Most People Read Mysteries Whether They Know it or Not

Each year I worry the popularity of the mystery novel will wane and each year I see mysteries are becoming more and more popular.

According to Statistica, an Internet Statistic Company, in 2014 Erotica and Romance was number one in sales for all genres ($1.44 billion), followed by Crime and Mystery ($728.2 million). Third was Religious/Inspirational ($720 million), fourth was Science Fiction and Fantasy ($590.2 million), and fifth was Horror ($79.6 million).

The Mystery genre has trailed Romance maybe since the 1990’s but has always been in the top three genre categories in popularity.

But if you stop and think about it, all readers love mysteries. Maybe even enough to challenge Romance, which is the dominant category in the Romance/Erotica genre.

How many romances have an element of mystery to them as a subplot? Most every fictional books you might read have an element of mystery to them. Some mysteries are overt and some more subtle. Why do you keep reading? Because you want to see what is going to happen. (Plot is a mystery the author formulates to keep you turning the pages.) Maybe no one will be murdered. There may not be a who done it element, but there may be a what happens to the character you care about element. Will they marry the handsome hero or fall into bed with the nasty cad? Will the hero triumph in his/her goal, or will he/she fail? Will there be a plot twist? If any of these things occur it’s a mystery because you won’t find out the answer until the end of the book.

Now, as a mystery writer, I will concede that many mysteries have a romantic subplot for the same reasons. A romance makes a strong subplot and helps the reader identify and care about the characters. So the romantic subplot becomes a mystery within a mystery.

And the romance is fun to write. In my upcoming book, Billie Bly’s assistant, Angel, must decide which of two men she likes. She delays her decision because she sort of likes the fact that two men would get in a fist fight over her. Meanwhile she makes life miserable for Billie who is trying to figure out where her own relationship is going.

I didn’t know what decisions Billie and Angel would make until two-thirds of the way through the book. Even now I question their decisions. What if they made a mistake? Will the love interest change in the next book? I don’t know.

And that’s another mystery element. You’ve probably heard that some authors outline their book and some don’t. But I’ve heard both types of authors talk about losing control of their characters and how they react in ways the author never expected.

So what do you think? Have you noticed mystery subplots in the non-mysteries you read? Is there a mystery in Young Adult books? What about historical romances? Fantasy, Women’s Fiction, Science Fiction? Is there a murder? Is something stolen? Is there a puzzle to solve or a world to understand?

Whatever is new or unexplained is a mystery, isn’t it? Do authors weave a little mystery in as a subplot in YA or Sci-Fi or is the plot actually a mystery disguised as something else? Is literary fiction a story of beautiful words, or is there a puzzle or mystery to be unraveled.

Is mystery the number one selling genre of all time or am I all wet?