As a book nerd AND lawyer, I really enjoy overcomplicating what words mean. I also struggle to think of a true LRM I’ve read. (All I can think of are riddles, most of which involve ice as the answer!) I definitely love CCMs.
I think that maybe the distinction matters more if you're *writing* than if you're reading. If you're wanting to write an LRM, then you have to stay in that lane. I read Foley's Guest List and it was perfectly enjoyable. I like the closed circle mode for the reasons Ware mentions: there's less room for that deus ex machina TA DA, which so often wrecks a perfectly good story. Ruth Ware's books are great -- I thought Zero Days was big fun & nicely twisty. The mytery set at Oxford -- The It Girl, I think-- was also really good. An LRM, but in a flashback form.
1. I really enjoyed Evelyn Hardcastle, and it's closed-circle, but certainly not locked! In fact, the whole crux lies in the many times the narrator relives the day and gets to visit other rooms and areas!
2. YOU LIVE ON AN ISLAND I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS I've always been FASCINATED by real people who live in more remote places and how that is on a day-to-day, regular life basis!
2. Yes I do, in the Pacific NW. A life-long dream (pop. 4000, lots of TREES) and I wouldn't trade it. Also: I spend lots and lots of time waiting for ferries. But sitting in a car on the deck of a boat is not a bad place to write or read.
(I'm sure I'm romanticizing it a bit and some parts are not fun, but wow, it seems really cool to live away from like, immediate shipping and clicky and be able to be a little bit slower. Would love to live in a place with that many trees! I've never seen the BIG TREES out west and it's a lifelong dream!)
I read her Crime Reads piece before writing this one and I was just sorry it was so short! She'd be a great guide through the subgenre confusion. Thanks for mentioning that she wrote her own LRM, THE RAVEN THIEF. I'll link to it at Goodreads, here. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60784555
As a book nerd AND lawyer, I really enjoy overcomplicating what words mean. I also struggle to think of a true LRM I’ve read. (All I can think of are riddles, most of which involve ice as the answer!) I definitely love CCMs.
Ye olde icicle as melting murder weapon, right? I was thinking about this just today!
I think that maybe the distinction matters more if you're *writing* than if you're reading. If you're wanting to write an LRM, then you have to stay in that lane. I read Foley's Guest List and it was perfectly enjoyable. I like the closed circle mode for the reasons Ware mentions: there's less room for that deus ex machina TA DA, which so often wrecks a perfectly good story. Ruth Ware's books are great -- I thought Zero Days was big fun & nicely twisty. The mytery set at Oxford -- The It Girl, I think-- was also really good. An LRM, but in a flashback form.
Excellent point about writing versus reading! Thanks for the Ware recs!
1. I really enjoyed Evelyn Hardcastle, and it's closed-circle, but certainly not locked! In fact, the whole crux lies in the many times the narrator relives the day and gets to visit other rooms and areas!
2. YOU LIVE ON AN ISLAND I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS I've always been FASCINATED by real people who live in more remote places and how that is on a day-to-day, regular life basis!
1. I need to read this!
2. Yes I do, in the Pacific NW. A life-long dream (pop. 4000, lots of TREES) and I wouldn't trade it. Also: I spend lots and lots of time waiting for ferries. But sitting in a car on the deck of a boat is not a bad place to write or read.
(I'm sure I'm romanticizing it a bit and some parts are not fun, but wow, it seems really cool to live away from like, immediate shipping and clicky and be able to be a little bit slower. Would love to live in a place with that many trees! I've never seen the BIG TREES out west and it's a lifelong dream!)
Highly recommend checking out Gigi Pandian's work on Locked Room mysteries. She literally wrote the book on them.
I read her Crime Reads piece before writing this one and I was just sorry it was so short! She'd be a great guide through the subgenre confusion. Thanks for mentioning that she wrote her own LRM, THE RAVEN THIEF. I'll link to it at Goodreads, here. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60784555
That whole series is fab.