Perhaps We Don’t Fulfill Each Other’s Fantasies*

An interesting comment exchange with Carol at Reading, Writing and Riesling has got me to thinking about the sets of expectations we have when we read work by a familiar author. Often those expectations help us to feel comfortable with that that author’s books and I think that’s in part because we know the kind of story to expect. Often, there’s also a group of ‘regular’ characters we get to know and enjoy.  Before I go on, I’ll give you a chance to check out Carol’s interesting blog.

Right. Back to expectations. On the one hand, that kind of familiarity can be a good thing. For the author, it means a loyal base of readers. For the reader, it means a certain confidence that what one’s about to read is probably not going to disappoint. On the other hand that kind of familiarity can be limiting. It’s treacherously easy for the author to fall into a pattern of what become ‘cookie-cutter’ plots; I’m sure we all can think of series like that. What’s more, when an author changes a character’s personality, or a plot style, or writing style, or something else important in the series, fans can be really put off. You can think of it if you like as ‘reader ownership’ – readers are attached to certain characters, a certain writing style and so on and when that changes it can feel like a personal affront. Like just about everything else, there are positives and negatives about the sort of ‘track record’ some authors build.

One of the more famous examples of this set of expectations is the story of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. From the time they first came on the scene, the Holmes stories were popular and Conan Doyle’s fan base grew and became intensely loyal (as we all know, there are still many clubs, societies and so on that are dedicated to Holmes). Readers knew what to expect from a story and eagerly consumed each instalment. And then Conan Doyle had Holmes go over Switzerland’s Reichenbach Falls in The Adventure of the Final Problem. As Holmes fans know, this outraged readers. They had developed a set of expectations about these stories and had a sense of ownership of the character as you might say. In fact, readers were so upset that Conan Doyle felt obliged to bring Holmes back, which he did in The Adventure of the Empty House.

At the time that Agatha Christie wrote The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, readers of detective stories had certain assumptions about what to expect, not just from Christie but from the genre in general. For instance there would be a murder, there would be a group of likely suspects and there would be a sleuth who would unmask the killer. Christie had followed that pattern in The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Murder on the Links so readers had a set of expectations about what would happen in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. But in this case Christie didn’t meet those expectations. She did something completely different and that choice upset a lot of readers. She was accused of ‘not playing fair’ and of breaking the rules of crime fiction if I can put it that way. In hindsight her decision has turned out to be a wise one. Today The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is considered by many to be one of her best works. But that’s not how her readers felt at the time.

Lilian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who… series won her millions of devoted fans. Her sleuth, journalist Jim ‘Qwill’ Qwilleran, his love interest Polly Duncan and the other regular characters in the series became favourites for a lot of readers who felt they had a certain amount of ownership. Readers came to expect certain kinds of plots, certain kinds of events and so on. But towards the end of the series many people saw some changes in the novels and they didn’t like it. For instance, Braun’s last novel The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers got quite a lot of negative press. In fact several reviews suggested that she hadn’t written the book herself. To be honest, I read that kind of thing about the last few of her novels. I don’t know whether it’s true, but I do know that even her devoted fans felt put off by what they saw as changes to the style, the focus and so on.

Sue Grafton’s ‘alphabet series’ featuring PI Kinsey Millhone also has a very devoted group of readers. Fans from all over the world have eagerly followed Millhone’s adventures since 1982 when A is for Alibi was published. And 22 books later, Millhone still has a huge following. And yet, not all of her fans have been happy about all of the developments in the stories. And this is what got Carol and me ‘talking’ about reader expectations. Readers have come to expect a certain writing style, a certain kind of plot, certain behaviours and so on from this series. Graftotn has experimented with different points of view, different kinds of pacing in the stories and other changes that haven’t always been well-received, and part of the reason for that may be that readers’ expectations have run up against the author’s choices. Despite some reader disappointment, I know that millions of readers (I’m one of them) are going to be interested in what Grafton does with Kinsey Millhone #23. W is for When….?

Camilla Läckberg created a very popular series featuring biographer Ericka Falck and her husband police detective Patrik Hedström. Beginning with The Ice Princess, this series has followed Falck and Hedström through several different criminal investigations, as well as developments in their personal lives. Many people (and I’m one of them) love the fishing-village setting, the mystery plots and the pacing and action. But as time has gone by, some readers have felt that the series has gotten away from what they saw as its initial ‘edginess.’ After The Ice Princess, readers had certain expectations for the kinds of plots that future novels would have, and the focus of those novels. And those readers have been a bit put off by what they see as the increasing focus on the domestic sides of these characters’ lives. That of course is a matter of taste; there are readers who really enjoy that aspect of the series. That’s why it’s such a good example I think of the way readers feel a sense of investment in a series and have very personal reactions when they feel that their expectations aren’t being met.

The whole question of readers’ expectations raises the issue of just exactly what authors owe their readers. The author/reader relationship is a complicated one really. Should authors write in the style and with the patterns that their fans have come to expect (and keep loyal readers but risk ‘sameyness’)? Should they innovate (and stay fresh, but  risk making readers cranky and creating books that simply aren’t good)? What about readers? Do readers really have a stake in series they love? To what extent? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you’re a reader how do you react when you sense a change in what an author is doing? If you’re a writer, what role do reader expectations play in what you write?

Thanks, Carol, for the inspiration and the great conversation.

 
 
 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Billy Joel’s Summer, Highland Falls. C’mon now, didn’t you expect a Billy Joel lyric from me? 

Make Me Respectable, Man*

An interesting post on Patti Abbott’s terrific blog has got me thinking about respectability. Patti’s post focused on respectability in the lower-middle class, but really it’s an interesting question for just about any class. Patti’s blog is a treasure trove of interesting questions, great music and film clips, short stories and more, so please, do yourself a favour and follow it if you aren’t already. What counts as ‘respectable’ has changed a lot over the years, but the question I started thinking about was: Do people care about being respectable? Is the whole concept of respectability still relevant? Of course we can give a lot of examples of people who don’t care what others think of them. But honestly, I think the desire to be considered respectable still matters to some people. Certainly it’s a factor in a lot of crime fiction.

As Barbara Vine, Ruth Rendell deals with the theme of respectability in A Dark-Adapted Eye. The Longley family has always prided itself on its middle-class respectability, but what a lot of people don’t know is that the family has a dark secret in its past. Years ago, Vera Longley Hilliard was arrested, tried and hanged for murder. Since then the Longley family has buried that fact as best they could, mostly because of this desire to be seen as respectable. Then journalist Daniel Stewart digs up the past for a story he’s doing on the Hilliard trial. He approaches Vera’s niece Faith Longley Severn and asks her to help him put together the family’s history. In doing so, she has to face her family’s past and pull away the veneer of respectability that the family valued so much.

Colin Dexter’s Death is Now My Neighbour takes an interesting look at respectability. In that novel, Sir Clixby Bream, Master of Lonsdale College, Oxford, is preparing to retire.  He’s faced with the question of who will succeed him and narrows his choice down to two candidates: Julian Storrs and Denis Cornford. Both men are equally qualified and have good reputations. Both also have the air of respectability that can make a big difference in a choice like this. Then, journalist Geoffrey Owens begins to dig around a bit into the past and discovers that one of the characters in this novel is not quite as respectable as it seems. He decides to confront that character with what he knows and see if he can earn a profit for keeping quiet on the matter. When Owens is murdered, Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis investigate to find out whose desire to be thought of as respectable made it worth committing murder.

In Camilla Läckberg’s The Ice Princess, writer Erica Falck returns from Stockholm to her family’s home in Fjällbacka to sort out her parents’ things after their deaths. She’s not been there long when a neighbour discovers the body of Alexandra ‘Alex’ Wijkner, who appears to have committed suicide. Falck is especially shocked by this death because she and Alex were best friends as children. She and Alex hadn’t really been in touch for twenty-five years and it occurs to her that she didn’t really know her former friend. So she decides to try to get to know the woman Alex became and write a biography of her. As local police officer Patrik Hedström investigates officially, Falck begins to ask more informal questions about the death. Each in a different way, they learn that Alex’s death was murder not suicide. And behind it all is the strong desire for being considered ‘respectable.’

Anthony Bidulka’s Flight of Aquavit introduces us to successful accountant Daniel Guest, who is ‘respectably’ married and has a good reputation in business. But he’s also had some secret relationships with men. He is shocked when someone who seems to know about his trysts blackmails him. Guest is very concerned about being considered ‘respectable’ so he hires Saskatoon PI Russell Quant to find the blackmailer and get that person to stop. He’s even willing to pay the blackmailer just to make the whole thing go away. Quant suggests that it would all be a lot easier if Guest simply ‘came out,’ but Guest refuses. He is determined to maintain his veneer of ‘respectable married life.’ So Quant begins to investigate the matter. The trail leads to New York, a murder, and eventually right back to Saskatoon. The urge to be considered respectable isn’t the reason for the murder, but it’s a fascinating theme that runs through this novel.

Respectability is a very important theme in Tarquin Hall’s The Case of the Missing Servant. Delhi private investigator Vishwas ‘Vish’ Puri’s business comes mostly from families who want to ‘vet’ potential spouses for their children. They hire Puri to do background checks and find out anything he can so that they can ensure their children marry respectable people. Puri gets a very different kind of case though when successful attorney Ajay Kasliwal hires him. Kasliwal has been accused of raping and murdering a family servant Mary Murmu who disappeared a few months ago. He swears that he is innocent and wants Puri to find out the truth and clear his name. So Puri and his team start asking questions. They run into obstacles right away because the police are determined to prove that they do not look the other way when wealthy and successful people commit crimes, so they’re making an example of Kasliwal. Still, Puri manages to get the information he needs and together with his team, he finds out the truth about Mary Murmu. It turns out that a lot of what happens is because of wanting to preserve the air of honour and respectability.

In Wendy James’ The Mistake, we meet Jodie Evans Garrow. She lives what just about anyone would call a respectable life. She’s married to a successful lawyer, she has two healthy children who more or less stay out of trouble, and she herself behaves circumspectly. Everything starts to unravel though when Jodie’s daughter Hannah has an accident and is taken to hospital. It turns out that it’s the same hospital in which Jodie herself gave birth to a daughter years earlier – a daughter she’s never told anyone about, not even her husband. A nurse who is still working at the hospital remembers Jodie and asks about the child. Jodie claims she gave the baby up for adoption but when the overzealous nurse looks into the matter, she finds that there are no records of the adoption. Soon there are murmurs and then very public questions. What happened to the baby? If the baby died, is Jodie somehow responsible? It’s not long before Jodie becomes a pariah. Even her husband Angus distances himself from her. Not only is it possible that she is not the woman he thought she was, but his name is being mentioned as the next mayor. To win that office, he’s going to need the most respectable reputation he has, and this matter with Jodie isn’t helping. As we learn the truth about what happened to Jodie’s first baby, and as we see what happens to her as this story grows and grows, it’s clear that respectability is still important to a lot of people.

Respectability isn’t important to everyone of course. There’ve always been lots of cases of people who simply don’t care what their reputations are. But I honestly think it’s still a factor. In fact, as I planned this post I kept thinking of other modern novels where the desire to be considered respectable plays a big part. There just wasn’t room for them all. What’s your view on this? Do you think respectability still matters? Which novels have you enjoyed that treat this theme?

Thanks, Patti, for the inspiration.

 

 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Styx’s Blue Collar Man (Long Nights).

Baby, What a Big Surprise*

An interesting post from Elizabeth Spann Craig has got me thinking about how surprising fictional characters can be. In her post Craig makes the point that there are several ways in which authors can make their characters more surprising and therefore richer. She’s right. Characters who surprise us in some way can add to a story. Of course, as with any other aspect of a novel, one has to be careful with this strategy. A character who’s surprising in an implausible way pulls the reader right out of the story. But adding that sort of depth to a character, even if it’s not the protagonist, can make a story all the more absorbing.

In Agatha Christie’s Hickory Dickory Dock (AKA Hickory Dickory Death), Hercule Poirot’s frighteningly efficient secretary Miss Lemon asks him to investigate some strange goings-on at the student hostel that her sister manages. Poirot is surprised that Miss Lemon even has a sister and that alone – thinking of Miss Lemon as actually having a family – gives him a bit of pause. When one of the hostel residents Celia Austin confesses to a lot of the strange things that have happened, everyone thinks the matter is settled. But then two nights later Celia dies, an apparent suicide. It’s soon proven to be murder though and Poirot works with Inspector Sharpe to find out who was responsible. Part of the murder investigation involves searches of the residents’ belongings, and when the inspector and his team conduct those searches they find out some surprising things about some of the other people who live in the hostel.

In Camilla Läckberg’s The Hidden Child, crime writer Erica Falck is sorting through her parents’ things after their deaths. She comes upon a Nazi medal that completely takes her by surprise. Certainly no-one in her family had given any hint that there might have been a connection to the Nazi regime. This discovery sheds a whole new light on Falck’s parents so Falck visits retired historian Erik Frankel, hoping that he’ll be able to tell her more about that period of the local history. Two days after that visit Frankel is murdered. It’s soon clear that someone in the present day doesn’t want the town’s history to be unearthed. Falck’s husband police officer Patrik Hedström gets involved in the murder investigation even though he’s supposed to be on paternity leave and in her own way Falck investigates too. In the end they find the connection between the case they’re looking into and World War II-era events.

Craig Johnson’s The Cold Dish introduces us to Absaroka County, Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire. When the body of a local young man Cody Pritchard is discovered not far from the town of Durant, Longmire and his deputy Victoria ‘Vic’ Moretti begin to investigate. Pritchard is one of three young men who were convicted two years earlier of the brutal gang-rape of sixteen-year-old Melissa Little Bird. They’ve recently been released from prison, so a logical possibility is that someone in Melissa’s family is taking revenge. Melissa’s uncle, who also happens to be Longmire’s best friend, is Henry Standing Bear. Sometimes called The Bear, he owns The Red Pony, a local bar/restaurant. In part because he and Longmire are friends and in part because of his own family’s possible involvement in this case, The Bear takes an interest in the investigation and helps Longmire in several important ways. But even though he and Longmire have been friends for a long time, he’s still able to surprise the sheriff. For instance, Longmire has the unpleasant duty of asking his best friend where he was on the night of Cody Pritchard’s murder. That’s when he finds out that The Bear is having a relationship with his protégée and bartender Dena Many Camps. The fact of that relationship doesn’t affect the outcome of the novel but it’s a surprising side to Henry Standing Bear’s character and to Dena Many Camps’ character since she can basically have her choice of partners.

In Anthony Bidulka’s Amuse Bouche we meet Saskatoon PI Russell Quant. Although Quant’s not in a long-term relationship when the series begins, he does have a circle of trusted friends, neighbours and co-workers. His next-door-neighbour is Sereena Orion Smith, who never fails to surprise Quant. She’s an enigmatic character to begin with and as we learn bits and pieces of her backstory she becomes richer and more interesting. For instance in Flight of Aquavit, Quant investigates a case of blackmail that later turns into murder. At one point in the novel he travels to New York to follow up on an important lead and Smith, who has business of her own there, goes along. They stay at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel where to Quant’s surprise, Smith already seems to be known – by another name. He doesn’t get much of a satisfactory explanation and I don’t think it’s spoiling the novel to say that this aspect of Smith’s character isn’t really a major key to the plot. But Bidulka follows that thread – Sereena Orion Smith’s story – in later novels. The fact that she is a surprising character adds to her appeal.

There’s also a surprising character in Paddy Richardson’s Hunting Blind. Stephanie Anderson is a beginning psychiatrist who lives and works in Dunedin. For the last seventeen years she’s been trying to put her life back together after the abduction of her four-year-old sister Gemma. She hasn’t really ‘gotten over it,’ because one doesn’t. But she has made a life for herself. Then one of her patients Elizabeth Clark tells her a story that’s eerily similar to Anderson’s own. Clark’s younger sister Gracie was also abducted and like Gemma Anderson’s case, no body was ever found, nor was there any evidence of the perpetrator. When Anderson hears this story, she decides to try to lay her own ghosts to rest and find out who was responsible for the abductions. So she journeys from Dunedin to her home town of Wanaka to try to look for answers. Along the way she meets Dan, who makes his living as a hunting guide. Although she finds him attractive, Anderson isn’t much interested at all in hunting/survival so when he invites her for a hunting trip, she doesn’t think much of the idea. But then she changes her mind and agrees to go out in the bush for a few days. She goes to Dan’s house to learn how to shoot and is completely surprised to find that he’s not all what she thought he was. Here’s just a bit of a conversation they have when he invites her to stay for dinner:

 

‘‘Wine, please. White wine?’ [Anderson]
‘I can manage both colours. Types as well. So. What type of white?’
He’s grinning again. She sees he’s teasing her.
‘Pinot gris?’ Huh, I guarantee he hasn’t got that.
‘Central Otago?’
‘Uh, yes. Thanks.’
He opens a bottle, fills a glass and hands it to her. ‘I believe I’m making progress.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I hope that I’m adequately demonstrating to you that all hunters aren’t blokey yobbos.’
‘I didn’t say they were.’
‘You didn’t actually say it, no.’’
 

Part of the interest in this novel is the way in which Anderson finds that Dan is a much richer character than she’d thought.

And then there’s Rajiv Patel, whom we meet in Angela Savage’s The Half Child. Patel is filling in for his uncle, who owns and manages a Bangkok bookshop but has been sidelined by a heart attack. That’s how Patel meets PI Jayne Keeney, who enjoys reading, especially crime fiction (How can you not like that in a protagonist?   ). Patel and Keeney begin seeing each other, although not seriously at first. Then, Keeney is hired by Queensland farmer Jim Delbeck to find out the truth about his daughter Maryanne’s death. Maryanne Delbeck was a volunteer at a child care facility/orphanage in Pattaya when she jumped (or fell, or was pushed) from the roof of the building where she was living. Delbeck doesn’t think his daughter committed suicide despite what the official reports say, so he wants Keeney to investigate. She agrees and travels to Pattaya. Throughout the case Patel proves surprisingly helpful in a number of ways and Keeney has to re-think her entire relationship with him and her view of her work. And in the end – no, I’m not going to spoil it for you. Let’s just say Patel really manages to surprise Keeney. If you’re reading this, Angela, I just love that scene!

Characters who surprise the reader can add some real interest to a novel. And when they also surprise the writer (and yes, that happens), they can keep a story or series fresh. Which characters have surprised you? If you’re a writer, do your characters ever surprise you?

 

 
 

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a song by Chicago.

Babe, You Know You’re Growing Up So Fast*

An interesting comment exchange with Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery has got me thinking about some of the really interesting relationships we have: those with our adult siblings. Oh, not following Tracy’s blog yet? Please check it out. You won’t regret it; it’s a fine source of thoughtful crime fiction reviews among other things. Go ‘head; see for yourself.

Siblings know us in ways very few other people do. They may have different personalities, different outlooks and so on but they share common experiences. In fact, our relationships with our siblings are very often the longest-term relationships we have. And what’s really interesting (and this is what Tracy mentioned that got me to thinking) is what happens when siblings grow up. Adult siblings’ relationships are deeply affected by childhood experiences; if you have siblings you know what I mean. It can take a real effort of will to see one another with adult eyes, so to speak. Siblings’ relationships can be very complicated too. Some people are close to their adult siblings; others avoid them. But siblings are part of the human experience and they’re a rich source of plot points and characters when it comes to crime fiction. In fact, there are so many good examples that this one post won’t even come close to touching on all of them. But here are just a few to show you what I mean.

In Agatha Christie’s Dumb Witness (AKA Poirot Loses a Client), we meet Charles and Theresa Arundell. Neither of them is particularly good at managing money and both of them are fond of having it. So when their wealthy Aunt Emily dies, they’re desperate for their shares of her fortune. But Emily Arundell has left all of her money to her companion Wilhelmina ‘Minnie’ Lawson. Before she died, Miss Arundell wrote to Hercule Poirot asking his help in a delicate matter which she never specified. By the time Poirot and Hastings get to Market Basing to investigate though, Miss Arundell has already been dead for two months. That doesn’t stop Poirot; he discovers that Miss Arundell didn’t die naturally as had been assumed. Charles and Theresa Arundell are among the most likely suspects and as Poirot interviews them, we see how these siblings support each other while at the same time being quite aware of each other’s weaknesses.  

There’s an interesting look at adult sibling relationships in Dorothy Sayers’ Clouds of Witness. Lord Peter Wimsey’s sister Mary is engaged to be married to Denis Cathcart. When he is murdered, Wimsey’s older brother Gerald, Duke of Denver, is charged with the crime. Wimsey investigates, partly because he is interested in criminal investigation but mostly because his brother is in trouble. He discovers that more than one person had a motive to kill the duke. In the course of this novel Mary meets Wimsey’s friend Inspector Charles Parker and the two develop a relationship. And in Strong Poison we learn that they plan to marry. It’s interesting to see how Mary Wimsey’s brothers react to this relationship. On the one hand they’re as protective of her as though they were all still children. On the other, Peter Wimsey knows that Mary is now an adult who will make her own choices in life. It’s an interesting thread that runs through those novels.

There’s a really interesting look at how complex sibling relationships can be in Martin Clark’s The Legal Limit. Brothers Mason and Gates Hunt are the sons of an abusive alcoholic and that affects them deeply. Gates, the older son, tries to protect his younger brother as best he can. Mason feels strongly the debt he owes to his brother and that has a very important role to play in what follows later. Gates has quite a lot of athletic ability but he squanders all of the opportunities that brings him and ends up living on his girlfriend’s Welfare money and on money he gets from his mother Sadie Grace. Mason on the other hand takes advantage of every opportunity he gets. He gets a scholarship to law school and ends up becoming an attorney. Then one night Gates and Mason are coming home from a night out when they encounter Wayne Thompson, who is Gates’ romantic rival. An argument they had earlier flares up again and before anyone really knows what’s happened Gates has shot Thompson. Mason feels the burden of debt to his brother so he helps Gates cover up the crime. Life goes on for the brothers and the crime is never officially solved. Mason Hunt becomes a prosecutor for the Commonwealth of Virginia while his brother turns to drug dealing. Then Gates is arrested for and convicted of cocaine trafficking. He begs his brother to help him get out of prison but this time Mason refuses. Then Gates threatens that if Mason doesn’t help him, he’ll claim that Mason shot Wayne Thompson. When Mason calls his bluff Gates does as he’s threatened. Now Mason is indicted for murder and he’ll have to figure out how to clear his name.

And then there’s Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon, a National Park Service Ranger. She’s been assigned to several different areas of the country, and she’s seen all sorts of both beauty and horror. But always in her life is her sister Molly. Molly is a New York City-based psychotherapist who tries her best to be there for her sister. Anna treasures their relationship but that doesn’t mean either is blind to the other’s faults. Anna for instance doesn’t like the fact that Molly is a smoker. Molly gets infuriated because she feels Anna puts herself in far too much danger. Underneath their differences though the two really do love and depend on each other.

One of the things that can add to already-complex sibling relationships is the resentment adult siblings can feel about long-ago incidents. You could call it a form of sibling rivalry. There are a lot of novels where one sibling seems to ‘have it all’ and the other feels left behind and that resentment has consequences. Martin Edwards’ The Hanging Wood explores that theme on several levels. In that novel, DCI Hannah Scarlett and her Cold Case Review team look into the twenty-year-old disappearance of Callum Payne when his sister Orla apparently commits suicide. She’d begged Scarlett to look into the case, but Scarlett didn’t do much about it at first as Orla Payne was drunk and incoherent when she first made the request. It’s partly Scarlett’s feelings of guilt and partly her professional sense of responsibility that lead Scarlett to pursue both the disappearance and the circumstances of Orla Payne’s death. It turns out that much of what happens in this novel is tied in with the complex relationships between siblings, and the way that can lead to resentment.

Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch and his half-brother Mickey Haller have a very interesting relationship. For several reasons they didn’t really know each other for much of their lives. Now that they’ve established contact and a relationship, they work together on cases in several novels. And that makes sense as Bosch is a cop and Haller is an attorney. They didn’t grow up together though, so one thing that’s interesting in the novels featuring them is that although they’re biologically brothers, they’ve had to establish a relationship beginning in adulthood. It casts quite a different light on the sibling dynamic and it adds a solid thread to the series.

In Peg Brantley’s Red Tide we meet Jamie Taylor, a bank loan officer and volunteer rescue dog handler. She gets involved in a case of multiple murders when her dog Gretchen discovers a series of recently-buried bodies in a remote field near Aspen Falls, Colorado. Jamie’s sister Jacqueline ‘Jax’ is a local medical examiner who’s called in when the bodies are discovered. As the two interact we learn about their past. Their mother Star was murdered ten years earlier and their father Bryce has basically disappeared from their lives as he’s tried to search for the truth about his wife’s death. One the one hand, the two sisters work closely together as they unravel the mystery of how the victims in the field died and who killed them. When they discover the truth they find themselves in grave danger and have to work even more closely together to face that danger and bring the killer to justice. On the other hand, this doesn’t mean the sisters have no issues between them. Jamie is unhappy with the way her sister has managed her personal life; Jax is married to an abusive philanderer and so far, hasn’t left him. Jax doesn’t like the idea of her sister ‘managing her life.’ It’s an engaging portrait of an adult sibling relationship.

And there are many others, too (I know, I know, fans of Camilla Läckberg’s Ericka Falck and her sister Anna). Space doesn’t permit me to mention them all. But if you have a sibling I probably don’t have to anyway. You already know about life with adult siblings.

 

 
 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Night Ranger’s Sister Christian. Why’d I choose this one? It was written for and about drummer Kelly Keagy’s younger sister Christy.

I Will Follow You, Will You Follow Me*

In case you hadn’t noticed it, social media is everywhere. It’s becoming an ever-more popular way for people to communicate, to work together, to share and so on. So I got to thinking (yeah, watch out when I do that!   )…  What if some of crime fiction’s famous sleuths had Twitter accounts? What would their tweets be like? Here are just a few of my ideas for…

 

Tweets From Fictional Sleuths

 

 

 

Tweets from @mhercule_poirot

 

Dinner at @chezmatante was delicious. Highly recommended.

Going with @captainahastings to the theatre. I hope it won’t be a detective play. They are always so predictable.

New #shoes received today: http://twitpic.com/b47fni . Not exactly comfortable but très soigné, n’est-ce pas?

 

 

Tweets from @KinseyM

 

Getting hungry. McD’s or Rosie’s for dinner?

Don’t worry, @henrypitts. Am fine – back in three days or so. Maybe.

Meeting new client 4 dinner. He’s paying. What to wear? #hateshopping

 

 

Tweets from @Rebusjohn

 

Listening to the #Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers. Best. Band. Ever.

@sclarke What time you in tomorrow, Shiv? Meeting at eight. We need to get together just before so you can give me those files.

@MairieHenderson  Pint at nine?  Our usual place? I’ve news and I hope you do too.

 

 

Tweets from @WriterEricaFalck
 

#edits finally done! Patrik’s cooking dinner so I have time for a shower at last.

Going to be offline tomorrow. Following up on something interesting I found out. Might be related to – well, it should be interesting anyway.

Anna coming for dinner tonight! Must stop and get some things for that. Patrik on a case so it’ll just be us. Fun! Hmmm… what wine?

 

 

Tweets from @AGamache

 

Three Pines? Again? Well at least there’ll be good coffee and food at the bistro.

@jgbeauvoir I won’t be in the office tomorrow. It’s Reine-Marie’s birthday. Let everyone know will you and call me if there’s an emergency.

Going to @claramorrowartist ’s new show this evening. Should be fantastic – highly recommended.  #montrealartscene

 

 

Tweets from @emilythetempest

 

New ACPO uniform makes me look like an idiot! It’s three sizes too big! #ridiculous #nothappening

@hazeflinders Too right it’s been too long! Time we got together. Should be over your way tomorrow. No need for bandages this time – so far

@motorjack Yeah, I’m good. ACPO job finally settling down a little. You heading this way any time soon?

 

What do you think? What tweets might you see if you followed some famous fictional sleuths????

 

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

 

 

 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Genesis’ Follow You, Follow Me.