which immediately made my favorite list.

How about you guys, do you read mystery books? What do you like most about reading mysteries?

{ MYSTERIES I ENJOY }