We hear a lot about wanting to read (or watch) stories with characters who ‘look like me’. In many ways, this is a very good thing. It’s led to an expansion of the publishing industry, with lines devoted to readers whose skin-color or ethnic persuasion is perhaps different from the one you look at in your mirror every day. Nothing wrong with that!
Cozy mysteries shed light on a wide variety of ventures. Detectives or ‘sleuths’ are no longer strictly policemen or private eyes. No, they can be a proprietor of a bed and breakfast or weekly newspaper (Mary Daheim for both of them); a glass blower (Sarah Atwell), writer/producer of a soap opera (Linda Palmer), ghostwriter (Noreen Wald), pet sitters (Linda O. Johnston and Blaize Clement), knitting, needlecrafts (Monica Ferris, Maggie Sefton, Mary Kruger), TV chef (Melinda Wells), medieval acting troupe (Margaret Frazer) and the ubiquitous Tim Myers who writes three separate and unconnected series: cozies wrapped around a bed and breakfast, candle-making and soap-making.
A good many of these authors and/or protagonists are close to my/our age bracket, I think.
There are lots more, of course, but these are authors whom I’ve read and enjoyed. So far. I’ve learned a good many things from reading these books, but I have no aspirations to be any of these craftspersons—except for possibly the ghostwriter. Well, I guess I’ve also been a participant in various varieties of needlework – especially knitting and needlepoint. Of course, most of these authors are women, so they write wonderfully well about a woman’s viewpoint of the world and her more immediate neighborhood. Oh! Come to think of it, I learned how to make my own soap thanks to Tim Myers. My favorite scent is jasmine, which has apparently suddenly become an orphan as far as the commercial soap-makers are concerned. So I took him at his word, that it was easy to make soap, and by golly, it is! I love my soap. Except now I need to order more supplies.
Romance novels also have many categories, from sweet (barely more than a kiss at the end) to anything goes, and I mean that quite literally. In fact, I think romance was the first to really diversify, with imprints directed at (but truly readable by anyone) African-Americans, Latinas and Asians. Of course, there were writers of these ethnic backgrounds who also wrote mass-market romance novels and did quite well with them.
I’ve heard more than one argument about the value of or deep contrast between romance novels vs. the techno-thriller variety of novel. Among the points made: romance novels are very moral, and are deeply involved with emotions and caring, loving relationships, whereas techno-thrillers frequently display brutality and weapons that kill or maim other humans—the opposite of caring or loving. Of course, the point was also made that women do romance, men do techno-thrillers. And we all know that Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus.
So, where am I going with this? Lately, it seems as though every week there’s a new novel published about a ‘serial killer’. Hmmm. And almost every day there’s a newspaper article about a multiple killing somewhere, and it seems women have achieved equality in the killing department, possibly even more so than the boardroom. I’ve never been fond of horror stories –whether book or film– so I’m certainly not at all qualified to judge any of them. Quite honestly, I’m quite certain I’ve never read a book in this genre and I know I’ve not seen any such movies either, other than those of Alfred Hitchcock, and I don’t think his movies were really horror. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I think they shouldn’t be out there, it’s more that I’m not too sure of their value. Given the preponderance—and apparent popularity—of them in our current times, however, I have to wonder what that says about our population at large.
As always, you may leave a comment or write to me directly at: KellyATtheseniorreader.com (no spam, please!)
