Laurel van der Toorn

Like, why do we have it?

Is it because the world's messy out there and we want to kind of think things are okay and that people will be brought to justice and there is some moral order?

I still remember reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as a kid, and I wasn't smart enough to solve the shocking ending that I don't want to spoil for anyone.

But yeah, you really do get that sense of a close-ended story.

Is there something uniquely satisfying about that?

Many of these novels are deeply rooted in place or setting.

They have a portrait of a small town that's intimate, a national park, a very specific city.

I'm thinking of the Netflix series, I know it's not a book, but Department Q. It's set in Edinburgh, Scotland, and it really paints a portrait of a grim Scottish life.

Why do you think many of these novels are so obsessed about setting?

Do you think mysteries let us explore or rehearse fear in like a safe way?

Helps us rehearse justice in a safe way as we imagine them?

Me neither.

I get vertigo.

At the commercial break, I know we said we wouldn't talk specific books, but is there a recommendation for someone who wants to get into mystery and hasn't really read many?

Well, Cecily Devereaux is an English professor at the University of Alberta.

Cecily, thank you for joining me.

Thanks, David.

On the other side of the break, the juicy details of the Party Invite app that's rolling out dating features.

Why Tinder's out and meeting people at parties is in up next.

I'm David Cooper.