Merry Mysteries
It took a lot of self control not to title this blog entry Murder Mystery and Makeup Monday (I’ve been watching way too much Bailey Sarian on YouTube I guess), but these mysteries have nothing to do with murder or makeup (and though it’s Monday when I’m writing this, the post isn’t scheduled to go up until Friday so really there’s no fun there either).
The only real part of it that works out is that I’m reading a mystery trilogy for my internship (hence the less fun but still alliterative “Merry” Mysteries). I have never really been a reader who enjoys mysteries, outside of the few Nancy Drew books I read in elementary school. Every time I’ve tried to read a mystery as an adult, I tend to find them boring, predictable, or occasionally just overall poorly written.
On the other hand, I had faith in my supervisor on this one because every time he describes a book to me that I’m not too sure about I end up liking it more than I ever expect. So, especially following the previous trilogy I wrote about, I had faith that I would end up enjoying this YA mystery series as well.
I’m glad that I had that mindset going in because it turned out I really did enjoy this mystery. Being a YA, there are definitely no murders or dark plot lines or references to anything occult. It’s full of wholesome, realistic mysteries like school friends with touchy home lives or art museums facing a string of thefts and forgeries, or even finally closing some old, emotional mysteries within the protagonist’s own family. Though being a very lighthearted, humorous, and juvenile mystery, the commentary on real life situations is subtle but impressive.
Much like the previous series I wrote about, this trilogy also gave me a sense of nostalgia. Though I didn’t spend my high school years solving mysteries with my PI older sister (I don’t even have a sister), the protagonist’s social life felt incredibly relatable and I could sympathize with her boy drama as well as any girl who’s ever experienced the highs and lows of dating in high school.
I have little else to report about recent internship happenings as this is the majority of what I do — just read books and write pitch letters. My favorite part of writing the pitch letters is combing through each book’s praise sheets for the best and most vibrant book descriptions, and then editing them all together into what my supervisor is after — a “killer” pitch letter. While the last series has the best reviews to edit together, this series still looks promising and I’m sure to have a “killer” letter written by the end of the day.
