Mystery fiction

Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious death or a crime to be solved. In a closed circle of suspects, each suspect must have a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character must be a detective who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts fairly presented to the reader. Sometimes mystery books are nonfictional. "Mystery fiction" can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.

Mystery fiction may involve a supernatural mystery where the solution does not have to be logical, and even no crime involved. This usage was common in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, where titles such as Dime Mystery, Thrilling Mystery and Spicy Mystery offered what at the time were described as "weird menace" stories—supernatural horror in the vein of Grand Guignol. This contrasted with parallel titles of the same names which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of "mystery" in this sense was by Dime Mystery, which started out as an ordinary crime fiction magazine but switched to "weird menace" during the latter part of 1933.

Latest News for: Mystery fiction

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Elizabeth Strout and Miranda July are among finalists for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Hindustan Times 02 Apr 2025
LONDONAmerican authors Elizabeth Strout Miranda July are among finalists announced Wednesday for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, alongside four debut novelists exploring the search for freedom in different countries and cultures. Elizabeth Strout and Miranda July are among finalists for the Women's Prize for Fiction....
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Beyond Blue Beam

Weekly News 02 Apr 2025
Welcome back to Beyond Blue Beam—your portal to the unexplained, the uncanny, and the utterly mind-bending. Forget what you think you know ... Today, we’re diving down the rabbit hole—where science, myth, and mystery twist into something stranger than fiction ... BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warns that the U.S ... Elon Musk Sells X to xAI for a Masonic Mystery Sum....
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Jenna Ortega puts on a VERY leggy display in a purple blazer and mini shorts ...

The Daily Mail 02 Apr 2025
Jenna Ortega put on a very leggy display as she attended the State of the Industry and Lionsgate presentation as part of CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday ... The movie stars Abel as a fictionalized version of himself, an insomniac musician on the verge of a mental breakdown who is pulled into an existential odyssey by a mysterious stranger ... ....
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Movies playing in Southeast Michigan, new releases April 4

Press & Guide 02 Apr 2025
Four misfits — Garrett “The Garbage ManGarrison (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers) and Dawn (Danielle Brooks) — are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld ... • “American Fiction” (R) ... Science fiction/mystery film about an unlikely trio on the trail of a government conspiracy....
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How Clifford Roberts’ antique desk found its way to a golf writer

Golf 01 Apr 2025
John Garrity ... Perched on a straight-backed bar stool, I wrote freelance articles for Sport and Rolling Stone and pseudonymous fiction for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, clacking away on an old Royal portable ... There is no mystery, however, regarding my acquisition of the sideboard and its treatment over the past half-century ... News ... .......
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Limestone Ledger, April 2, 2025

News Courier 01 Apr 2025
This Week. Athens Ladies Civitan Club Vidalia Onion Sale. The annual Athens Ladies Civitan Club Vidalia Onion Sale is currently receiving orders ahead of this year’s order deadline date of April 21 ... Upcoming ... Home to a large collection of mystery, fiction, children’s, young adult and western books to be checked out with a $5 per year membership ... ....
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John Travolta celebrates ‘Pulp Fiction’ with expensive steak in briefcase

The News International 31 Mar 2025
Forget the mysterious glow from Pulp Fiction’s legendary briefcase—John Travolta just found and revealed out what’s inside, and it’s a $1,000 steak ... March 29 to experience their Pulp Fiction-inspired “Beef Case.”....
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Readers’ Favorite announces the review of the Fiction – Mystery – General book “A Table ...

GetNews 31 Mar 2025
Readers' Favorite announces the review of the Fiction - Mystery - General book "A Table Rock Mystery" by Tom Wood, currently available at ... A Table Rock Mystery by Tom Wood blends suspense and legal drama, drawing readers into a twisting tale of deception, secrets, and unexpected turns....
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A case for Net Zero Immigration

The Liberty Beacon 30 Mar 2025
A case for Net Zero Immigration. How many people will it realistically take to run future America?. Robert Syrus reports on Substack ... What if it turns out you don’t need all that many people to run America? ... Syrus is a retired journalist who lives in Nevada and writes fiction including Apocalypse Israel. The 96 Hour War and the upcoming mystery ... SOURCE....
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Sally Rooney meets The Secret History? A brilliantly brainy crime caper

The Times/The Sunday Times 30 Mar 2025
Barely 40 pages into this deliriously slippery debut, Louise Hegarty upends all expectations by dropping us into a comic, Agatha Christie-like murder mystery, set in what feels like the golden age of detective fiction ... FICTION ... FICTION....
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The Essential Tanith Lee

New York Times 30 Mar 2025
The eclectic, prolific author wrote more than 90 novels — primarily fantasy and science fiction, but also horror, erotica, mysteries and historical fiction. If you’ve never read her work, here’s where to start ... ....
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The 20 best Doctor Who episodes of the last 20 years, ranked

The Times/The Sunday Times 30 Mar 2025
When Doctor Who was axed in 1989, with Sylvester McCoy playing the Seventh Doctor amid dwindling ratings, there were some who thought it might be the end for the BBC science fiction show that had begun in 1963 ... There was even a glimpse of the forthcoming Twelfth Doctor, Capaldi, and a guest appearance from Tom Baker as the mysterious curator....
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Show your love for Shreve Memorial Library on Library Giving Day April 1

Shreveport Times 29 Mar 2025
Since its launch in 2019, Library Giving Day has raised over $8 million in support of libraries ... A Novel by Karina Sainz Borgo (fiction). In an unnamed Latin American country, a mysterious plague quickly spreads, erasing the memory of anyone infected ... The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight (fiction) ... A Novel by Eiren Caffall (fiction)....

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