Sort of Rejected Again, With a Silver Lining

Well, this rejection wasn't all bad.  I'll be honest, there have been a couple I haven't posted.  This one isn't exactly a crash and burn.:

Dear Mr. Creason,

I actually read your entire novel One Last Shot, and that in itself should tell you something.  It's a very good book for a first time novelist, however, our agency deals in traditional mystery, and this one falls more into the suspense/thriller genre.  It would not a good match for us, and the publishers we work with.  I've sent you the name of an agency, and the name of an agent that I think would be a good match for your novel.  I e-mailed that agent, and told her she'd be hearing from you.  I'd do that as soon as possible.  Send her a query and fifty pages.  Be sure you mention that you have ideas about a follow-up novel, and perhaps go into more detail than you did in your query to me about that second book.  They are very interested in new series writers, and your ideas for that series are very unique.  Good luck. 

Sincerely,

Busting into the mainstream fiction market is a little tougher than I thought.  I've gotten a few terse responses, when I didn't do my homework on the agency.  I've gotten some responses that say my book doesn't fall easily into any mainstream category.  And finally, I got this one.  All the rest fade away when I get one like this.  I've never believed that when agents ask for the entire book after a query, they actually read it.  I think they read a few pages past that thirty or fifty pages they asked for originally just to see if the book tanks.  I think this is going to be a tough sell, because my book starts out as one thing, and then quickly turns into something else.  It isn't easily classified and characterized. 

And my ideas for a series are different too.  A minor character in the first book becomes the protagonist in the next, and the major characters become minor.  I haven't even mentioned the fact one story I'm considering takes place in the same setting two generations and eighty years earlier. 

We'll see where it goes.  If nobody wants it, I know one small publisher of a series of books about famous American Freemasons that will publish it.