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When I stopped by Starbucks recently, I noticed a woman reading at one of the tables, so while I waited, I sidled up to her and asked what she was reading.  She responded willingly enough, showing me the cover of a Ruth Rendell mystery, one of the Wexford titles, I forget which.  I asked her if she was enjoying it, and she said that she was, very much.  And then she said something I used to hear frequently at the store:  "I wonder why there aren't more mysteries on the bestseller lists; they're so difficult to find."

I gathered from our further discussions (my new friend and I catch up on her reading whenever we run into each other—do you think that was an infrequent visit to Starbucks?) that she borrows her books from the library, and one of her frustrations with them is that they carry only the novels most in demand.  She wants more books like those by Rendell (and, later, Reginald Hill and Ed McBain), but she had exhausted the authors she knew of and didn't know how to find more.

Needless to say, having entered her reading life, I have alleviated that particular problem.

But to return to the subject of the bestseller lists:  many if not most of the novels on the lists are, in fact, mysteries.  Or thrillers or crime novels or detective novels or spy novels.  Putting aside the classification issue for the moment, what is it that my friend feels is missing from the lists? 

As I write this, Lisa Scottoline's DADDY'S GIRL is on The New York Times Bestseller List.  It's a thriller featuring a law professor in possession of a secret that puts her life at risk, and it's more of a "woman in jeopardy" novel than a mystery or even a crime thriller.  (As an aside, I like Lisa very much, personally and professionally; I just don't think this is one of her better books.)   

Also on the list is a book by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge about a NYPD detective with a wife dying of cancer, 10 adopted children, and a hostage crisis; I haven't read it, but I assume the plot is one created by Ledwidge since his earlier books feature the NYPD; I don't know that Patterson has waded into these particular waters.  I think of books like these, packaged to include a name like Patterson (or Ludlum or Cussler), as products, entertainments, not really novels, and certainly not mysteries. 

A number of other books on the bestseller list are mysteries featuring vampires or some otherworldly influences, and while I've enjoyed a number of books like them (Jim Butcher's Dresden Files are engaging and worthwhile), I don't credit them as true mysteries.

The best of the current bestseller list are WHAT THE DEAD KNOW by Laura Lippman and THE WATCHMAN by Robert Crais, and I'd say these are true mysteries in the best sense of the word.   They are very different, equally worthy.  But are they Ruth Rendell or Reginald Hill or P.D. James?   No.  I think Ruth Rendell and P.D. James have been on the bestseller lists in the past, but I'm not sure that they will be again.

Books are sold in vast numbers through outlets that no longer reflect the tastes of booksellers or their customers.  Books are sold at Wal-Mart and Walgreen,  Sam's Club and Costco, O'Hare and LAX.  They are products intended to appeal to the greatest number of people, so we're going to have to assume that books are tending to appeal to the lowest common denominator.  And if the average person reads at the level of an eighth grader?  More people read today than at any time in our history and more books are produced and sold every year, but the national paper is USA Today. 

I'm not saying that most people couldn't read and enjoy books by the best of our mystery writers.  I'm thinking that most publishers don't give their audiences the credit that they deserve, that they will "dumb down" our books to achieve their numbers.   And publishers have become allergic to books set in foreign countries, so a number of the most talented mystery writers are published by smaller houses in lesser numbers, and libraries are unlikely to carry them. 

From time to time, I'm going to feature a book by one of these authors.  I may not always have a run of titles available, but I can always obtain books for anyone interested.  And I'm full of recommendations.  Just ask.  You don't even have to buy me a cup of coffee.

—Kathy Phillips

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