Bargain Mystery Books

Mystery books, by their nature, are designed for rapid consumptions. As a result, the publishing industry has made sure that there are plenty of affordable copies of classics and new stories alike. Most mystery books will be in paperback form, with the exception of either new first editions, or collectible editions of the classics. The mystery genre has been reluctant to issue trade paperbacks, so mass markets are still the order of the day for bargain mystery books.

Mystery books have long been a favorite way to spend a rainy afternoon or pass the time on a long bus or plane ride. Detective novels, especially, lend themselves to series work, which means there is almost always a new adventure to participate in. Classic writers like Agatha Christie, too, can be easily found in bargain form. By focusing on the story, and less on the bells and whistles of a fancy printing, publishers can offer bargain mystery books to their readers.

Bargain mystery books also benefit when stories fall into the public domain, like the Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Once they achieve this status, any publisher has a right to issue the text, and many will do so in bargain mystery book form to increase sales. Whatever the reasons, readers snap up these volumes at a tear.

Whether you are a fan of the locked room British drawing room type of mystery, or the gritty urban PI who solves cases the local precincts have given up on, mystery books require some of the most intensive plotting in all of literature. Sharpen your own detective skills by trying to figure out whodunit before your favorite detective.