The therapeutic value of the mystery novel: "
Every reader has a particular type of book reserved for therapeutic use, and in my case that type is the mystery. Whenever I am sick, depressed or overtired, I roll out the murder mysteries and spy books, and they never fail to lift me out of the depths. About a month ago I felt mentally drained after having finished a long and very arduous writing job. And there at the bookstore, as if by karma, I spotted a long-forgotten favorite, Anthony Berkeley's 'Poisoned Chocolates Case' (1929) — a gem from the golden age of mystery fiction that I had read as a teenager and not thought about again.
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