Comments on: Mystery, Thriller, or Suspense: Does the Label Matter?

By: wendygoerl

wendygoerl — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 17:09:00 +0000

Actually, “mystery” doesn’t even require a crime. An award-winning children’s “mystery” book revolved around what the protagonist would put in the letter box for (his turn, he needed something starting with “n”). And Isaac Asimov had and entire series of short stories involving a group of men at a restaurant puzzling out mysteries that querents brought to them (the one I remember best was one “John Smith” getting taken into custody by police without any ID and wondering what eventually convinced the police that “John Smith” was his legal name.)

By: Wendy Pearson

Wendy Pearson — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:42:00 +0000

Stacy, thanks so much for this. It answered so many questions I had about the Mystery, Suspense and Thriller genre. I’m in second draft rewrites with a Mystery (or Suspense) novel right now and didn’t know how to eventually upload it to Amazon with the right label. So, this is amazingly helpful.

By: Elise Holland

Elise Holland — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 18:38:00 +0000

Hi Stacy! This is an excellent article! I love the use of David Morrell’s quote, as well as the distinction that it is ultimately about crafting a compelling story with interesting characters.