Sarah Stewart Taylor joins us today as our guest blogger. Sarah is the author of the Sweeney St. George mystery series, which features an art history professor who specializes in the study of grave stones. Her latest title is Still As Death and it’s excellent. Enjoy!

It never fails. I arrive to do a reading or signing and the organizer does a double take. “Oh, you’re the mystery writer?” they say. But . . . you look so . . . nice.

I don’t know what people expect mystery writers to look like. Maybe they think we all fit the mold of the hard drinking, hard living private eye, complete with a fedora and a cigarette dangling out of the corner of the mouth. Or maybe they expect a homicidal maniac, blood dripping off the knife clutched in a hot little hand.

Whatever it is, the truth is that person for person, mystery writers are about the nicest group of individuals I’ve ever encountered. There are exceptions of course, but since I published my first book four years ago I’ve been overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness of my colleagues. Other writers have gone out of their way to guide me, put in a good word for me, and introduce me to important people in the publishing industry.

If I’m honest, I think I expected something a little . . . more menacing when I first started hanging out with mystery writers. My first mystery event was a Sunday brunch meeting of the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime, a good six months or so before my first book came out. I was a bit nervous about meeting all of these crime-writing types and I sidled nervously up to a group of women who were eating quiche. They looked nice enough. Then I overheard a snippet of conversation. “Of course, dear, one of them was saying to another. You could poison her with digitalis, but of course then you’ll have to figure out where she got it. Why don’t I spend some time at the library for you? I’ll let you know what I find. By the way, how’s your daughter doing?”

I was sold, of course. The New England Sisters were warm, welcoming and extremely helpful. And if I ever need to poison someone, I know where to go. When I attended my first convention a few weeks later, I found the same spirit of goodwill. I now consider mystery writers among my best friends.

Of course some of these incredibly nice people I’m talking about write some pretty dark stuff. But that’s my theory on the niceness of crime writers. Everybody walks around wanting to kill people sometimes (Right? Is it just me?) But since we actually get to do it - even if it’s just on the page — we can go through the rest of our lives being kind and helpful. Exactly the opposite of what they expect. So what’s your theory? Why are mystery writers so goshdarned nice?

Thanks for stopping by, Sarah! Be sure to check out Sarah’s new blog, too.