You Don’t Feel You Could Love Me, but I Feel You Could*

People who love to read have dozens of reasons for enjoying getting lost in a book. Sometimes it’s because the plot intrigues them. Sometimes it’s because they enjoy a particular topic like cooking, sports, birds or something else, and want to read about that topic. Or it could be because of that power books can have to teach us, take us on virtual trips all over the world, and introduce us to all sorts of memorable characters. What’s so interesting about crime fiction (after all, this is a blog about crime fiction…) is that it’s woven all through literature. You don’t have to have read a lot of Agatha Christie’s books to have read fiction that has to do with crime. No matter what your taste in books is, you’ll find at least hints of the mystery and suspense (and of course, the criminal activity) that make for quality crime fiction.

For example, one very popular genre of fiction is science fiction. Science fiction lovers may not think they’d like crime fiction, but there are some fine crime fiction novels that are also science fiction stories. For example, Isaac Asimov’s Elijah “Lije” Baley/R. Daneel Olivaw series takes place on a futuristic Earth (mostly in what we know now as New York City). Many of the fascinating questions that science fiction readers like to ponder are addressed in this series (e.g. What will the future be like? What would it be like if positronic robots were integrated into society? What kinds of scientific and technological developments could there be?) And yet, this series is a crime fiction series. It features a human police detective (Baley) and his positronic sleuthing partner (Olivaw) who investigate murders. They follow leads, collect evidence, make sense of clues, and search for motives, just like many other sets of fictional detectives.

People who enjoy reading about sport and athletes might say they don’t enjoy mysteries and crime fiction. But crime fiction is woven into that genre, too. For instance, many of Harlan Coben’s novels feature Myron Bolitar, a former basketball star who’s been sidelined because of an injury. He becomes an agent, and later an investigator. In the earlier Bolitar novels in particular, we see the same themes that make other sports novels appealing to their fans. There are larger topics such as the nature of competition, the roles of men and women in sports, greed, the passion and tenacity that it takes to be great, and more. There’s also interesting information about sport itself. The same is true of Dick Francis’ horse racing-themed novels. And yet, these novels are crime fiction novels. They focus on crimes (mostly murder) and their detection, and feature a lot of the elements in other crime fiction novels.

Many people enjoy reading about history. And there are some highly talented authors of historical fiction. For instance, there’s James Michener, whose historical novels have taken readers from Hawai’i to the Middle East to Poland (and many other places, too). For history buffs, authors such as Michener and Edward Rutherfurd provide delightful journeys into the past. And yet, there are plenty of elements of crime fiction in those novels as well. There are several sections in Michener’s and Rutherfurd’s work (to take just those two examples) in which someone is killed or other crimes are committed. And a good part of what keeps readers turning pages during those sections is finding out whodunit and whydunit.

There are also those who like to read romance novels. For romance fans, there’s nothing like getting caught up in the drama of falling in love, working through misunderstandings, learning to know each other, and the suspense of “will-they-or-won’t-they.” And of course, the attraction at the heart of these novels also draws readers in. Romance lovers may not think of themselves as crime fiction readers, but at times, they are. For instance, Jude Deveraux’s A Knight in Shining Armor and LaVyrle Spencer’s Morning Glory both involve crimes. In the former, Nicholas Stafford has been unjustly convicted of treason and needs the help of Douglass Stafford to clear his name. In the latter, Will Parker, who has a criminal past, falls in love with Eleanor “Ellie” Dinsmore. Their plans are complicated not only by Parker’s criminal reputation, but also by a blackmailer. There are a lot of other examples, too. These are romance novels, so the focus of the stories is the developing relationship between two people. But they also have plenty of crime fiction elements. And I’m sure you could name far more novels than I could in which a developing romance plays a role in a novel that’s mostly about a crime and its investigation.

Many, many readers are drawn to what’s often called “great literature.” They enjoy the work of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, William Faulkner, James Joyce and other writers who are known for their literary greatness. If you ask those readers whether they like crime fiction, you’d probably get plenty who’d tell you, “no.” But the fact is, there’s plenty of murder, mayhem and other crime in literary novels. For instance, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca is considered one of the truly excellent examples of English-language literature. Gabriel García Márquez’ Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) is regarded as a fine example of Latin American Spanish-language literature. Both authors use very highly-regarded literary styles (although those styles are quite different), and both are often named among the top writers in their languages. And yet, those novels focus on crime and mystery. Rebecca is, among many other things, the unfolding story of the death of Rebecca de Winter, who died under mysterious circumstances. Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada tells of the murder of Santiago Nasar. There are plenty of other examples, too, from other truly great writers (“The Scottish Play,” anyone?). And of course, there are many crime fiction writers whose work is also highly regarded as literary fiction (Peter Temple, anyone? P.D. James?). It really doesn’t take much looking to see that crime fiction and “great literature” have affected each other.

I could mention lots of other kinds of fiction that integrates crime, mystery and suspense. The fact is that many of the elements that make up a good crime story aren’t that different from the elements that make up any other excellent story. There’s an engaging and absorbing plot, appealing characters (or at least interesting and intriguing ones), solid writing style and a setting and context that adds to the story. Crime fiction, like other fine fiction, is about believable people facing challenges (in crime fiction’s case, crime). Like other fiction, it’s about how those conflicts are resolved. No wonder crime fiction is so appealing, even to those who don’t think they like it.

What about you? Which novels and authors do you recommend when friends and relations tell you they don’t like crime fiction? If you’re a writer, how do you make your work appealing to those who may not have tried crime fiction, or who may think they don’t like it?

 

 

On a Related Note….

It’s National Book Week, and today is National Book Lovers Day. What better way to celebrate than to try a new book or author…

 

 

 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Paul Simon’s Gumboots.

Takin’ Care of Business and Workin’ Overtime*

One of the challenges of creating a crime fiction sleuth who’s not a police officer is finding believable, realistic ways to get her or him involved in investigations. After all, how many of a sleuth’s friends, family members and relations can believably be killed, implicated in a murder, or in some other way involved in crime and ask for the sleuth’s help? It can work brilliantly for one or a few books, but for a continuing series it’s more challenging. A really neat and efficient solution to this is to have the sleuth become a private detective and many talented authors have done just that and created memorable P.I. characters.

Of course, just hanging up one’s P.I. shingle isn’t enough. Private detectives have to bring clients in and build up their businesses. In real life, that doesn’t happen overnight. So I thought it might be interesting (and hopefully fun ) to take a look at how fictional private detectives get started in the field, and how their creators balance the need for some realism with the equally strong need for the private detective to get involved in cases.

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot is a renowned private detective who has the reputation for being right and solving difficult cases. He’s got lots of clients and has had quite a lot of success. Here’s how Poirot describes his success in Murder on the Orient Express:

 

“I have been very fortunate in my profession. I have made enough money to satisfy both my whims and my caprices.”

 

One of the most important ways in which Poirot’s built up his clientele is that he’s got references from some very wealthy and important people. For instance, in The Mystery of the Blue Train, he solves the strangling murder of Ruth Van Aldin Kettering. Her wealthy and influential father Rufus Van Aldin is grateful to Poirot and speaks highly of him and Van Aldin’s is a voice that matters. In fact, in Death on the Nile, Poirot is taking a cruise of the Nile when fellow-passenger Linnet Ridgeway Doyle is shot. He and Colonel Race, who’s also on the trip, work together to solve the murder. One of the other passengers is wealthy and snobbish Marie Van Schuyler, who speaks to nearly no-one except her nurse and her travelling companion. She has nothing but icy contempt for anyone else, including Poirot. Then, by chance, she finds out that he is the Hercule Poirot and warms considerably, mentioning that she’d heard good things about him from Van Aldin. In Poirot’s case, a few wealthy and well-placed clients have done much to build his business.

Walter Mosley’s Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins doesn’t exactly have a lot of wealthy and powerful satisfied clients. In that series, which takes place in Post-World War II Los Angeles, Rawlins builds his clientele because he knows just about everyone in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles. In Devil in a Blue Dress, he’s hired for just that reason. DeWitt Albright hires Rawlins to find Daphne Monet, who’s reported to be frequenting local bars. Albright can’t look for her himself, as he’d be too visible as a white man in a black community. But Rawlins knows everyone and fits in everywhere in the area. Rawlins is desperate for the money because he’s just lost his job, so he agrees. What he doesn’t know is that he’s about to get caught in a web of theft and murder. In later novels, too, it’s often Rawlins’ reputation for knowing everyone and “keeping his finger on the local pulse” that gets him work.

That’s similar to the way in which Dick Francis’ Sid Halley builds his reputation and his clientele. He’s a former champion jockey whose racing career was ended by an injury to his left hand. Bitter and devastated after that tragedy, he had to find something to do, so he worked for two years at a detective agency. But his real career as a racetrack investigator begins in Odds Against when his former father-in-law asks him to help uncover a plot to take over the Seabury Racecourse for development. Halley agrees and his success at this case soon gets him other clients. But really, it’s his intimate knowledge of the racing world and a lot of the people in it that help build his reputation. He’s still known as a famous jockey, too, which also helps in building up his clientele.

Alexander McCall Smith’s Mma. Precious Ramotswe knows a lot of people, too, but that’s not how she builds her clientele. In fact, when she opens her detective agency, she doesn’t have any clients at first. All she really has is a telephone. She hires Grace Makutsi as her secretary, but only because she believes that in order to get any respect, her agency must have a secretary/receptionist. When the agency first opens, the only “customer” they get is a chicken that wanders in. In fact, Mma. Ramotswe is worried that the agency will close at the end of its first month. But very slowly, bit by bit, she builds a reputation. She’s helped by the fact that people are curious about the only female private detective in Botswana. So she’s interviewed a few times and her name gets in the paper. Still, business is slow until people begin to talk about the fact that Mma. Ramotswe is wise and can be trusted. You might say she’s an object of curiosity at first, but that doesn’t bother her.

Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski has lived in Chicago all her life, and actually started her career as a public defender. Her father was on the police force, too, so she has her share of connections. But more than anything, she’s built her clientele up mostly through sheer hard work and some word of mouth. What’s refreshingly realistic in this series is that she’s not a wealthy person. She doesn’t have long lists of clients, a large staff or a richly appointed office. She watches her budget, she’s glad for every client’s fee and she doesn’t drive an expensive late-model car. That might be because she doesn’t always win the gratitude of Chicago’s wealthy and powerful, whom she has a habit of catching in compromising situations.

And of course, there are many private detectives who used to be cops. Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder is an example, and so is Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone. There are lots of others, too. Private detectives who’ve been cops can build their clientele up through their connections in law enforcement. In fact, it’s very natural and believable that a former cop would hang out a shingle as a P.I., and that may be why there are so many ex-cops among fictional private detectives.  That scenario also allows for some interesting conflict if the P.I. didn’t leave the police force on good terms.

Series that give us a “behind the scenes” look at how private detectives build their businesses can have a very authentic feel (and I know there are a lot of excellent P.I. series I haven’t mentioned). There’s also a lot potential for suspense, conflict and funny moments. But what’s your view? How did your favourite private investigators build their clientele and get going in the business?

 

 

 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Takin’ Care of Business.

Picking Up the Mantle…

When a series of books is particularly popular, there’s often a push to keep the series going once its original author has retired from writing or has passed away. When that happens, another author sometimes takes up the proverbial mantle and continues the series. Some people argue that this makes sense; it means that readers can continue to enjoy a beloved series or character. More pragmatically, it also means that the series can continue to sell. Many people, though, don’t like the idea of having another author continue a series. After all, it’s the original author who created the series, and when that particular author is out of the picture, the series is never quite the same.

Historian Larry Millett has used his knowledge of the history of the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area and his fascination with Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes to write a series of Sherlock Holmes novels. Millett’s own creation, Minnesota bartender and P.I. Shadwell Rafferty, works with Holmes and Watson in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance, Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders, and other novels. The setting of these stories is the Minneapolis/St. Paul area rather than London, so Conan Doyle purists may be disappointed. On the other hand, many readers enjoy the Shadwell Rafferty character on his own merits, and the mysteries themselves are carefully constructed and believable.

Agatha Christie is said to have disliked the idea of someone else creating new stories for her sleuths, so she herself wrote the last stories involving Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and stored them safely during World War II so that if she didn’t survive the war, her series would end as she wanted them to end. There have, though, been some adaptations of her work. With the permission of Christie’s heirs, Charles Osborne has adapted some of her plays (Black Coffee, Spider’s Web,and The Unexpected Guest) as novels. This decision has introduced millions of new readers to those stories and to Christie’s work and, I’m sure, motivated many readers to look up and read the original plays and perhaps see them when they are produced. On the other hand, the adaptations are not Christie’s own work. There are differences between the way Christie adapted her own writing (e.g. the play The Witness for the Prosecution was adapted from a short story she’d written) and the way Osborne has adapted her work. That makes sense, of course, since they are different writers.

Dorothy Sayers’ last Lord Peter Wimsey novel was 1937’s Busman’s Honeymoon, in which newlyweds Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey visit Tallboys, a country home that Wimsey’s bought for his bride. Instead of a peaceful honeymoon, though, the two get caught up in a murder investigation when the body of the property’s former owner is found in the basement. After Sayers’ death, an unfinished manuscript was found among her papers. Plans for completing the manuscript Thrones, Dominations were finally put into action when English novelist Jill Paton Walsh was approached in 1996 by the literary trustees of Sayers’ estate. Walsh was commissioned to complete Thrones, Dominations and subsequently went on to write two more Wimsey/Vane novels. Sayers had left behind a set of notes that Walsh has used as the basis for those novels, so on one hand, those novels are quite true to the original characters. On the other, a purist would argue that they are not Sayers’ own work.

With the permission of Rex Stout’s estate, journalist Robert Goldsborough wrote a series of seven Nero Wolfe novels between 1986 and 1994. Goldsborough made some changes to the original Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin context, mostly to keep up with the times. For example, in some of Goldsborough’s novels, Goodwin uses a personal computer for record-keeping. The famous elevator that carries Nero Wolfe among the floors of his brownstone has been updated in the Goldsborough novels, too. On one hand, these updates can make a series appealing to a whole new group of readers. On the other, there are differences between Rex Stout’s writing and Robert Goldsborough’s writing. Those who are true fans of Stout’s particular approach to the series may be disappointed in Goldsborough’s novels.

Sometimes, the proverbial mantle is passed to member of the author’s family. That’s what happened in the case of Dick Francis, who wrote more than 42 mystery novels, including the famous Sid Halley series. What a lot of people didn’t know was that he worked closely with his wife Mary Benchley as he wrote. Five years after her death, Francis’ son Felix, who’d been managing his father’s financial affairs, was approached about having a new co-author work on some fresh novels. Felix Francis decided that instead of choosing a new author, he’d like to do the job himself. So Dick and Felix Francis worked together on several of Francis’ last novels. Sadly, Dick Francis passed away in 2010, and it will be very interesting to see whether Felix Francis decides to carry on his father’s mystery/thriller tradition.

Lilian Jackson Braun was in the process of writing The Cat Who Smelled Smoke, her 30th Cat Who… novel when she passed away. As of the date this post is published, I don’t know whether anyone will be commissioned to finish the novel and if so, who will do the writing. But I’ll be very curious to see whether it happens. But what do you think? Do you think a series should end with the retirement or passing of its creator? Or do you think the proverbial mantle can be passed along? If you’re a writer, how do you feel about your characters living on in others’ writing?

>Roll With the Changes*

>A survey study that I read suggests that the average person has five careers in his or her lifetime. Of course, averages don’t necessarily tell much about one person. But with many people living longer and being more mobile, it’s not surprising to find that a lot of people don’t stay with the same career throughout their entire lives. There’s also the fact that for many people, there is nothing mandatory about retirement; they’ re interested in life and want to find ways to continue to be creative and productive long after the age of sixty-five. So a lot of second (or third, or fourth….) careers begin after retirement. People who’ve had more than one career bring an interesting perspective to what they do. That’s why, for instance, crime fiction novels written by former law enforcement professionals, attorneys or forensics professionals can be really informative. We also see this tendency for people to have more than one career, even after retirement, in crime fiction and that varied background can really make a sleuth an interesting person.

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, for instance, has had more than one career. He was a member of the Belgian police force during a time when most people had one career throughout their lives. World War I forced him to flee to England where he had to start his life over. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, we find that he decided to retire from being a police detective and live a quiet country life. However, when wealthy retired manufacturing tycoon Roger Ackroyd is stabbed in his study one night, Poirot is called back into action, so to speak. Ackroyd’s niece Flora begs Poirot to find out who really killed Ackroyd and clear her fiancé Captain Ralph Paton of suspicion. In the course of the novel, Poirot realises that retirement is not for him, and becomes a world-famous private detective.

Private investigating is also a second career for Walter Mosley’s Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins. Rawlins had a career working in an aircraft-manufacturing plant. But after World War II ended, the defense industry changed considerably and Rawlins was laid off from his job. Now unemployed and desperate to earn enough money to keep his house and take care of his family, Rawlins accepts an unusual commission in Devil in a Blue Dress. He’s hired by DeWitt Albright to track down Daphne Monet, who seems to have stolen thirty thousand dollars from Todd Carter, a wealthy investment banker whom she jilted. Rawlins’ success in this case earns him enough money to start life over, and so begins his new career as a PI.

Dick Francis’ Sid Halley’s been forced to take up a new career. He was a successful jockey. But in Odds Against, Halley’s had a career-ending injury to his left hand. He needs a job desperately, so he takes a job with Hunt Radnor Associates, a private detective agency. Two years into his job there, he’s shot. While he’s recovering, his father-in-law Charles Roland convinces him to investigate Howard Kraye, whom Roland suspects of trying to take over his racetrack. Halley agrees and that decision hurtles him into a new career as a racetrack investigator.

And then there’s Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder. He’s a former New York City police officer whose life fell apart when he accidentally killed a young girl. In Sins of the Fathers, we learn that Scudder turned to drink, left his family and now earns his living as a private investigator. At first, he’s unlicensed and earns his money doing what he calls “favors for friends.” Later in the series, he stops drinking and actually earns his “official” PI license.

Private investigation wasn’t the first career choice for Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, either. She joined the Santa Teresa, California police force, only to find that the structure and regulations of working on a police force didn’t really suit her personality. So she joined a private investigation agency and since then, has struck out on her own. Millhone’s case is interesting, too because we get to see the influence of her police academy training on the way she goes about her investigation.

My own Joel Williams has changed careers, too. He’s a former Tilton, Pennsylvania police detective. After eighteen years on the force, he decided that he wanted to teach about law enforcement instead of practice it. So he went back to school and got his Ph.D. Now, he’s in the Department of Criminal Justice at Tilton University, and he likes it. He enjoys teaching and working with students, and he very much enjoys keeping “real” hours and being able to be home for dinner most nights. Um, that doesn’t stop him from getting involved in crime, though…

Some fictional sleuths don’t leave the police force; instead, they change careers within the police force. For example, Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone was an L.A.P.D. homicide detective. But when his actress wife Jennifer Stone left him, he developed a drinking problem that cost him his job. Loaded with personal problems and the remnants of an injury from his days playing minor league baseball, Stone showed up drunk for an interview for the job of police chief of Paradise, Massachusetts. He got the job because the Powers that Be in the town thought that they could manipulate him. They were wrong. As the novels featuring him go on, Stone shows what a determined and independent-thinking police chief he is. As a person Stone’s evolved, too. He struggles with his alcohol problem but is determined not to let his drinking rule his life. He’s also trying to get his personal life back together.

Tim Comstock’s Will Kempton has made a major change in careers within the police force, too. He worked for fourteen years as a narcotics cop in Jersey City, New Jersey (trust me; not a plum, easy assignment). After the death of his wife Debbie, Kempton moved with his two children to beautiful, peaceful Carmel, California to serve as chief of police. In Reunion at Carmel, Kempton and his children are settled into his new life and all’s going well. Then, nineteen-year-old Brady Carson is brutally murdered. Then, there’s another gruesome killing. Mayor Elliott Randolph is up for re-election against a media-savvy opponent who’s only too eager to paint Randolph as a poor mayor and Kempton as an inept cop. So there’s a lot of political and media pressure to solve the crime. Kempton hastily assembles a small group of local police officers to find the killer; they soon discover, though, that this murderer is not typical. He’s a vicious, conscienceless killer who seems to be far more than the small team can handle. Now, Kempton has to, in a way, return to his old life to catch the criminal.

I’ll be interested to see what this new year may bring in terms of sleuths’ career changes. Patricia Stoltey’s Sylvia Thorn retired from her position as a Florida judge at the end of The Prairie Grass Murders, and I look forward to finding out what she chooses next as a career. And Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus has retired, too. I wonder whether he’ll be back and in what capacity. And what about Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch? He’s approaching mandatory retirement age, and it’ll be very interesting to find out what he does when that time comes. Only time will tell…

What about you? Have you changed careers? Have your favourite sleuths?

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of an REO Speedwagon song.

>We Are The Champions, My Friends*

>Many people have a drive within them to win. They want to be the best – to win the prize. Why is winning so important? I’m not a psychologist, so I don’t have a research-based answer to that question. But sometimes it’s because the prize is very much worth having; that’s part of the reason so many people buy lottery tickets. Other times, it’s because a person is naturally competitive. Still other people simply enjoy the feeling of trying to excel, and they get a “rush” when they do. Whatever the reason, winning really is important to a lot of people. Of course, like anything else, the desire to win can overtake a person and lead to tragic consequences. We see that in real life and it’s there in crime fiction, too.

For example, in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Silver Blaze, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson travel to King’s Pyland in Dartmoor to look into the mysterious disappearance of a famous race horse, Silver Blaze, and the death of Silver Blaze’s trainer John Straker. Silver Blaze has been abducted from the stables of his owner Colonel Ross just before the Wessex Cup, which Silver Blaze was an odds-on favourite to win. It seems clear at first that Straker was killed because he tried to prevent the abduction. The police believe that London bookmaker Fitzroy Simpson is guilty of both crimes, and that he committed them to “rig” the Wessex Cup. All is not as it seems, though, and Holmes soon discovers some unusual clues that point away from Simpson as the killer. In the end, Holmes finds Silver Blaze as well as the murderer of John Straker. On a side note, this story is also famous for the “curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” Holmes gets an important clue from the behaviour of Colonel Ross’ dog on the night of the abduction and murder:

“‘Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?’ [Colonel Ross]

‘To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.’ [Holmes]

‘The dog did nothing in the night-time.’

‘That was the curious incident,’ remarked Sherlock Holmes.

Agatha Christie’s short story Manx Gold also focuses on the desire to win. Fenella Mylecharane and Juan Faraker find out how tragic the urge to win can be. They’re engaged to be married and are planning their future when they hear of the death of their eccentric Uncle Myles, who lives on the Isle of Man. The two young people travel there to attend the funeral and hear the reading of the will. The will states that Uncle Myles had found buried treasure on the island, and provides clues to that treasure. Those clues are to be given to Fenella and Juan, as well as to two other potential heirs; the first person to successfully decipher the clues will win the treasure. The next morning, Fenella, Juan and the two other heirs, Dr. Fayll and Ewan Corjeag, are given the first clue. With that, all of the competitors begin a race to win the buried treasure. What’s interesting about this story is that Christie wrote it on commission in order to boost tourism to the Isle of Man. The story was printed in instalments and given to tourists. It contained cryptic clues to the location of four snuffboxes. Each box contained a Manx halfpenny with a hole through it, hung on a ribbon. Whoever found all four boxes was to take them to the local courthouse and claim the prize – 100 pounds. Ironically (since there is a winner in the story) no-one was able to claim the prize.

Dick Francis’ Whip Hand also deals with the strong desire to win. Former jockey Sid Halley has become a private investigator due to a career-ending injury. In one of the cases Halley investigates in this novel, he’s approached by Rosemary Caspar, whose husband George is an internationally famous horse trainer. She thinks that someone may be out to sabotage her husband, because all of a sudden, three-year-old horses that he’s trained are beginning to fail at the track, even though as two-year-olds, they were champions. Rosemary Caspar asks Halley to investigate to find out who’s’ behind the sabotage. At first, Halley isn’t sure anything unusual is going on but he takes the case and soon finds himself up against an opponent who will do anything to win.

The need to win also turns deadly in Emma Lathen’s Going for the Gold. That novel is focused on the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. Yves Bisson is the star member of the French ski jumping team and has high hopes of winning a gold medal. During a trial run, though, Bisson is fatally shot by a sniper. At first, everyone thinks his death is the work of terrorists. There’s no evidence for that, though, and soon enough, it’s clear that the killer is connected to the Olympics. Two of the prime suspects are Dick Noyes, an American ski jumper, and Gunther Euler, a German ski star. With Bisson out of the race, both of the other skiers have a better chance of winning medals themselves. Sloan Guaranty Bank Vice President John Putnam Thatcher is at Lake Placid, overseeing his bank’s operations in the area. He soon discovers that the motive for Bisson’s death was more complex than a simple wish to win, and is able to connect the murder to an international counterfeiting scheme.

Winning is an important motivator in Riley Adams’ (AKA Elizabeth Spann Craig) Delicious and Suspicious. Memphis, Tennessee is home to Aunt Pat’s Barbecue, one of the most popular restaurants in the area. Everyone’s excited when Aunt Pat’s is selected as a finalist for the title of Best Barbecue in Memphis. The winner will be chosen by the Cooking Channel’s food scout Rebecca Adrian, who travels to Memphis from New York to sample the food at Aunt Pat’s and at the other competing restaurants. Adrian visits Aunt Pat’s and is served a plate of the very best Aunt Pat’s can provide. A few hours later, she’s dead of poison. Since the last food Adrian ate was at Aunt Pat’s, the Taylor family and the restaurant staff come under suspicion, and word begins to spread that the food at Aunt Pat’s is dangerous. Lulu Taylor is determined to clear her family’s name and restore the restaurant’s reputation. So she investigates Adrian’s murder. There are plenty of suspects, too; Rebecca Adrian was an abrasive, malicious person who’d succeeded in angering just about everyone she met. In the end, Lulu Taylor puts the clues together and figures out who wanted to kill Rebecca Adrian and why.

In my own Publish or Perish and B-Very Flat, there are several characters who are driven by a desire to win. In Publish or Perish, graduate student Rose Shelton is determined to win a coveted fellowship. When she loses the competition to Nick Merrill, she resolves to do anything necessary to take the fellowship away from him; this makes her one of several attractive suspects when Merrill is murdered. In B-Very Flat, we meet gifted violinist Michelle Park. She’s preparing for an important music competition for which her chief rival is fellow student Serena Brinkman. When Serena is murdered on the night of the competition, Michelle becomes an important suspect.

Many of us are motivated by the desire to win and we do all sorts of things because of it – even enter competitions to win copies of books…which brings me to a very important announcement. Thanks to all of you who entered the competition to win a signed copy of B-Very Flat. I’m so glad you enjoyed the “Do You Know Your Victims” quiz. If you’ll recall, I mentioned that all of the novels in that quiz have something in common. So what’s the answer? What do they have in common? The answer is……All of them have been featured on In The Spotlight. Did you guess correctly?

And now, without further ado, here’s the (sort of) live drawing of the names of the two winners of signed copies of B-Very Flat. Congratulations!!! I’ll be in touch with both of you very soon.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Queen’s We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions.