Carol O'Connell

7luckyclovers said:

What do you all think of Carol O'Connell's style of writing mysteries?

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She's one of the only mystery writers whose books I will re-read. I haven't read her more recent novels, but her first four in the Mallory series - and the non-series Judas Child - I found to be truly lovely.

Which is a weird word to use, given the unrelenting grimness of some of her plots.

7luckyclovers said:

I was speaking to a writer friend of mine who said that mysteries should be written in the first POV or close third and needs to stick with only a handful of characters at the most for head-popping.
What do you guys think?

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I may be an outlier with this opinion - but I shy away from advice on "how to write X" that goes beyond "sit down and write until you're done." Even if your friend is correctly characterizing the average mystery on the shelf these days, only you know how to tell your story.

7luckyclovers said:

Yeah, my biggest downfall is taking too much advice and second-guessing myself.

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The best advice I ever got was to remember that nobody else can write your book. Not the author you admire most, not the best-selling writer of all time - only you.

I have a personal preference for close POV, either first or third, in mysteries, but it's just a personal preference.

Agatha Christie wrote in omniscient. Louise Penney writes in omniscient. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

GinJones said:

I have a personal preference for close POV, either first or third, in mysteries, but it's just a personal preference.

Agatha Christie wrote in omniscient. Louise Penney writes in omniscient. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

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I don't know of a Louise Penney but I certainly have read all the books in the Louise Penny Inspector Gamache series. If she's the author you mean, she most certainly DOES NOT write omniscient. She writes in multiple close third POVs.

In fact, MANY mystery authors write in multiple close thirds -- Benjamin Black, P.D. James, etc.

I honestly don't know of ANY contemporary MTS writers who write in omniscient -- but perhaps it's because I avoid omniscient, second person POV and first person present tense whenever possible.

And in regards to Carol O'Connell, she's one of the best writers out there, though her later books aren't (in my opinion) as good as her first. She's one of the first MTS authors to make a high-functioning sociopath a (sort of) protagonist. Now, of course, they're thick on the ground -- a sort of 21st century version of the anti-hero.

For mystery, my personal preference as a reader (and yes, as a writer) is also first or close third, with a limited number of POV characters. The problem is that I like to play along. And if the writer is playing fair with the reader and not hiding anything while in that character's POV, you can eliminate all the POV characters as possible suspects. While I adore Louise Penny's style and characterization, in her novels that I have read, I usually know who the killer is too early.

I also find too many POV characters means we don't get to know each as well (unless you're Louise Penny who again seems to master this).

So I think it's one of those pesky writing "rules," which if followed tend to make for better books, especially for beginning writers. But there are so many notable exceptions it's hard to be too dogmatic.

I prefer first person in mysteries, but it is just a preference. Done well, there's a readership for any type of POV, or multiple POVs, or omniscient, or you name it.