The Whitehall Ledger - Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

I just finished reading James Patterson's new Women's Murder Club novel, "The 23rd Midnight" and it started me thinking about why mysteries are so popular after decades of different authors and titles. The first reason patrons tell me they are such mystery fans is almost all mysteries are series with anywhere from 3 to 40 different books. The familiarity with the settings, characters, and type of mystery gives them comfort that the next book will be like meeting old friends for a new adventure.

The second reason is mystery readers tend to be puzzle solvers. They enjoy trying to guess who di...