I’ve often wondered why so many people, including me, love mysteries.
Part of the reason may be that a good mystery is like a perfect circle. I suspect many of us take comfort in a logical process with a satisfying conclusion.
Why do I compare mysteries to a circle? Here’s my reasoning.
At the beginning of the story, there’s a crime. That’s the starting point of the circle and our mystery’s journey.
We move around the circle, engaging the plot with its twists and turns. We begin to meet the story’s characters, but more importantly, we meet our detective. We closely follow our detective as they share information and reveal clues. As we gather facts simultaneously with our detective, we uncover the culprit and solve the crime, completing the circle.
As simple as this may sound, there are still some basic rules to follow when building a perfect circle. During our journey, there should be no breaks in the circle. Clues cannot be left out. The writer should present the reader with everything needed to solve the crime. That doesn’t mean there isn’t an occasional red herring or a few pieces of information given to mislead. While the author designs these to throw us off track, we eventually cast them out of the circle and continue our progress around the orb.
By the end of our journey, as Hercule Poirot would say, “all must be revealed.” The circle is closed. There is a return to a new normal, even if individual circumstances have changed.
I like circles and mysteries because I like the feeling of knowing that all the pieces fit together. Do you like circles?
