L is for list

The key to a long lasting mystery series is a great gimmick. Susan Wittig Albert? Herb gardening. Lillian Jackson Braun? Cats that are smarter than the sleuth. Both appeal to the mystery genre’s greatest ally — the spinster.

My mother loves mysteries as well — she’s not a spinster, I promise — so I grew up familiar with a wide array of mystery authors. Obviously, Sue Grafton was one of them. She had stumbled into the greatest gimmick to date — a book for every letter of the alphabet, starting with A is for Alibi.

I don’t think they were my mom’s favorite books, but they were certanily a big part of the bookshelf. Heck, my mom used to get a Christmas card from Grafton every year. Probably still does.

So, it was with great pleasure I found the following list from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

Possible
Titles for Future
Sue Grafton Novels
After She Runs Out
of Letters.

BY CHRIS STECK

– – – –

“/” Is for Slash

“:” Is for Colon Cancer … or Is It?

“F1” Is for Help

“,” Is Almost for Coma

“#” Is for #27

“^” Is for Caret-id Artery

“~” Is for Tilde-ath

“Ctrl+X” Is for Cut

Check out the rest of the lists — all of which are brilliant.