Or, Doesn’t It Matter?

I’m simultaneously doing two things: re-reading one of my favorite mysteries by Mary Roberts Rinehart and starting to write a new cozy mystery, new protagonists this time. Not Ned and not Darcy and Flora. Maybe it’s because I’m stuck in an earlier time zone, although I actually wasn’t born at the time Miss Rinehart wrote her mysteries. Anyway, there’s a difference in the way people thought, spoke, and wrote between the early 20th century and now. And, the changes aren’t always good.

One difference is old-fashioned manners. I don’t mean everybody has forgotten them, but a good many have. Another is life styles, or maybe the whole shebang–manners, speech, mores, can be summed up in that one word: life style. Miss Rinehart wrote captivating stories without resorting to gory details, profane words, or steamy love scenes. Yes, those things existed then and long before, but they were not idealized. And, she didn’t find them necessary when she wrote.

I’ve often wondered: do popular books, music, movies, and public figures make our society what it is, or are they products of our way of life? In other words, which happens first–which is cause and which is result?

Perhaps reading an old-time mystery and trying to write one that would appeal to today’s readers is counter-productive. Although, let me tell you, fans of Darcy, Flora, and Ned tend to like them and these gals don’t resort to profanity, steamy love scenes, or gory details either. And, I say, Thank you, readers! Long live clean cozy mysteries!