In the first heyday of mystery novel writing, the 1930′s and 1940′s, mystery books were written purely for entertainment. They weren’t meant to be literary classics. They were meant to be enjoyable to read. These mysteries were written in common everyday language, no fancy English was used, no complex sentence structure. That meant a reader could curl up in her favorite armchair and read away, usually finishing the book in one or two sessions.

Agatha Christie is probably the most famous author of armchair mysteries from that heyday. The name seem to stick and created something of sub-genre in the mystery novel world.

Today’s armchair mysteries are built pretty much the same way. They are entertaining, often humorous, but always easy to read.

Armchair mystery novels may be entertaining and easy to read, but they are also well-wrtten. The plots are compelling, the characters are fully fleshed out, and the mystery is plausible. The twists and turns of armchair mysteries are just as intriguing as any literary mystery could hope to be. The cast of suspects is not large, but they are definitely interesting people to get to know.

So chose a favorite mystery novel and curl up in your favorite armchair. Take a few hours to immerse yourself in a world of who-done-it.

You can read the book cover and all the stuff offered by the publisher. Which is what I have had to resort to at times. But I’d prefer to get information from other readers. Those who have read the book and can tell me whether they actually liked.

That’s what Mystery of the Month does at Mystery Book World. Every month a new mystery book is reviewed. These are good books with direct reader reviews. No, there are not reviews of the bad books. That I’m thankful for. I don’t really care to read about the bad books. I want recommendations, just like you.

I love it when a new book in a series is reviewed. If you like one book in a series, then you will probably like the whole series. And I think mystery series are great fun to read. So that gives me a whole new line up of mystery books to enjoy.

So visit Mystery Book World and see the latest reviews. Find out about some of your favorite mystery authors and get your next mystery book to curl up and read.

Probably the most famous and popular amateur sleuth is Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple. Her world is set in the English countryside of the 1930′s and 1940′s. She is not wealthy herself, but she finds herself involved with many wealthy people and the solving of their crimes.

Part of the appeal of Miss Marple is how charming she is, yet so intelligent. She aggravates the investigating police officers regularly, but she also solves the murder. And always before the police.

Some of our enjoyment of amateur sleuths is their ability to outwit the professionals. We love the humor of the frustrated police. But we also enjoy the idea that amateur sleuths are just like us. Not professionally trained in investigation techniques, nor in self-protection. It’s a matter of bringing to bear our smarts and wit to work out the clues and put them together along with the amateur. Plus, we get to see how our favorite sleuth gets into and out of danger. It’s a bit of a living-through-fiction that we enjoy without putting ourselves in danger.

So next time you pick up your favorite amateur sleuth mystery, enjoy living through their trials and tribulations and see if you can’t work out the clues, too.

First off, only hardback versions of a book are good for realizing a profit. Paperbacks and, of course, e-books will bring you no return for your investment. And hardbacks are the single most expensive way to purchase a book. So be prepared for that investment up front.

Next, the more pristine the condition of the book, the higher the value when it’s sold. So it’s pretty important to keep your books well protected from dust, moisture and other kinds of damage.

You will also have to some speculation. You will have guess which author will become popular or prolific during their career based on their first novel. First novels published in hardback does signal that a publisher thinks this author will become popular and prolific. But, that is only the guesstimate of one company and doesn’t always work out that way.

With the popularity of e-books and self-publishing through Kindle and Nook, many first time authors are going that route to be seen by publishers. One way to see if you have a good author is to follow their e-book career. Then, if they do get a hardback publishing career, you can invest in their first and second novels.

This is not an easy way to make a profit, but if you can do it, your return can easily be 10-fold. Collecting mystery books can be more enjoyable if you like reading mysteries.

Along with that we enjoy getting some background about our favorite authors, discovering new authors and getting recommendations for new mysteries to read. What about old mysteries? Aren’t those just as much fun to read? Yep, I agree. Those are great, even to read and re-read. I may clearly know whodunit, but I still enjoy the great writing, the memorable characters and the exciting plots.

Since I’m a huge fan of mystery books of just about any kind, Mystery Book World is a favorite place for me to be. Sharing the joy of mysteries is a great pleasure. I even learned about what makes a great cozy mystery. No, it’s not the world of warm and fuzzy. It’s all about the world of the suspects. Agatha Christie is probably the best known author of cozy mysteries.

So stop by Mystery Book World and share the fun of reading and learning about mysteries.