I love crime fiction. Especially if it involves a good mystery. It was the first category of novels and short stories I ever read. It goes all the way back to my childhood when I was first introduced to the Hardy Boys Mysteries. The series began way back in 1927. I discovered them in the late 60's, early 70s. Of course, they had been heavily revised by that time to remove stereotype references and to simplify the writing so it would appeal to younger readers. I loved those books. 
A friend from school gave me a copy of The Melted Coins. It was the first Hardy Boys book I ever read. I was hooked. The idea that teenagers could outwit the adults when it came to solving mysteries was fascinating. From there I moved on to hardboiled mysteries with richly developed antagonists like Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer, Easy Rawlins, and Spenser, just to name a few. They were smart, tough, somewhat snarky private investigators who lived by their own code of honor and always solved the crime... usually before the police were able to do so. I devoured these stories written by some of the best crime fiction mystery writers out there. I even modeled my own Tony Razzolito, PI mystery series after some of these hardboiled detectives... just a bit more contemporary for today's world.
Over the years I pretty much pigeonholed myself when it came to what I would read. If it wasn't in the crime fiction category or any of its many sub-genres, I passed it by without a second thought. And I was happy to do so as I believed that I couldn't possibly enjoy reading a book that was NOT a part of the crime fiction family. But I've changed my view on that and feel like I've been evolving over the last few years.
What changed?
A few years ago, I joined Twitter and got involved with the writing community. Since then, I've met many authors I've come to respect, and began reading their work. And something happened that I didn't expect--most of what I was reading was not crime fiction, and I was enjoying it! Many of these 
authors are writing in genres that I never gave any thought to before meeting and interacting with them on the Twitter platform. Now don't get me wrong, mysteries are still my overall favorite stories to read. But besides finding some great Indie mystery/thriller/suspense authors on Twitter, I've also crossed paths with some talented authors writing westerns, western-romance, romance, fantasy, historical, tropical-adventure, paranormal ghost stories and shapeshifters, horror, Sci-Fi, post-apocalyptic, and literary fiction. And I am so grateful to all these authors for the superb work they've produced. They have helped me broaden my horizons, not to mention, showing me through their writing how I can improve my own writing. Wonderful lessons found within the pages of their books--everything from seeing how they transition between scenes, layer the main plot with subplots, sentence structure, pacing, character development, and choosing the right voice and POV. Things we all focus on when writing regardless of genre.
Nowadays, pretty much all of the fiction books I read are written by Indie and self-published authors. And a lot of them are outside the crime fiction category. I do this to support my writing community peers. But mostly I do it because these authors are writing great stories filled with interesting characters with solid plots that keep me engaged in the book from beginning to end. It's just good storytelling, plain and simple. And what's been extremely satisfying is that the genre doesn't matter to me. Not anymore. These authors have taught me an invaluable lesson--there is more to the world of fiction than crime fiction. I just had to take my head out of the sand and look around a bit more to actually see it. _____________________________________________
I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊
Meanwhile, you can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files
Until next time...😎
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