Have you noticed clumsy, awkward foreshadowing in mysteries lately?

[raccoon]

Something like this:

"That evening, Lance and I had a romantic walk on the beach and watched the sunset. Little did we know that would be the last worry-free evening we would spend in Hawaii that week."

[Warpy]

1. Yes, and it's always annoying

like they're getting paid by the word.

Folks, it's a mystery. Nobody expects that walk on the beach to last the whole book, it would be the last book you guys ever published if it did.

[pinboy3niner]

2. THAT'S foreshadowing? Since when did it become so ham-fisted?

I think of foreshadowing as usually subtle, often metaphorical. Are you finding this change in romance novels?:-)

[raccoon]

3. No, in mystery novels. And it is ham-fisted. nt

[BlueIris]

4. I've noticed increasingly bad writing in profic across the board since '00.

New blood, publishing industry. Lots and lots of it.

[raccoon]

7. And poor editing, too. In these times of such high unemployment, why can't these publishers

hire decent editors?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Is that from one of those writers who seems to turn out a book every month?

(I'm looking at YOU, Janet Evanovich and James Patternson.)

There are certain authors I just don't read anymore because they resort to stupid tricks like that.

[raccoon]

6. Right now, I can remember it in one of Sue Henry's Maxie and Stretch books,

and I saw it the other day in one of Blaize Clement's Dixie Hemingway mysteries.

I've seen it in other mysteries by other authors besides these two, they're just the ones that come to mind right now.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. I'll avoid both of those

I tend to prefer the Brits these days, because on the whole, they're better writers. So many American writers, especially the "cozies," write on the level of a Nancy Drew book.

Two of my current favorites are Peter Robinson (British, but lives in Canada), who writes about a small town in Yorkshire, and Reginald Hill, who also writes about Yorkshire with his stories of the police detectives Dalziel and Pascoe.

[raccoon]

9. I like some of Peter Robinson--such as PIECE OF MY HEART, which dealt

with an aging rock group, the Mad Hatters.

Some of his stuff is a bit graphic for me nowadays. I started one, AFTERMATH, I think, and I couldn't deal with the abuse described.

Haven't read Reginald Hill, but maybe I'll try him.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Start with the early books, since the characters grow and develop over time

The later ones might be a bit hard to follow if you don't have that background.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. Patterson doesn't even write most of his stuff any longer...

I think there are more ghostwriters than editors on payrolls these days. Publishers have cut the editing staff tremendously in the last decade; it's not about quality, it's about marketing the product. The marketing departments by and large decide what books to sign, based on how well they think they can sell it, not based on the quality of the manuscript.

It's a pathetic state of affairs, in my opinion.

:(

[DUgosh]

11. U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton - no spoiler

I hated it when she wrote - "and that would be the last time I saw (no spoiler here) alive ...." come on leave us in suspense why don't ya..

[raccoon]

12. Yes, seems to me lots of writers are doing this nowadays. nt

[mvccd1000]

13. Stephen King is often quite obvious with it, but...

... it still makes me very eager to find out why!

Most others... couldn't agree more with you.