Okay, okay, I admit it. I don’t read my Bible and Christian books 24/7. And …and … instead, I read mysteries. Not just a few mystery novels, but heaps of them. I’m hooked – must have my daily mystery fix.
Let me start at the beginning. Before my salvation, I was an avid reader of novels and a few biographies. Steinbeck. Hemmingway. Smith. Ludlum. LeClare. Fitzgerald. Wouk. Etc.
And at the time of my salvation, I was reading Yeager, an autobiography by Chuck Yeager, the test pilot. But after my salvation, I could not finish the book. I’d open it up and fall asleep. This happened quite a few times before it hit me: I don’t read non-Christian books anymore.
So, for the next eighteen years or so, I read hundreds of Christian books and my Bible. There was one exception: There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz. This book told about two African-American boys growing up in the Cabrini-Green complex on the Southside of Chicago. Sobering book!
But then, in 2002, I started writing prophetic fiction. I finished my first story and handed it to Honey. She read it and said, “Good story line. Lousy writing.”
Yikes! There’s something about truth coming out of your mate’s mouth that makes you grit your teeth. It’s a little like a fingernail going across a blackboard. The hairs on your neck stick up; you arch your back; and you’re ready to unleash your claws.
Yet, the truth was, I was stuck with writing prophetic fiction. So, I needed to read books that had simple formats which I could figure out and learn.
This led me to mystery novels. Quick reads. Simple formats. Heavy dialog. Easy to understand scenes and transportation from one scene to the next. A perfect genre for a simple writer like me.
Whose books do I read? Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, some Elmore Leonard, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, William Tapply, Steve Hamilton, and others.
So, there you have it. The truth is out of the closet.
Larry Who 
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