An excellent post by Marina Sofia at Finding Time to Write has got me to thinking about the way crime fiction writers may seem if you only read their novels and the way they really are. Crime novels can get ugly – really ugly. They are often violent and sometimes deal with difficult topics. But that doesn’t mean that the people who write them enjoy violence or revel in blood. It’s one thing to write about people killing other people and quite another to contemplate actually committing horrible violence or being involved with it. Seriously. Just take a look at some fictional crime fiction authors and you’ll see what I mean.
For instance in Agatha Christie’s Third Girl, Christie’s fictional detective Ariadne Oliver finds out how dangerous life can really get and how different it is to fiction. Oliver’s friend Hercule Poirot gets a visit from a young woman who says she may have committed a murder. She doesn’t give him any details, not even her name. But he’s curious about what she’s told him. It turns out that Oliver has actually met the young woman, whose name is Norma Restarick. She helps Poirot to track down Norma’s family and flat-mates and surprisingly, they tell Poirot that Norma’s not been seen in several days. By chance Oliver spots Norma and her boyfriend David Baker in a café and when Baker leaves, Oliver decides to follow him. As she herself says, she’s written more than once about one person tailing another but has never done it. Baker catches her in the act and invites her into his studio. All goes well enough until Oliver leaves the studio and ends up in real trouble. She’s often written about being in danger but this time the danger is quite real.
Dorothy Sayers’ detective novelist Harriet Vane has a similar brush with reality in Have His Carcase. In that novel Vane decides to take a hiking holiday and ends up near the village of Wovercombe. That’s where she finds a man lying on the beach. At first she thinks he’s asleep but when she gets closer, she realises he’s dead with his throat cut. Despite the fact that she’s written more than one novel in which people kill each other Vane still feels sick to her stomach and shaken by the experience. She manages to get to the nearest village and raise the alarm and the dead man is soon identified. He is Paul Alexis, a professional dancer who works at a local hotel. Lord Peter Wimsey travels to Wolvercombe to help in the investigation and between them he and Vane find out who killed Paul Alexis and why.
Martha Grimes’ Polly Praed is also a detective novelist. She’s got a keen interest in crime and a vivid imagination. In fact in The Anodyne Necklace we learn that one of her pastimes is inventing different ways to murder Littlebourne’s local squire Sir Miles Bodenheim and the members of his family. They’re all heartily disliked and Praed has thought of lots of ways to do them in. But then in The Deer Leap Praed has an all-too-real experience with murder up close when she takes a “road trip.” She stops to make a call and is directed to the nearest call box. That’s when she discovers the body of postmistress Una Quick. Quick’s death seems to be related to the disappearance of several local pets including Praed’s own beloved cat Barney. Now that Praed has to deal with real crime that touches her personally, she can’t maintain her usual detached interest.
Kate Atkinson’s Martin Canning has a rude awakening as it were in One Good Turn. Canning writes a “clean-scrubbed” mystery series featuring PI Nina Riley, who always catches the “bad guy.” Canning himself remains far removed from the ugliness of everyday life and in fact prefers his own imaginary world. One day though he’s pulled into real-life grittiness when he witnesses a car accident. Then the driver of one of the cars involved in the accident gets out and attacks the other driver. Canning throws his laptop case at the attacker thus saving the other man’s life. Despite his usual tendency to stay aloof from others Canning feels an obligation to make sure that the injured man gets hospital care. That’s how he’s drawn into a mystery involving murder, theft and more. The experience of being at such close quarters with ugliness drives Canning to some bizarre behaviour and it’s interesting to see how he tries to cope with having to deal with “blood and guts” for the first time.
There’s also Camilla Läckberg’s Erica Falck, a true-crime/crime fiction writer who returns to her hometown of Fjällbacka after several years in Stockholm. In the course of the series that features her, Falck reunites with local police officer Patrick Hedström. They develop a relationship, marry and have a family. Falck’s relationship with Hedström means that she learns about local crimes the police are investigating. Falck also runs into her own share of crime; for instance in The Ice Princess she is one of the people who discover the body of a former friend whom she only thought she knew. In The Hidden Child Falck unearths some dark local secrets when she discovers a Nazi medal among her mother’s possessions. When she’s writing Falck can maintain a certain amount of detachment. But when crime touches her own life matters are quite different. She’s still curious and still has the drive to want the crime solved but it’s much more difficult for her.
Lynda Wilcox’s Verity Long has to make the leap from murder-on-paper to murder in real life in Strictly Murder. Long is the personal assistant/researcher to well-known and highly-regarded crime novelist Kathleen “KD” Davenport. One of her jobs is to research true crime stories that Davenport adapts and uses in her plots, so she’s used to reading about crime. And although she herself doesn’t do the actual writing, Long is used to crime, violence and bloodshed. But then one day she has to deal with the real thing. She’s looking to move and goes with a house agent to view a likely place. That’s where she finds the body of famous TV presenter Jaynee Johnson. Long is badly, badly shaken and she soon realises that she could be considered a suspect. So she decides to find out who the killer is; after all, she is involved. It’s not long though before she gets a rude lesson in reality. The closer she gets to finding out the truth about Johnson’s murder, the clearer it is that someone doesn’t want her to discover it. As the novel goes on we see that for Long, there turns out to be a big difference between writing about crime and being involved in it.
And see? That’s the thing about crime writers. You may think we relish blood and murder, violence and ick. But we don’t. We really are only dangerous when we write…
NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone.
Nice post as usual Margot. AC’s ‘Third Girl’ is one of her more unusual books and I have to say not one of my favourites. Although it has the magic ingredients of Poirot and Ariadne Oliver it doesn’t quite work for me. AC as a writer seems terribly reactionary in this book – a kick against the sixties culture I think.
‘Ice Princess’ is one of my favourite Lackberg books. A great story and Erica is an interesting prototype as a writer.
Sarah – Thank you
– And you make a really interesting and compelling point about Christie’s reactionary viewpoint in Third Girl. I wonder whether she really felt that way or whether she was just offering that as Oliver’s and Poirot’s views. Perhaps she did go against the Sixties culture. Mmmmmm…..yummy food for thought – thanks for that. And yes, The Ice Princess is very good indeed I think. I like Erica Falck’s character too; she really does present a very interesting picture of a writer doesn’t she?
I’ve volunteered at various writing venues over the years as an author guest liaison. One sf con I worked at chose splatterpunk authors one year as their primary guests.
I was quite worried about working with writers who gloried in guts, gore, and violence, but they were the nicest authors I’ve ever worked with.
On my own part, I’ve had a fan back away from me when she started talking about one of my characters, a truly evil genocide. What’s really funny about this is I look like a hobbit matron with vibes that attract frightened children and pets.
Marilynn,
Oh, how interesting that you got to meet some splatterpunk authors and find out what they were like. It’s good to hear they’re not as gore-loving and violent as their stories are. And what a story about that fan of yours who backed away from you. Interesting isn’t it how readers get these visions of what authors “should” be like from what they read. I had to chuckle at your self-description, too. Such mental imagery!
Perhaps it’s the crime readers you writers have to watch out for…there could be an Annie Wilkes among your fans who ‘loves’ you enough to chop off your feet
Bernadette – LOL! Hmmm.. I’ll have to be very careful about driving anywhere during a storm. You never know who might come to the “rescue” if I get into an accident…
I know some of my books have horrific murders. In fact, I have sometimes written into the night, with the light off, and it has scared me. I don’t enjoy killing my characters but I know my readers are looking for a certain thing and so I have to give them what they want to read. It does often scare me.
Clarissa – Oh, now that is really interesting! I’ve written some things too that were difficult for me to write – that I’d never do myself. And I don’t write novels that are as dark as yours, so I can only imagine how you have to step outside yourself to do that kind of writing. It is scary isn’t it…
Thank goodness we’re only dangerous when we write. Can you imagine the mayhem at a mystery fan convention if the authors were all bloodthirsty monsters? Hmmm…that gives me an idea…
Pat – Oh, that’s a great idea for a mystery! I’ve read a couple of novels that took place at conventions and it is a terrific context. And if it were a convention full of writers who were as dangerous in real life as they are on paper? No telling what would come out of it.
This is quite a topic, one I haven’t really pondered. I always assume crime fiction writers are writing fiction, but many really do get caught up in murderous details, researching methods of killing people, forensics and so much more. It is amusing to think of how much research can go into a juicy murder mystery.
I wonder if the writing helps the authors to get out their own aggravation at people on paper, a nice, safe medium.
As for AC, the Belgian detective and I parted company years ago when I was 19 and decided the viewpoints on groupings of people were reactionary, including immigrants. So that was that. I made a clean break.
It’s not worth it to me to be aggravated when I’m reading.
Kathy – I agree with you that if an author’s work puts you off, there’s no reason you should read it. I’ve had experiences like that myself and as you say, it’s not worth it. And there’s a lot of good crime fiction out there, so readers have plenty of options.
You make an interesting point about writing as a way to get out one’s own frustrations. I don’t know if a lot of writers think about that consciously but I’m sure it probably plays a role in the writing process at some level. And yes, doing the research for a novel gets very interesting. It certainly leads to some unusual places, both literally and figuratively.
I do have tough standards and I know it, but it’s fine with me.
This is definitely old home week, seeing Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone. It’s another song that’s embedded in my memory, having been on a record that I played and heard hundreds of times. Oh, the old Bob Dylan songs, how great were they. I know so many from years ago, including his most political songs. What a talented songwriter and even though I sometimes like other singers’ versions, a relative of mine asserts that hearing his songs with his raspy, rough voice gives a special flavor to them. I guess that is true. I must now pull out my Dylan cds and listen to them.
Kathy – Bob Dylan is in my opinion an American treasure. His poetry as expressed in music is superb and he’s had so many important things to say. I’ve listened to a lot of his music too and never been disappointed…
Yes! Agreed! However, I must pull out my cd’s and listen to them again.