I thought I'd share some questions I put together for book clubs discussing mysteries. If you have other types of questions, please share.

1. If a mystery is well-written the reader should suspect a number of characters throughout the story. Which characters did you think committed the crime? Did you guess the culprit before the end?

2. What were the red herrings or subplots that made it difficult to figure out the solution to the crime?

3. How is the book structured? Does the author use any narrative devices like flashbacks or multiple points of view in telling the story? Was this an effective technique to give the reader important information?

4. Besides the main characters, what stood out in the story? The descriptions? The secondary characters? The dialogue? Did you have a favorite character?

5. In many mysteries, the setting or the main character’s job is important to the plot. Was that the case in this particular book? Did you feel like the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the setting?

6. If a book is set in a different time period, what did you learn about the time period you didn’t know? How did the time period influences the characters’ actions and beliefs?

7. Does the ending make you want to read more books with the same characters?