Mystery

I'm looking for books that are a mystery. Main theme of characters winning against what seems like impossible odds.

Any suggestions?

Those two things don't seem to be the same genre for me. I'm confused now. :) Can you give a few examples of books that you've read that fit your description?

I can't think of any. I guess I would take any feel good. Mystery. Or YA book people can think about.

I really liked The house in the cerulean sea, but that's fantasy, not mystery. It's definitely feelgood, though. The cat who series is cosy mystery, which also qualifies as feelgood, imo. :)

Yes, Lilian Jackson Braun and the Cat books are a hoot. I am not really great at Young Adult fiction but really enjoyed the Inkspell trilogy and Anne McCaffrey. Puzzle stories by Patricia Moyes are nice and a fun entry into the more adult mysteries are by Ngaio Marsh. To me the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mysteries were a little too light. Yep I am that old.

But remember when reading Ms. March or even Ms. Christie - they were different times and not really racially or even discriminatory acceptable. Meaning we don't those things now and even then they questioned some but not all practices. :-)

Gosh if you are really trying to learn mysteries Moonstone, Sherlock Holmes...all great stories!

Winning against impossible odds in a mystery; I'd take that, offhand, to make it look until the last minute as though the killer will get away with it, but somebody figures out how to prove it and manages to make it stick.

Making it a feel good story limits things a bit, though. Not sure what you may think of the following, but these are worth a try, I think.

The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey
The killer, once we find out who that is, is absolutely certain it's a perfect crime. It not only isn't, but it really, really doesn't work out for that person in the end. The victim ultimately wins, put it like that.

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
Another person who evidently committed the perfect crime. (Arguably, two people - one killed someone but we don't know how for a long time, and the other is acting as a con artist whose false identity is blocking the killer from inheriting the proceeds of the crime.) The con artist isn't acting in his typical character; he was tempted into the fake-identity scheme because he really wants a home and family, and playing the part gains him that. Complicated by I-know-that-you-know is going on between him and the killer, who can't exactly say "Look, I *know* the victim is really dead..."

Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
(Actually, I was thinking of suggesting the first book in the same series, Whose Body? which has an arrogant perfect-crime killer, but this is more feel-good.) Lord Peter falls in love with the accused, who is almost convicted but gets another chance thanks to a hung jury, at which point Lord Peter gets involved to try to figure out what really happened. It takes a few books for the leading characters to work things out between them.

Try the mysteries by Cara Hunter. So far there are four in the series, starting with Close to Home. She is a master of the surprise ending. And I love traveling with her interesting and complex characters to get to that ending.

How about Peter May?

>1 mellymel171328: You might like The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. Tailors in this case are church bell ringers. It's a seemingly impossible mystery that leaves you wondering until the very end. Many consider it her best mystery (including me).

I also think you might like the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. The Eyre Affair is the first book.

Thank everyone for the recommendations. I'm excited to read them.

The Bakeshop Mystery series by Ellie Alexander are a fun read.

Mildred Abbott's Cozy Corgi bookshop mysteries are fun to read and there are a ton of them-with dogs! Best to start at the beginning of the series though.

Melanie Travis mysteries by Laurie Berenson are also good ones, also featuring dogs.

>12 LadyoftheLodge: those sound super cute.

>13 mellymel171328: I enjoyed them, and they are easy to read, no graphic violence or swear words. The authors seem to be pretty good at plotting believable and enjoyable stories.

>14 LadyoftheLodge: sounds like something my grandma would love too.

Hi there! I finished up the Winter Sister by Megan Collins it was pretty good. Def a mystery and was not expecting the ending twist. The good people win in this one.