Originally posted May 20, 2024. “Ye olde ghosts-of-long-ago. An instance in the present echoes an instance in the past. You certainly can’t write a traditional mystery without it. But, my dear child, […] you’re not in a traditional mystery. You’re in a psychological thriller.” Horror critics frequently discuss the idea that the scares in horror media reflect current cultural anxieties. What does our society find frightening? I think you could argue something similar for mysteries and thrillers: at the most basic level, they rely on cultural ideas of what is a crime . More broadly, you have the question of what is a secret . How many turn-of-the-century stories involve the scandal of an unmarried young woman having children, or a previous relationship? Finally there is the question of what is a plot twist : if I revealed the bloodthirsty serial killer was a woman, or a grade-schooler—Gasp! Shock! Less so if I revealed that the serial killer was (dun dun dun) an adult m...