Laurel van der Toorn

Laurel Vander Torn is a licensed therapist and she runs Laurel Therapy Collective that serves California and Florida.

Here's what we'll cover in a moment.

Why can't we stop reading murder mysteries?

Why are we obsessed with them?

Is it about justice, control?

Is it about the comfort of knowing someone always gets caught?

And if you're not into mystery novels yet, we'll recommend one to you.

We'll correct the case on that in a moment.

We are obsessed with mystery stories, the bodies, the clues, the promise that someone will get caught.

But why does reading them feel so good?

What does our love about whodunits say about us?

Well, that's what we're going to discuss here with Cecily Devereaux, an English professor at the University of Alberta.

Cecily, welcome to the show.

Thanks.

So this notion that people don't get away with murder, but you're on the edge of your seat the whole time wondering who did it.

Why do you think people have this obsession?

Why do you think people are drawn to mystery novels and TV shows?

There are those obsessed with crime and the grim details of them, but I feel like for them, the genre of true crime, that's for them.

And I feel like murder mysteries are a totally different thing.

And I want to pick apart this like hunger for moral order.