Avid mystery (and romance) readers just burn through books. A lot of them aren't that great, but they're designed to pass the time, not stand out as works of ar

Avid mystery (and romance) readers just burn through books. A lot of them aren't that great, but they're designed to pass the time, not stand out as works of art. So that's why there are so many of them, and why they're often kind of crap. Like sitcoms, or TV police procedurals. The standards aren't that high because people just want something that's pretty okay in a familiar style. Of course there are writers who write in any genre and produce really great stuff, but you're not likely to find them by picking books at random from Goodwill, by Sturgeon's law (90% of everything is crap) alone.