mystery novel
- noun
- /ˈmɪstəri ˈnɑvəl/
- In the book club, we discussed the latest mystery novel and tried to figure out the killer's identity.
- writes mystery novels
- read mystery novels
- author of mystery novels
And she loved mystery novels and she always wanted to write a mystery novel.
- And she loved mystery novels and she always wanted to write a mystery novel.
- He starts writing mystery novels for a new press, Loring and and Mussy.
- I have some visuals in the book, you'll see them in a second, some blueprints and a hat tip to classic mystery novels.
Examples
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It's an unpublished mystery novel.
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Disappearing bodies were the stuff of mystery novels, not reality.
Fiction book (1996) -
I just like mystery novels.
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Just say you were asked to recommend one great mystery novel to the whole world.
Blog text (21) -
And she loved mystery novels and she always wanted to write a mystery novel.
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I could have been spending the rest of my vacation reading mystery novels.
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Peter has written two mystery novels, and he's starting a third.
Fiction book (2001) -
Also, Nancy has written a couple of decent murder mystery novels that are actually quite entertaining.
Blog text (34) -
I began to scan the bookshelves at home for mystery novels.
Fiction book (1994) -
The best mystery novels, just as the best in all literature, are far richer than their plots.
Fiction book (2001)
Synonyms
A book, play, or film about solving a crime, often a murder
A story about a person who solves a crime by following clues
A story about a crime in which a detective tries to find who did it
A book, play, or film about solving a crime, often a murder
How Puzzling
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a novel whose central plot is a mystery' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'mystery' (a story focused on detecting a crime/puzzle) with 'novel' (a long fictional narrative). This modifier + noun composition is common cross-linguistically and would be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The mystery novel comes from the idea of a book built around a mystery, a 'secret' or 'puzzle' the reader can try to 'solve'. Writers hide clues in the story so readers hunt for the answer, which is why a mystery novel means a novel where a crime or puzzle is the main part.