Sita Raghunanan’s Reviews > Private Investigations: Mystery Writers on the Secrets, Riddles, and Wonders in Their Lives > Status Update
Sita Raghunanan
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"Remembering the Past" - Charles Todd
"Writing about War" - Jacqueline Winspear
Thought-provoking essays as to behind-the-scenes writing of mystery novels. Todd says, "when the written record is not enough, we go to England to do our research on the ground." There's something to Winspear's saying she's interested in the events/emotions that lead to a crime, not only the "who": to her, "why" is the "real mystery."
— Dec 07, 2024 11:24AM
"Writing about War" - Jacqueline Winspear
Thought-provoking essays as to behind-the-scenes writing of mystery novels. Todd says, "when the written record is not enough, we go to England to do our research on the ground." There's something to Winspear's saying she's interested in the events/emotions that lead to a crime, not only the "who": to her, "why" is the "real mystery."
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Sita Raghunanan
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"I Want to Be A Magician" - Anne Perry
"Ghosted" - Hallie Ephron
Perry's reason for writing mysteries: "I like the intellectual puzzle and...the moral one" in their exploration of complex social issues.
Why do I feel that in Ephron's essay, it might have been Josh who communicated to Reverend Ida? The concrete is suggestive of their real estate business? However, crushing is different from "gunning"?
— Dec 17, 2024 12:28PM
"Ghosted" - Hallie Ephron
Perry's reason for writing mysteries: "I like the intellectual puzzle and...the moral one" in their exploration of complex social issues.
Why do I feel that in Ephron's essay, it might have been Josh who communicated to Reverend Ida? The concrete is suggestive of their real estate business? However, crushing is different from "gunning"?
Sita Raghunanan
is starting
"Godfathers, Nancy Drew, and Cats" - Carole Nelson Douglas
"An Extra Child" - Sulari Gentill
Still think Douglas' essay is somehow more difficult to read than the others because it's snapshot-like. Also, the allusions - it helps if you've seen "The Godfather" movies.
Gentill's is absorbing: exotic culture, "madness", and who doesn't want to know who the extra child in the photo is? I thought maybe he's queer?
— Dec 17, 2024 12:05PM
"An Extra Child" - Sulari Gentill
Still think Douglas' essay is somehow more difficult to read than the others because it's snapshot-like. Also, the allusions - it helps if you've seen "The Godfather" movies.
Gentill's is absorbing: exotic culture, "madness", and who doesn't want to know who the extra child in the photo is? I thought maybe he's queer?
Sita Raghunanan
is starting
"Godfathers, Nancy Drew, and Cats" - Carole Nelson Douglas
Haven't quite finished, since the Cowardly Lion appeared. I'm not sure what to make of her chronology - post-modernist? Creative, nevertheless, but something...
— Dec 13, 2024 10:55AM
Haven't quite finished, since the Cowardly Lion appeared. I'm not sure what to make of her chronology - post-modernist? Creative, nevertheless, but something...
Sita Raghunanan
is starting
"The Mystery of My Lost Voice" - Caroline Leavitt
After much struggle, diagnosed anxiety, and half a teaspoon of baking soda in water make for a happy ending: her cognitive therapist seems to have summed it up nicely, "Find the narrative here. Find your true voice."
"The Mystery of Deception" - Lynn Cahoon
"What did I learn from this situation?...strong heroines learn to save themselves."
Sugar and spice, Jane?
— Dec 01, 2024 11:28AM
After much struggle, diagnosed anxiety, and half a teaspoon of baking soda in water make for a happy ending: her cognitive therapist seems to have summed it up nicely, "Find the narrative here. Find your true voice."
"The Mystery of Deception" - Lynn Cahoon
"What did I learn from this situation?...strong heroines learn to save themselves."
Sugar and spice, Jane?
Sita Raghunanan
is starting
"Plot Twists: This Writer's Life" - Jeffery Deaver
"Can We Live Without Mystery?" - Tasha Alexander
Strange how by the end of Deaver's essay, a print is left on the page, as if to recall his anecdote about editorial staff possibly stomping on his manuscript!
Alexander's piece strikes a chord in showing how historically - and she quotes Ken Kesey: "The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."
— Nov 30, 2024 12:33PM
"Can We Live Without Mystery?" - Tasha Alexander
Strange how by the end of Deaver's essay, a print is left on the page, as if to recall his anecdote about editorial staff possibly stomping on his manuscript!
Alexander's piece strikes a chord in showing how historically - and she quotes Ken Kesey: "The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."
Sita Raghunanan
is starting
"Introduction: Solving the Mystery" - Victoria Zackheim
"I Don't Know This Word" - Rachel Howzel Hall
Thought to try and peer into some of the realities behind the mystery writers/genre...
— Nov 28, 2024 12:03PM
"I Don't Know This Word" - Rachel Howzel Hall
Thought to try and peer into some of the realities behind the mystery writers/genre...
