I have had trouble finding non-violent, enjoyable audio mysteries lately! I am tired of listing to books that have despicable subjects like snuff films and child abuse. I just want an intelligent mystery book to listen to that develops the characters and has a plot!
Unfortunately, I think that this trend for "shock" is permeating everything that I used to find enjoyable. Take for instance the TV series "Bones". For the last few seasons I have noticed that the gelatinous bodies have been getting more screen time than Temperance Brennan. Why do we need to see a close up of the gross decomposing body for 5 seconds more? Can't we just see the facial expressions of the actors to let us know that it is horrible? Why do the producers and writers have to imprint a gross image in our head? Maybe the story line is lacking or the actors did not come to work that day.
I remember watching the original film noir Cat People
and being frightened out of my head. The movie viewer never actually sees the stalking panther, but we heard it and sensed that the person being stalked was frightened out of their gourd! The film maker used the philosophy that what is in our imagination can be more frightening that what actually is seen.
I recently created A Cozy Mystery List for like-minded readers. I like a mystery novel to be long on plot and character development and short on the gross-out factor. There are enough unpleasant things going on in the world today.
From that list, I highly recommend Murder on a Girls' Night Out (Southern Sisters Mysteries)
. I have read the book and listened to the audio version of this mystery novel and find Ms. George an extremely satisfying author.
Have fun finding a new author. You might consider the following books for your summer reading:
Unfortunately, I think that this trend for "shock" is permeating everything that I used to find enjoyable. Take for instance the TV series "Bones". For the last few seasons I have noticed that the gelatinous bodies have been getting more screen time than Temperance Brennan. Why do we need to see a close up of the gross decomposing body for 5 seconds more? Can't we just see the facial expressions of the actors to let us know that it is horrible? Why do the producers and writers have to imprint a gross image in our head? Maybe the story line is lacking or the actors did not come to work that day.
I remember watching the original film noir Cat People
and being frightened out of my head. The movie viewer never actually sees the stalking panther, but we heard it and sensed that the person being stalked was frightened out of their gourd! The film maker used the philosophy that what is in our imagination can be more frightening that what actually is seen.I recently created A Cozy Mystery List for like-minded readers. I like a mystery novel to be long on plot and character development and short on the gross-out factor. There are enough unpleasant things going on in the world today.
From that list, I highly recommend Murder on a Girls' Night Out (Southern Sisters Mysteries)
. I have read the book and listened to the audio version of this mystery novel and find Ms. George an extremely satisfying author.Have fun finding a new author. You might consider the following books for your summer reading:
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