This week I am thinking about mystery and noir, and also about writing in the direction the heart wanders … because why not?
Reading Mystery books! The darker, the better!
Lately, I absolutely cannot get enough of mystery novels and television shows. It is strange how sharply my taste in fiction has changed over the past year and how suddenly, mystery fiction has lodged itself in my heart!
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And let me tell you, I can pinpoint the exact moment that I became OBSESSED with mystery (especially noir detective stories). It was because of the book in this photo, BABYLON BERLIN by Volker Kutscher, which is translated from the original German. Or rather, my obsession began with the television show this novel inspired. Has anyone else watched the Netflix series Babylon Berlin? It is German language, set in 1920s Berlin between two world wars in a precarious and terrifying time of extreme political unrest, and is INCREDIBLE.
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I adore this show (one of my favourites ever!). I’ve watched the whole thing twice so far (subbed), and am desperately waiting for season 4, which will hopefully be out in the first half of 2022. I also bought and read the first book in the series, which was quite different to the show, but is still that perfect mess of politics, shady cops, complex mysteries with a thousand moving parts and a shady city that I so love about noir.
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So really, watching Babylon Berlin changed the direction of my reading, and since then I have been picking up mystery and thriller books as often as I can. I most love historical crime (the darker the better) and noir detective stuff is best, and I also love books set internationally (I’ve also been reading a lot of translated crime novels, which has been fun!).
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And of course, this has all hugely impacted my fiction writing. These days, I’ve been writing stories set in a very dark fantasy world, but that are mysteries and crime stories, and sort of detective noir stuff. I’ve been having so much fun writing in this style, and hopefully will share more about it all over the next bunch of months. It feels scary dipping into a new genre for my creative writing, but apparently I am one of those authors that needs to follow where the heart wanders, haha.
Walking about 🌙
Pretty dry and sparse in the suburbs in summer.
What a cutie Bro, fallen asleep on my husband’s knees! 😻
She’s not always so cute.
Sometimes she bites. But we love her anyway. 😹
THANK YOU FOR READING
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PJ Nwosu writes dark mystery novels set in epic fantasy worlds.
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