1. Which  Sicilian detective begins his day with espresso and a sunrise swim?
(Answers below the post)
Giuseppe Costanza/ Pxhere

Follow the Clues Around the World!

Pandemically speaking, today’s most favored mode of transport is armchair travel. But must safety rule out excitement? Not when you travel via mystery books. These page-turners whisk you away to virtually any corner of the world.

Stereotypes persist about mystery books. Like the idea that they’re merely puzzles. That the author presents a lineup of suspects, then interposes an obstacle course between the reader and the Big Reveal. You know, cryptic messages, red herrings, butlers arching an eyebrow, bodies falling out of closets, that sort of thing.

As comedian Michael Ian Black says of mystery books, “They make me too anxious. . . . Just tell me who did it.”

But for many fans, the whodunit is secondary to the wheredunit. Mysteries spring from particular places, and the best mysteries evoke those places with a vibrancy that turns reading into an immersive experience.

2. Who sells a herd of cattle to launch her detective agency in Botswana?

You’d Never Suspect . . .

As mystery fans, we appear to our unsuspecting families to be reading. We sit there sedately as Whistler’s Mother.

Actually, we’re at a casino in Rio De Janeiro with Inspector Espinosa, sailing the coast of Ghana with Detective Darko Dawson, on a stakeout in San Francisco with P.I. Izzy Spellman, or backstage at the opera in Venice with Commissario Brunetti.

And oh my, the eating and drinking we get up to: Bouef Bourguignon in the Perigord with Police Chief Bruno, pasta ‘ncasciata in Sicily with Montalbano, every Québecois dessert on the menu with Armande Gamache.

We’re the first ones to crack open a bottle of Black Label with V.I. Warshawski in Chicago, the last ones to close the bar in Mario Conde’s Havana. And we’d never say no to another Bell’s whisky in Edinburgh with Inspector Rebus.

3. Which fictional lieutenant knows every bar and bookshop in Havana?
nextvoyage/ Pixabay

Destination: Everywhere

A great mystery is not only a passport to everywhere from Australia to the Arctic, it’s an all-access pass. It lets you inside the velvet rope, under the yellow caution tape, and through doors marked Do Not Enter. It’s a sun-warmed beach in Biarritz on a rainy day in Seattle; a nimble cliff walk in Devon despite one’s fear of heights; a closed community in India sharing its secrets over cups of chai.

Oh, I see: Great mysteries engage our senses, take us behind the scenes, give us insight into cultures, and reveal human geography.

As the genre most often read in-flight or on a commuter train, the mystery novel taps into modes of travel. From Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express to Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10, mysteries don’t just take us places. They punch our ticket along the way. Whether these journeys are glamorous, harrowing, or both, we’re totally on board.

4. Which fictional police chief hunts truffles and crooks in France’s Perigord?
DomyD/ Pixabay

The Curious Case of the Dive-Bombing Book

My favorite mystery series took armchair travel to a whole different level. One winter in Chicago, I was parked in a comfy chair at a bookstore, minding my own business (for once), when a paperback leapt (leapt, I tell you) from the top of a tall bookshelf. The book executed a perfect swan-dive into the open tote bag at my side.

On the cusp of mortification (one of my favorite places, apparently), I grabbed said book, and rising to my feet, held it aloft as if I were the Statue of Liberty bearing the Torch of Enlightenment.

“Why yes,” I announced in a booming voice. “This is exactly the book I want to PURCHASE.”

Not until I had taken my sneak-attack book into custody did I look at the title: The Shortest Way to Hades.

Indeed, I thought, and put off reading it, instead enjoying the reaction of guests who noticed it among my how-to books.

The next winter, sick of snow and stuck at home with flu, I finally read Sarah Caudwell’s mystery. Then another, and another. Thus began some of my favorite adventures in armchair travel. Not to Hades, thank goodness, but to London, Venice, Greece, Guernsey, and the isle of Sark.

Besides evoking a sense of place, her novels restored my sense of humor. Caudwell’s wit is drier and more stylish than the lining of a Burberry raincoat.

5. Which family of San Francisco detectives keeps case files on each other?
derwiki/ Pixabay

Another Mystery Tour Begins!

As a genre, the mystery book resembles the ideal carry-on bag: it’s compact yet holds a world of travel essentials. And like carry-ons, good mysteries come in all designs:  suspenseful, comical, realistic, historical, cozy, hard-boiled, satirical, and more.

So, whatever type of armchair traveler you are, whatever style of transport you prefer, there’s a mystery-novel itinerary that’s perfect for you. To miss it would be a crime.

Ready for takeoff? Don’t forget to pack this free and extensive resource from OIC Moments—a dozen pages of recommendations and interactive experiences:

Name that detective! ANSWERS:
1. Salvo Montalbano 2. Precious Ramotswe 3. Mario Conde 4. Bruno Courrèges 5. The Spellmans.

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.