Two Mysteries I Correctly Guessed

Posted November 24, 2016 by shooting in Uncategorized / 8 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers in the U.S.! 

Two Mysteries I Correctly Guessed

I love reading mystery novels but I don’t usually guess the culprit. Sure, I might have pinpointed a possibility, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have other ideas in mind too. However, there are two more famous titles/authors whose mystery I was able to figure out. Both of these were a “who done it” mystery, which means that someone has died and the reader needs to figure out – along with the ‘detective’ – who killed them. Don’t worry…if you haven’t read the books, I won’t give away the mystery. However, be wary of the comments, for they may contain spoilers.

The first book is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. If you haven’t read this one yet, I do highly recommend it. I took a detective fiction class in one of my last years as an undergraduate student and we were assigned this novel. One day in class, the professor was talking about possible suspects and I brought up who I thought could have done it, and my teacher didn’t say too much. Obviously she didn’t want to give it away, but I still remember the class finishing the book and my teacher saying how much she wanted to say something when I mentioned this person’s name. If you’ve read this book, then you should understand why I think it’s a big deal that I figured this one out. I don’t want to talk too much though, as I don’t want things to be spoiled in any way!

Now, the second book is one that has been popular for a bit now but I just recently read and that is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. To be honest, I thought this was a fairly easy mystery to figure out. I don’t want to say everyone should guess the culprit though, because if you didn’t, that’s fine! It’s fun not to know! However, for me, I found everything a bit too obvious and it didn’t make the book much of a mystery in regards to the missing woman. There were some other moments that I surprised me though, so the author did well by adding a twist here and there.

These are the two biggest books that I can think of in terms of figuring out the “who done it” but there may have been others. Despite my reading a lot of mystery novels, I don’t often guess things correctly or at least not the full details. Sometimes I don’t think too hard about it as I like to be taken on a ride. Like I said before, sometimes it’s nice just not to know until it is revealed!

What about you? Any mystery books that you figured out before the end?

8 responses to “Two Mysteries I Correctly Guessed

  1. I used to read only mysteries for years so I'm pretty skilled at recognizing red herrings and pointing out the villain, but sometimes I still manage to get surprised.
    I haven't actually read The Girl on the Train so I don't know how I'd do, but I used to love guessing with A. Christie.

  2. Aww, I always hate when I can figure out the mystery. For me it happens more often in YA than in Adult but I definitely plan on reading Girl on the Train so we'll see if it's as obvious to me, too.

  3. I tend to figure out the culprit in 97% of books. Nevertheless, it doesn't take the joy of reading mysteries away from me – it's still entertaining to see the twists the author throws in to try and derail your theories!

    xx

  4. I've never read Ackroyd but I've heard it's one of her better ones. And Girl on the Train I DID read and wasn't quite sure. 🙂 I do tend though not to try too hard to figure out- I mean I do a little bit- but I kinda like the ride and the big reveal and I'm always afraid if I guess right it won't be as thrilling ha ha.

  5. Hmm yeah, I usually fall into the camp of considering the murderer as a possibility, but never actually committing to that character as the solution to the mystery. I guessed the murderer in The Girl on the Train too, but it was nearer to the end of the book than the beginning – does that cont? Ditto to Career of Evil, but then again there were only 3 options in that one! Thankfully, any correct guessing on my part does not tend to interfere with my enjoying of the book – I'm usually pretty impressed by other clues the author left in the lead up to the solution that I hadn't considered!

  6. I have the same problem when I read mysteries. I usually figure it out and then skip ahead to make sure I am right. I read the Agatha Christie one and had pretty much the same reaction you did.I bet your teacher had a hard time not saying anything!

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