Aug 12, 2026 · 52 min · 9 segments
Disclaimer! Jenny had to record from the middle of nowhere and had issues with the audio. We did our best to fix it, but ... please be kind b/c the conversation is still funny, engaging, and full of…
And my question is very apropos.
Dani,
what do you think makes a good
mystery
novel? There has to be a sense of investment.
Like, I have to care about the characters.
I think one thing that doesn't work for me in a lot of mystery novels, and I say mystery, not thriller here.
I know sometimes there's overlap here.
I don't know.
But I think
for me, they really have to be, to be successful, character driven.
There has been an expansion of the genre that focuses a lot on like intricate plot devices.
And those I don't find as successful for me as a reader.
I really like, I mean, I like the magpie murders.
It's interesting.
He has a series where it's about it's similar in this vein where there's like a murder mystery and then like there's a book within a book.
And so you read the book while you're reading the book.
And then the book that you're reading within the book has like the answers to the actual mystery.
And it's very clever.
I just don't feel terribly invested.
in that kind of work when I'm reading it.
So I think for me, I have to care.
Another thing is that the motivations of the killer, specifically for a murder mystery, have to make sense and they can't come out of the blue.
I know we talked about this previously last season when we read Carter Wilson's Tell Me What You Did, that you were saying that there's rules of writing where you can't have a mysterious twin, right?
And my question is very apropos.
Dani,
what do you think makes a good
mystery
novel? There has to be a sense of investment.
Like, I have to care about the characters.
I think one thing that doesn't work for me in a lot of mystery novels, and I say mystery, not thriller here.
I know sometimes there's overlap here.
I don't know.
But I think
for me, they really have to be, to be successful, character driven.
There has been an expansion of the genre that focuses a lot on like intricate plot devices.
And those I don't find as successful for me as a reader.
I really like, I mean, I like the magpie murders.
It's interesting.
He has a series where it's about it's similar in this vein where there's like a murder mystery and then like there's a book within a book.
And so you read the book while you're reading the book.
And then the book that you're reading within the book has like the answers to the actual mystery.
And it's very clever.
I just don't feel terribly invested.
in that kind of work when I'm reading it.
So I think for me, I have to care.
Another thing is that the motivations of the killer, specifically for a murder mystery, have to make sense and they can't come out of the blue.
I know we talked about this previously last season when we read Carter Wilson's Tell Me What You Did, that you were saying that there's rules of writing where you can't have a mysterious twin, right?
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