I Love A Mystery...Or Is It A Thriller?

The types of novel I write are styled as "medical suspense with heart." I have to confess that log line was suggested to me some years ago, and I liked it. When I adopted it, I gave no thought to whether I truly write suspense. Did I really? Or were they mysteries? Perhaps they were thrillers. What's the difference, anyway.

Before I tell you what I've heard as the "official" definitions for those terms, let me confess that what I write sometimes falls into one category, sometimes another. And really, what does it matter? If the reader enjoys it, I don't care what label goes on it. But here's what former agent Nathan Bransford says:

Thrillers have action.
Suspense has danger (but not necessarily action)
Mysteries have something you don't know until the end.

That having been said, I suppose what I write are either medical mysteries or suspense. But they have a bit of romance as well. I usually say they have just enough for women to enjoy them, yet not so much that a man throws down the book in disgust.

When it comes to contests, I usually have to classify my books as romantic medical suspense. On bookshelves... well, those titles are usually shelved by author name. I guess, as William Shakespeare said several centuries ago, "What's in a name?"

If you'd like to chime in with a comment, I'll choose one at random to receive a signed copy of my novella, Silent Night, Deadly Night. Don't forget to include your email address (in this format--Dr R L Mabry at yahoo dot com--to avoid web crawlers). What genre is the novella? It's either mystery or suspense...or maybe it's a thriller. Do you care?

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