Started: 20 April 2012
Finished: 8 May 2012
Pages: 213
Mysteries range from semi-horror through thrillers and police procedurals to the (usually) British cozy. In a cozy, the corpse barely appears. There are no graphic descriptions or upsetting details, you probably didn't get to know the person well or at all before they were "struck down", and you get the distinct impression that a murder occurred only to give the detective an excuse to poke about, ask questions, and solve a puzzle.
Take a British cozy, subtract the corpse, add an extra dose of quaint charm....and you have the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. In fact, I sometimes suspect Alexander McCall Smith of attempting to entirely subvert the mystery genre itself in aid of some obscure post-modern project. For example, his later books go to the point of almost subtracting the very mystery itself, let alone "tired" conventions like a resolution. And wouldn't a twee book be the best way of slipping something like that by an unsuspecting book-buying (well, borrowing) public?
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