Welcome to Wednesday Coffee Hour. This is an open topic thread so help yourself to the goodies and let us know what is new with you. As anyone who has seen my place knows I love to read. Books are stacked two and three layers thick on my shelves. For me there is never such a thing as too many books. It is more of where can I stick another bookcase. My three biggest book collections are science fiction and fantasy, cookbooks, and mysteries.
I love mysteries but rarely figure out who the perpetrator is unlike my cat Pixie who swears the "smelly old dog did it." It doesn't matter if there is a dog or not in the story it is the villain. I think people are fascinated by murders. If you look at plays and books throughout history death plays a large part from the medieval morality plays to Shakespeare to modern days the theme of murder is prevalent. The Mystery and True Crime sections of libraries and bookstores are huge.
A well written mystery gives the reader a chance to solve the story. I have read a lot of Agatha Christie and must admit even when she gives me the same plot I don't figure it out. For myself I am usually the sidekick and am more inclined to think like Watson than Sherlock Holmes.
I think that mysteries whether in written form or on TV or in the movies gives people a chance to get outside themselves and experience something that will probably never happen to us in real life. Most of us will never solve a real life mystery and be able to point to someone and say "you done it."