Do you take notes while reading mystery novels with a large cast?
I’m curious how other mystery readers handle books with a large cast, aliases, family relationships, alibis, timelines, or small clues that only matter much later. Maybe not a mystery book, but reading something like One Hundred Years of Solitude blows my mind 😂
Do you usually take notes while reading, or do you just trust your memory and flip back when needed?
I’ve tried a few approaches, such as character lists, relationship charts, chapter-by-chapter clue lists and writing down theories before the reveal. But I also find that if I take too many notes, it can start to feel like homework instead of reading.
For people who read a lot of mystery / detective fiction:
- What do you actually track, if anything?
- Characters? Motives? Alibis? Timeline contradictions? Suspicious wording?
- And do you have any system that helps without making the reading experience less fun?
No spoilers please, but examples of book types where note-taking helped would be great.