The Self-Help Books to Keep on Your Shelf

I'm sure you've noticed that self-help books are frequently best sellers. Just a glance at The New York Times' current nonfiction best sellers finds 10% Happier by Dan Harris (how the co-anchor of "Nightline" used meditation to improve his life) and Thrive by Arianna Huffington (personal well-being as a measure of success, along with money and power). I've read my share of self-help books, but I've thrown out (and forgotten) more career, health, relationship, and spiritual guides than I've kept. So I began to wonder which entries in the self-help genre have stood the test of time and may merit a permanent place on my bookshelf -- and maybe yours. There are lots of recommendations out there, but when I combine them all together, I come up with two winners per pundits, popular acclaim and my own experience: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Harvard MBA Stephen Covey, and How to Win Friends and Influence People by super-salesman Dale Carnegie, published in the 1930s and still going strong. Other consistently championed books are The Power of Now by philosopher Eckhart Tolle, Man's Search for Meaning by concentration-camp survivor Viktor Frankl, Awaken the Giant Within by motivational guru Anthony Robbins, The Road Less Traveled by psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, bringing the "law of attraction" of earlier writers to new audiences. So if you find yourself troubled by basic questions -- who am I, what do I really want, and how do I get from where I am now to where I want to be -- check out these books. For more top-rated self-help guides, consider other picks by sources as varied as Amazon, Reader's Digest, and Elle magazine.

Regional Mystery Rewards Sleuth and Tourist

Sometimes the setting of a mystery novel goes beyond a dash of "local color" into the realm of regional fiction, offering a special atmosphere, unique characters and local accents so integral to the story that it's hard to imagine the same plot in another place. Here are just a few regional mysteries that may appeal to fellow armchair detectives and tourists. Take a trip to New Mexico and its blend of Hispanic, Native American and Anglo cultures courtesy of the late Tony Hillerman; Skinwalkers or A Thief of Time is a good first read. Closer to home for me, Raymond Chandler may have been the pioneer of Los Angeles noir, but Michael Connelly is a worthy heir, winning every major award given to mystery writers, with his novels featuring LAPD detective "Harry" Bosch and defense attorney Mickey Haller. I also like Jonathan Kellerman's L.A.-based series with child-psychologist sleuth Alex Delaware, starting with the award-winning debut When the Bough Breaks. On the opposite coast, Dennis Lehane draws powerful, wrenching literary mysteries out of a gritty Boston landscape; a great example is Mystic River, winner of multiple book awards. Or follow the cases of the late Robert B. Parker's Boston private detective Spenser; with so many books in the series, a good start is Edgar Award-winning Promised Land. If New York City tops your tour agenda, Linda Fairstein and her Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper provide satisfying reads, including Nero Award-winning The Deadhouse. If you think drizzly gloom is the perfect setting for murder and mayhem, you'll be drawn to J.A. Jance's Seattle-based detective J.P. Beaumont series, starting with debut Until Proven Guilty. Or you can move further north to the wilder shores of Alaska, and meet Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak, kicking off the series with Edgar Award-winning A Cold Day for Murder. There are a lot more regional mysteries worth sampling, of course. For more suggestions, take a look at the post by Marvin Lachman, author of The American Regional Mystery, at http://somethingisgoingtohappen.net/2012/10/17/the-american-regional-mystery-by-marvin-lachman/

Sleuthing 101: Are You a Good Lie Detector?

Most of us hear a slew of lies each day, and before you dispute it, realize that most of us are also bad at spotting lies (about a 50-50 chance of being duped, per research). We solicit and embrace relatively harmless deceptions ("Do these pants make me look fat?"), but when it's the case of a murderer, a crooked politician or a cheating spouse, failure to detect a liar has serious consequences. Think you're good at lie detection? Try the simple Lie-Q quiz at http://liespotting.com/liespotting-basics/quiz/. Here's one hint: If you suspect the nervous guy who can't make eye contact, you're chasing the wrong clues; liars can be glib and engage in more eye contact to sell their stories.  Since lies are at the heart of mystery writing -- both deceits plotted for fictional characters and deceptions by authors to keep readers guessing -- understanding why people lie and how to catch liars are basics. A lot of research on deceptive behavior's cues comes from psychologist Paul Ekman, who pioneered research in facial expressions, gained a reputation as "the best human lie detector in the world," and inspired the brief Fox TV series "Lie to Me."  While liars can be skilled at controlling their words and facial expressions, studies show there are still verbal and nonverbal "tells" to alert trained observers. One of Ekman's finds is how micro-expressions (complete but very brief expressions of hidden emotion) and squelched expressions (an angry response quickly masked by a smile, for example) can reveal deceit. For more, including examples of famous lies, read Ekman's book Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics and Marriage, available at http://www.amazon.com/Telling-Lies-Marketplace-Politics-Marriage/dp/0393337456/

What If the Lady Is a Psychopath?

The dangerous psychopath is a stock figure in modern mysteries and thrillers, but most stories focus on menacing males. What if the psychopath is a lady? Is she just a male psychopath with lipstick and high heels? Not quite.There isn't as much research on the female psychopath, but she's like her male counterpart in being superficially charming while, behind the mask, she's an egocentric, manipulative, deceitful and impulsive risk-taker who lacks empathy, remorse and respect for social norms. It's a personality compatible with criminal acts, which is why psychopaths, who are estimated to represent 1% to 3% of the general population, are over-represented in prisons and murder mysteries. One study pegged psychopaths at 16% of the female prison population (although that's lower than the 25% of male prison inmates). It's the manifestation of the disorder that differs between the sexes, including violent behavior. Where male psychopaths are prone to physical aggression, for example, females tend to resort to relational or verbal aggression -- such as manipulating social networks to exclude a victim, engaging in self-injury, or using sexual seduction and coercion. Male and female psychopaths may have more in common when it comes to sexual behavior. A recent U.S. study of "hypersexual" people, meaning those with the most casual sexual partners, found that psychopathy is the key predictive personality trait for hypersexuality in both men and women. The female psychopath is more likely to be a sexual thrill-seeker because she is impulsive and immune to the anxieties and social taboos that usually discourage risky encounters, and she is successful in using socially and sexually exploitative tactics to snare partners. By the way, female psychopaths apparently are also more interested in coercive and sado-masochistic sex (pause to consider this if you enjoyed 50 Shades of Grey). For more on psychopathy and sexuality, read http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-raj-persaud/male-and-female-psychopaths-get-more-sex_b_1845750.html

Cultural Mystery: One's Taboo Is Other's Custom

Mystery novels focus on the eternal conundrums of violence and justice, on solving the who, how and why behind legally and socially taboo acts--so we often assume a fundamental agreement on what is illegal or immoral. However, readers with an appetite for global mysteries need to be aware that one country's taboos can be another's customs. For example, polygamy is taboo in the United States (despite TV series on Mormon sister-wives), but Islamic cultures accept that a man can have up to four legal wives. Pedophilia is illegal and repugnant here, but child marriage and child prostitution are tolerated globally; in Greece, for example, pedophilia is defined as an "ailment" rather than a crime. Incest of the father-daughter, mother-son and brother-sister type is pretty much a universal no-no today, but laws on incest still vary within the United States when it comes to first-cousin marriage and even uncle-niece/aunt-nephew relationships. In the Netherlands, France and Spain, sex (as distinct from marriage) between consenting adults is legal no matter how closely related. Well, at least all societies agree that murder is wrong. Not really. Cultures differ by ignoring, condoning or punishing leniently homicides that the community has deemed justified: "Honor killings" in South Asia and the Middle East and "crimes of passion" in Latin America are examples. The "stand your ground" defense in some U.S. jurisdictions has sparked similar controversy and condemnation by human rights groups. For U.S. taboos that are considered acceptable in other countries, see http://www.buzzfeed.com/natgeo/lifestyles-that-are-taboo-in-the-us-but-are-okay-5n1c

Is It Time to Escape on a Foreign Mystery Tour?

As you emerge from winter's grip, it's time to plan for some fun travel -- and there's no cheaper way than a global mystery tour. Enjoy sunny piazzas, pyramids and pagodas with fascinating sleuths for company. If you're already addicted to bleak Scandinavian landscapes by Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, consider Norway's "Queen of Crime" Karin Fossum and Swedish master Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series. But then go sip white wine in a Paris café courtesy of one of the world's top-selling mystery writers, the late Georges Simenon, creator of the Commissaire Maigret mysteries. Add Italian zest with mystery fan favorites Andrea Camilleri, creator of Sicilian Inspector Montalbano, and Donna Leon, creator of Venice police detective Guido Brunetti. Best-selling Spanish novelist Arturo Perez-Severte can offer historical flair with his Diego Alatriste, a 17th century sword-wielding sleuth. Next leave Europe and go East. Sample Japanese Keigo Higashino's The Devotion of Suspect X, a 2012 Edgar Award nominee, and Qiu Xiaolong's series about poetry-spouting Shanghai detective Chen Cao, including Death of a Red Heroine, an Anthony Award winner for first novel. Fly over the Taj Mahal and land with Kishwar Desai's award-winning Witness the Night, featuring Punjab social-worker-cum-crime investigator Simran Singh. Visit Africa with the Botswana-based Detective Kubu series by Michael Stanley (alias of a duo of South African professors). Finally, come back to the Americas and go south with acclaimed psychological thriller The Book of Murder by Argentina's Guillermo Martinez. And that's a very abbreviated world tour of great mysteries! For a much longer list by geography, go to http://www.mysterylovers.com/books/book_clubs/foreign.php

Foreshadowing: A Key Mystery Writing Tool

Foreshadowing is an important literary technique in all fiction, but it is especially useful in mystery writing. Foreshadowing hints at events to come and piques reader interest. It can create a mood of foreboding and dread, build suspense by aligning details to make the reader anticipate a climax, and advance the plot by linking present to future or past events and by planting clues that will be significant later. Foreshadowing can also be used to deliberately mislead the reader to create a surprise solution or culmination. Here are some foreshadowing examples: 1) the pre-scene anticipating a more spectacular scene (brief turbulence for an airplane flying into big trouble); 2) the unsubtle warning ("The weather was going to be bad, but he didn't know how bad."); 3) the irrational concern (Where's that misplaced letter opener? With the killer, of course.); 4) the unexplained apprehension (Why is he so nervous?); 5) the blunt narrator statement ("It was the last time he would see her."); 6) the ominous object (or "Chekhov's gun" after the Russian playwright's use of a seemingly irrelevant loaded gun to foreshadow events); 7) a character's opinion ("I think he's hiding something," said the detective.); 8) premonition or prophecy (when that creepy fortune-teller sees danger ahead); 9) symbolism (storm clouds on the horizon and a dead bird on the porch); 10) the red herring (a favorite device in Sherlock Holmes stories to misdirect reader suspicion); and 11) the flash-forward or flash-back (a jump in the timeline that builds suspense because the complete context and connection are unclear). For a useful article covering many of the examples above, go to http://www.novel-writing-help.com/examples-of-foreshadowing.html