I am mood to read a fun whodunit it. They are like popcorn. I can read them in like 4 hours. Delightful escapism is in 300 pages or less. I need that tonight…Why you are asking. It’s election night in America. I need a fun book and many glasses of red wine.
I remember the day I discovered Mysteries. My great aunt Margo instead I can the channel. It was time for her shows. It was the first time I ever watched Murder, She Wrote. The episode was called “THE CLASSIC MURDER”. The show revolves around the day-to-day life of Jessica Fletcher a widowed, retired English teacher who becomes a successful mystery writer. Despite fame and fortune, Jessica remains a resident of Cabot Cove, a small coastal community in Maine, and maintains her links with all of her old friends, never letting her success go to her head.
I admit I wanted to be friends with Jessica and hangout in Cabot Cove after watching 3 episodes in row. It seemed like awesome life to be a writer and Cabot Cove seemed wonderful. On Murder, She Wrote, one not only belong to a family, but community and network of amazing friends. And everything was righted by end of hour of television.
Upon discovering there were books like Murder, She Wrote, I went a two-year bender on cozy mysteries. From Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie, I consumed whatever my little hands could find (and my librarian would let me read). Now when in the mood strikes, M.C Beaton, Laurie R. King and Janet Evanovich are some of my favorites in the subgenre. As a reader, I am willing to be an observer of these places, people and events. I rooted for them, mourn with them and have faith in them. Each book is like visiting an old friend.
The thing is none of my “old friends” look like me or anyone I know in real life. I have tried to imagine Jessica Fletcher as black woman…It becomes a different kind show. These cozy mysteries are rarely people of color as the lead. They are rarely have even a sidekick of color. They seem to be a world of uniformly made up of white people.
And that sucks…Especially tonight. Tonight, where I need to imagine what is possible and have faith that everything will be righted in morning.