I Got My Hands on a Miracle*

Crime fiction can get rather sad and bleak at times, and that makes sense. Murder is a horrible and violent thing, and stories about murder wouldn’t be realistic if they weren’t at least somewhat sad. It’s also nice though when there are, if you will, little streaks of daylight – little miracles if you want to call it that – in crime fiction too. Those little miracles are a nice antidote to the sadness in a story. Little miracles keep us going in real life, too – like finding something you thought you’d permanently lost, or the first rain after a long drought. So readers can identify with those things in novels too. Of course, as with any plot device, it’s possible to overdo the ‘sunshine.’ That can make a story cloying and not realistic. But a few doses can make the difference between an unbearably sad story that’s too hard to read, and an utterly absorbing one.

In Agatha Christie’s The Hollow for instance, famous Harley Street specialist John Christow and his wife Gerda are invited to spend the week-end at the country home of Sir Henry and Lady Lucy Angkatell. The Angkatells have also invited a few of their relations for the week-end, and the plan is that Hercule Poirot, who’s taken a cottage nearby, will join the group for lunch on the Sunday. When he arrives, Poirot is dismayed to find what looks like a tableau arranged for his ‘amusement.’ Christow’s body is lying by the pool and his apparent killer is holding the gun. Within a moment though Poirot sees that this scene is real; Christow has been shot. Inspector Grange and his team are called to the scene and he and Poirot work together to find out who Christow’s killer is. In one sub-plot to this story, two of the other guests Midge Hardcastle and Edward Angkatell begin to develop a relationship. At one point a misunderstanding threatens that relationship and Angkatell attempts suicide. Midge finds him just in time and the two heal the rift between them. It’s a refreshing antidote to the sadness of Christow’s murder and the fact that everyone ‘on the scene’ is a suspect.

In Helene Tursten’s Night Rounds, Göteborg detective Irene Huss and her team are investigating a series of murders and other strange events at a local private hospital. But Huss is also preoccupied by the fact that her daughter Jenny has decided to become a vegan. Not only does this set up a conflict between Jenny and her father Krister, who’s a chef, but it also leads to Jenny spending time with a very militant vegan group. One night Jenny goes out with her new friends for what she thinks is just a session of putting up vegan posters. It turns into something far more dangerous though when the group’s leaders decide to throw a gasoline bomb at a refrigerator truck belonging to a meat and deli company. Huss, whose ‘mother instinct’ has already told her Jenny might be getting herself into trouble, has followed Jenny and witnesses what the group is doing. The bomb goes off and fire breaks out, but in one of those little miracles, Jenny is not hurt in the explosion. Huss gets her away from the rest of the group and both of them escape.

We also see one of those special moments in H.R.F. Keating’s Inspector Ghote’s First Case. Newly-minted inspector Ganesh Ghote’s boss Sir Rustom Engineer asks Ghote to take on a new case. Engineer’s friend Robert Dawkins was recently widowed when his wife Iris committed suicide. Now Dawkins wants to know what drove her to take such a drastic measure. Ghote agrees to look into the matter and travels from Bombay to Mahableshwar where Dawkins lives. Although he sees this investigation as his duty, Ghote is torn about leaving his pregnant wife Protima, who is only weeks from giving birth to their first child. Protima isn’t too happy about it either but they agree that Ghote should make the trip. As Ghote beginst to ask questions about Iris Dawkins’ death, he begins to suspect that she may have been murdered. With that new possibility, he re-considers all of the people in her life to see who would have wanted to kill her. Throughout his search for answers Ghote remains concerned about his wife and her health. He’s able to concentrate on the case well enough to find out the truth about Iris Dawkins though, and when he knows what really happened, he returns to Bombay to report his findings. I don’t think it’s spoiling this story to say that the novel ends with the joyful news that Protima has given birth to a healthy son. Despite the sadness of this case – and it is a sad case – there is that little miracle and it adds to the story.

In Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who Smelled a Rat, Moose County, ‘400 miles north of nowhere’ is in the grip of a long and dangerous drought. The drought has had some terrible effects, and everyone is hoping for The Big One, the first major snowstorm of the year, to bring desperately needed moisture to the area. A series of fires breaks out at local mines and journalist Jim ‘Qwill’ Qwilleran begins to suspect arson. Then there’s an explosion that’s been rigged to disguise a murder. Now it’s clear that something sinister is going on and Qwill investigates. It turns out that these tragedies are all related and Quinn and local police chief Andrew Brodie slowly put the pieces together to find out who’s responsible. At the very end of the story, the much-awaited Big One finally makes an appearance and ends the drought. Qwill celebrates the first snow and it’s not hard to see why.

There’s also one of those ‘little miracles’ in Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis’ The Boy in the Suitcase. That’s the story of volunteer nurse Nina Borg, who one day gets an unusual request. Her friend Karin asks her to pick up a suitcase at Cophenhagen’s main railway station. When she gets the suitcase, Borg is shocked to find that inside it is a little boy. He’s drugged and in a daze, but he is alive. Borg tries to reach Karin to let her know about the boy and to find out why he’s there and who his family is. But Karin seems to have disappeared and now Nina is being targeted by some ruthless people who have their own reasons for wanting the boy. In the meantime we meet Sigita Ramoskiene, a young Lithuanian mother whose three-year-old son Mikas has been abducted. She tries frantically to find out what happened to him and to bring him home if she can. Her path and Nina Borg’s cross and as you might suspect, the little boy in Borg’s care turns out to be Mikas. In some ways this is a very sad book that addresses some ugly issues. As the two women try to find out who abducted Mikas and why, though, there is a streak of daylight in that Mikas is found alive. All too often in real life children disappear and are not seen alive again.

And then there’s Wendy James’ The Mistake. Jodie Evans Garrow has what anyone would probably say is a good life. She’s married to a successful attorney who’s even being talked about as the next mayor. She’s got two children who are healthy and not in trouble, and she herself is doing well. Everything falls apart though when Jodie’s fifteen-year-old daughter Hannah is injured and is taken to the same hospital in which Jodie gave birth years earlier to another child. She’s never told her husband or children about this first baby but when one of the nurses remembers Jodie, the truth begins to come out. Jodie claims she gave the baby up for adoption, but no adoption records have been found. So what happened to the baby? If she wasn’t adopted, is she even alive? And if not, was Jodie responsible for her death? All of these questions begin to dog Jodie, who soon becomes a local pariah. Her family life falls apart and there is talk that she may be the subject of a police investigation. In the midst of all this unhappiness, though, there is a little miracle if you want to call it that. Jodie’s good friend Bridie comes back into her life after a very long absence. As the two re-establish their friendship, each finds herself a little healed if you will by the other.

Little miracles happen all the time, and they are part of what keeps us getting out of bed in the morning to face the next day. It’s nice that they show up in crime fiction.

 

 

On Another Note…

I’d like to take a moment and wish a Happy Chanukah to all of those celebrating it. May you enjoy the warmth of friends and family and may we all remember the little miracles that happen to us every day.

 

 
 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from the Foo Fighters’ Miracle.

I’d Do Anything For You, Dear*

Everyone needs a certain amount of ability to get on with others. In fact research suggests that not being able to function as part of a group is the most important reason for which people are fired, not hired or not promoted. And I’m sure that any crime fiction fan can tell you that the genre is full of characters (quite often sleuths) who run into trouble because they don’t get on well with other people. At the same time though there’s something to be said for thinking for oneself and not going along with what others say and do in the hope it’ll be the politically savvy choice. If you’ve ever had a sycophantic colleague at work> you know exactly what I mean. Sycophants can be very dangerous because they’ll say and do anything if it’ll get them some kind of advantage. And even those who aren’t per se dangerous can be awfully annoying. Of course that can also make these characters interesting sources of tension in a novel or series…

For instance in Louise Penny’s series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec we meet Agent Yvette Nichol. In Still Life she is new to the agency and wants more than anything else to establish herself and “belong.” She is excited to be assigned to work with Gamache because of his outstanding reputation and at first she toadies to Gamache. But Nichol is arrogant and unwilling to really learn. So she has more than one run-in with her boss. Nichol’s tendency to do whatever it takes to get ahead becomes a problem for Gamache in more ways than one as the series continues.

Carl Hiassen’s Skinny Dip features sycophant Chaz Perrone. He’s got a degree that he hasn’t really earned in marine biology and is soon hired by Florida agribusiness magnate Samuel Johnson “Red” Hammernut. Perrone’s role is to give credibility to Hammernut’s claims that his commercial farm does not cause pollution in the protected Everglades. Perrone discovers a way to alter water samples so they look innocent and he’s content to flout the law that way because it helps him stay in Hammernut’s good graces. And it earns him a generous income. Then Perrone’s wife Joey deduces that something is going on and confronts him. He tells her what she wants to hear (as I “said,” he’s a sycophant) but now he’s afraid she’ll ruin his comfortable setup. So he takes her on a cruise, ostensibly to celebrate their anniversary, and pushes her overboard. Perrone thinks he’s solved his problem but Joey doesn’t drown. Instead she is rescued by former cop Mick Stranahan and together the two of them hatch a scheme to get back at Perrone and find out why he tried to kill her.

In H.R.F. Keating’s Inspector Ghote’s First Case we get a look at how Ganesh Ghote began his career with the Bombay police. Ghote has just been promoted to the rank of Inspector when he’s sent by his superior to the mountain town of Mahableshwar where Englishman Robert Dawkins’ wife Iris recently committed suicide. Dawkins wants to know what would have driven his wife to such a drastic act and Ghote is assigned the task of finding out. One of his first stops is the Mahableshwar police station where he discovers to his dismay that the local cop in charge is Pathan Barrani, his old nemesis from the Nasik Police Training School. Barrani is a sycophant and a bully and he has absolutely no desire to have Ghote on his patch. But he tells Ghote that he already investigated the case and it was a definite suicide. Ghote soon finds though that this explanation doesn’t quite fit. There are too many little details that aren’t consistent with a verdict of suicide. So Ghote keeps digging and asking questions. In the end, and in spite of Barrani’s sycophantic insistence that the “official” explanation is correct, he finds out the truth about Iris Dawkins’ death.

Martin Edwards’ sleuth DCI Hannah Scarlett knows all too well what it’s like to have to deal with a sycophant. Her boss ACC Lauren Self is politically savvy enough to know whom to kiss up to as the saying goes and she does so shamelessly. Her rationalisation is that she wants financial and other support for the Cumbria Constabulary, so she has to “make nice” with the “higher-ups” and with wealthy supporters. But from Scarlett’s perspective (and she’s not the only one with this opinion) Lauren Self has a very appropriate surname…

And then there’s local reporter Meredith Morgenstern, whom we meet in Vicki Delany’s In the Shadow of the Glacier. Morgenstern lives and works in the small British Columbia town of Trafalgar but she’s eager for the big break that will give her national attention. She gets what she thinks is her chance when wealthy local developer Reginald Montgomery is murdered. Montgomery co-owned Grizzly Resort, which is planned as an upmarket tourist attraction. Some locals support the plan because it will bring in needed revenue. Others violently oppose it on environmental grounds. So Montgomery’s death is big news for several reasons. In fact it’s so big that L.A. television journalist Rich Ashcroft is sent to Trafalgar to cover the story. He has nothing but contempt for the locals, including Morgenstern, but she is so eager to impress Ashcroft and “make” her career that she essentially does whatever he wants. Her behaviour ends up putting the investigation in jeopardy and she betrays her former friend Constable Moonlight “Molly” Smith in the process.

And of course no discussion of crime-fictional sycophants would be complete without mentioning Donna Leon’s Vice Questore Giuseppe Patta. He is exclusively self-motivated and will say and do anything to further his career. He toadies not just to his superiors but to anyone who’s wealthy and powerful. He frequently opposes the kind of thorough investigation that Leon’s sleuth Commissario Guido Brunetti wants to conduct, particularly if the object of Brunetti’s investigation is anyone with enough clout to cause trouble. Patta is not completely inept or stupid but he is so self-serving that Brunetti knows that the only way to get Patta to approve anything is to show him how it will benefit him. Of course fans of Leon’s series know that that’s exactly how Brunetti and Patta’s assistant Elettra Zorzi manipulate Patta.

Sycophants can be annoying and even dangerous so the wise person knows who they are and knows them for what they are. But they do make for interesting characters and conflict in crime fiction.
 
 
 

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Lional Bart’s I’d Do Anything.

In The Spotlight: H.R.F. Keating’s Inspector Ghote’s First Case

Hello, All,

Welcome to another edition of In The Spotlight. H.R.F. Keating made outstanding contributions to the crime fiction genre; little wonder he won the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for those contributions and for his service to the genre. His death last year left a hole and this feature can only be improved by a look at some of his work. Today let’s do that and turn the spotlight on the prequel to Keating’s popular and highly-regarded Inspector Ghote series, Inspector Ghote’s First Case.

Ganesh Ghote has just been promoted from Assistant Inspector to Inspector in the Bombay police force. He’s not only joyful about it from a professional point of view but he is also excited because his wife Protima is about to give birth to their first child. Ghote’s promotion will mean they can move to a better place with more room. He has little time to celebrate though. No sooner does Ghote receive word of his promotion than he is summoned to the office of Sir Rustom Engineer, Head of the Crime Branch for Bombay’s police force.

Sir Rustom tells Ghote that he’s had a letter from a former friend Robert Dawkins, who now lives several hours away in Mahableshwar. It seems that Dawkins’ wife Iris has recently committed suicide and Dawkins wants to know the reason. As a favour to a former friend, Sir Rustom sends Ghote to Mahableshwar to find out what happened to make Iris Dawkins so distraught that she would kill herself. Ghote isn’t happy about leaving Protima when she’s so near to giving birth, but he doesn’t see how he can turn down Sir Rustom’s request. So, without even remembering to pack anything or exchange his Assistant Inspector’s uniform for an Inspector’s uniform, Ghote sets out for Mahableshwar.

When he arrives, he meets the various members of the Dawkins household. There’s of course Robert Dawkins. There’s also Dawkins’ khansamah (house steward) Kuldip Mudholkar and his houseboy Chintu. Each in a different way, all three tell Ghote about the day Iris Dawkins shot herself and he slowly begins to get a picture of the people involved and of the shooting. In the process of doing so he learns of some of the people in Iris Dawkins’ past. From them he discovers that Iris Dawkins had a very tragic history.

Bit by bit Ghote begins to believe that Iris Dawkins was murdered. At first he’s not happy about that possibility because it’s certainly not what Sir Rustom is going to want to hear. Besides, there turn out to be some reasons Iris Dawkins might have committed suicide. But the clues don’t add up to that and each bit of evidence he gets convinces Ghote more and more that this is a case of murder. So he returns to the original murder scene and puts the evidence together. In the end Ghote discovers the truth about Iris Dawkins’ death.

This novel has several elements of the classic detective novel in it. Ghote finds out what happened to Iris Dawkins through looking at evidence, talking to witnesses and suspects, following leads and so on. Ghote is a police officer and his status gives him access to witnesses and facts that an amateur wouldn’t have. But you couldn’t really put this squarely in the category of a police procedural. Very little action happens at the police station and although there’s a touch of police politics involved, the focus is much more on the murder mystery than on life as a cop.

The action takes place in Mumbai (Bombay) and Mahableshwar in the early 1960’s, and Keating places the reader there in several ways. First, there’s the physical setting. Here, for instance, are some of Ghote’s thoughts on his first sight of Dawkins’ home:

 

“Oh, yes, of course, he said to himself, that roof covering must be just only kulum grass. Although I have never before been in Mahableshwar, I was once somehow learning that, because of the violence of the monsoons here, many houses are protected by having kulum grass spread thickly on their roofs…
But now, in the joyous month of Chiatra, the grass in the garden here is green and delightfully fresh, and in that long flowerbed beside the path bright red cannas are just breaking into bloom.”

 

This little snippet also shows that Keating places the reader in Bombay and Mahableshwar through the use of dialect and speech patterns. Readers who prefer dialect-free use of language will be disappointed. That said though, the use of English in the way it was used in the early 1960’s in that part of India adds to the sense of place.

Indian independence was less than twenty years old at the time this novel takes place, so the element of Anglo/Indian relations runs through this book. Dawkins for instance is a traditional English sahib who doesn’t think much of Indians. But Keating doesn’t paint all of the English characters as bad, nor are all of the Indians depicted in a positive way. It’s not quite that simple and Keating doesn’t pretend that it is.

This novel also has a strong element of characterisation in it. Ganesh Ghote, for instance, is a dutiful and dedicated police detective. He’s also intuitive and bright. To Ghote, finding out the truth is more important than anyone’s title or rank as he is not much of a respecter of privilege. He is also a loving husband and excited father-to-be. But that doesn’t mean he’s perfect. For instance, he goes back and forth about most of his decisions; even Protima, who loves him very much, comments about the fact that he can’t make up his mind. He’s also concerned enough about rank and his job that he’s willing to leave his wife just before she’s due to give birth and travel several hours away. Some people would say that’s not exactly a loving thing to do, especially since he and Protima don’t have a telephone. Still, the fact that Ghote’s not perfect adds to the depth of his character. After all, people don’t tend to be really engaged with a character who has no faults.

Then there’s Protima herself. She’s bright, interesting and actually gives Ghote an extremely important perspective on this case. She’s shrewd, too. For instance, although she understands her husband’s sense of duty about the Dawkins case, she is not at all happy that he has to leave her right before she gives birth. So she thinks of a very clever way to bring him back to Bombay. Some might call her decision manipulative, but it also shows a little of her depth of character.

Characterisation plays another role in this novel too. The explanation for what happened to Iris Dawkins is all about character and as Ghote leans more about the case, we see how all of the characters’ personalities play roles in the solution to it.

There’s a thread of humour too. For instance, Ghote discovers to his chagrin that an old nemesis from the Nasik Police Training School named Pathan Barrani is the local police authority in Mahableshwar and is officially in charge of the Dawkins case. Ghote’s nickname for Barrani is Bully Barrani, or Bullybhoy and the name suits. The interactions between these two police officers aren’t funny in a “comic-caper” way, but it is funny to see how Ghote does all he can to solve the case without having to deal with his old rival. It’s also funny, and quite human, to see how satisfied Ghote is when he discovers the solution to the case and presents it to Barrani.

Inspector Ghote’s First Case is in many ways a classic detective story with an element of psychology and a hint of humour, set in a distinctive location. Although it’s actually the 25^th Inspector Ghote story, it sets the stage for the rest of the series and gives the reader a look at life in Mumbai and Mahableshwar in the early 1960’s. But what’s your view? Have you read Inspector Ghote’s First Case? If you have, what elements do you see in it?

 

 
 

Coming Up On In The Spotlight

 

Monday 6 August/Tuesday 7 August – Traces of Red – Paddy Richardson

Monday 13 August/Tuesday 14 August – White Sky, Black Ice – Stan Jones

Monday 20 August/Tuesday 21 August – Edwin of the Iron Shoes – Marcia Muller

>Come Fly With Me*

>In real life and in crime fiction, a murder can take place just about anywhere. Small towns, big cities, vacation paradises, “regular” middle class streets, all have been the scenes of murders. Some settings, though, just seem to lend themselves to a mystery novel because they’re exotic and somewhat mysterious. In fact, readers are sometimes drawn to books because of their exotic or mysterious settings.

For many people, it doesn’t get much more exotic and mysterious than Egypt. Ancient ruins, a rich history, all sorts of rumours about curses, a very different culture…. those factors can make for a fascinating setting for a mystery. We get a sense of that in Agatha Christie’s short story The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, which appears in her collection Poirot Investigates. In that story, noted archaeologist Sir John Willard dies suddenly after he’s discovered and excavated a supposedly-cursed ancient tomb. Then, two more people associated with the expedition. Neither of those deaths by itself might cause much notice, but Willard’s widow is worried that the deaths are related, and that the curse might be real. So she asks Hercule Poirot to investigate. Poirot and Captain Hastings travel to Egypt and look into the matter. When they do, they find that someone has been using the curse as a “cover” for the real motive behind the deaths.

Christie also uses Egypt as the setting for Death on the Nile, which tells the story of the shooting murder of beautiful, wealthy Linnet Ridgeway Doyle. She and her brand-new husband Simon Doyle are taking a honeymoon cruise up the Nile when she’s shot. Poirot is on the same cruise, as is Colonel Race, one of Christie’s recurring characters. Together, they investigate the case. At first, it seems as though Linnet’s former best friend Jacqueline de Bellefort is the killer. However, it’s soon proven that she couldn’t have committed the crime, so the two sleuths have to look elsewhere. In the end, Poirot discovers who really killed Linnet and why. Throughout the novel, Christie gives readers a sense of the mystery and the exotic appeal of Egypt. For instance, at one point in the novel, the cruise ship stops at the temple of Abu Simbel:

“The steamer was moored to the bank and a few hundred yards away, the morning sun just striking it, was a great temple carved out of the face of the rock. Four colossal figures, hewn out of the cliff, look out eternally over the Nile and face the rising sun.”

Christie set other stories in the Middle East, too, and those stories also capture that exotic setting.

Another setting that many people find exotic and mysterious is Laos, where Colin Cotterill’s novels featuring Dr. Siri Paiboun take place. Laos has a very old culture and a unique sense of spirituality and mysticism. Both contribute greatly to this series. Dr. Siri is Laos’ chief medical examiner during a time (the 1970′s) when the traditional culture of Laos clashed with the new order of military rule. So in these novels, we see a great deal of the exotic appeal of this setting.

For a lot of people, the Australian Outback’s also considered an exotic, mysterious setting. The 40,000-year-old Aboriginal cultures have exotic appeal, and the setting itself is rugged and parts of it quite remote. “The Outback” is a sort of catch-all term for several places in Australia and there are differences among them. But in general, when people who don’t live there think of “The Outback,” they often conjure up images of wild territory, unusual animals and a fascinating set of cultures that have developed there. Those images are part of the appeal of series such as Adrian Hyland’s Emily Tempest novels. Emily Tempest is an interesting sleuth, half Aborigine/half White, who feels the pull of both of her cultures. Hyland shares the rough beauty of the land as well as the fascinating Aboriginal culture to which Tempest belongs.

South Africa is another location that many people find exotic. I can see why, too. I had the opportunity to visit South Africa once, and had an unforgettable trip. The land itself is unique and (this is just my opinion) beautiful. The ‘photo you see is a tiny example; it was taken at the Pilanesberg Game Preserve, about two hours from Johannesburg (and yes, that’s an elephant in the middle of the foreground). But quite a lot of the land is also wild; it’s easy to imagine a murder or murders taking place there. There are a wide variety of cultures, too in South Africa, and that variety adds to the appeal of novels that take place there. Perhaps that’s part of the reason for the popularity of work such as Deon Meyer’s and Jassie Mackenzie’s. These authors share with us, in very different ways, the beauty, the danger and the appeal of that part of the world.

Another setting that’s often thought of as exotic is India. Of course, there isn’t one “Indian” setting because the country’s large and extremely varied. But for crime fiction fans who don’t live in India, part of the appeal of novels that take place there is the very fact that the settings are quite different from what readers are accustomed to experiencing. That’s one reason why H.R.F Keating’s Inspector Ghote series (which is set mostly in Mumbai) and Tarquin Hall’s Vish Puri novels (set in Delhi) have attracted fans. It also may be why authors such as Robin Cook have set some of the action in their novels in India.

There’s exotic appeal, too, in New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. That’s part of the reason, perhaps, that James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels have such appeal. For instance, in A Morning For Flamingos, Robicheaux is tracking down the man who shot and killed his partner Lester Benoit. As Robicheaux searches for the Benoit’s killer, Burke shares the Cajun and Creole cultures and spiritual beliefs of the area, as well as the striking scenery and the language. Readers get a strong sense of the unique flavour of that part of Louisiana.

And then there are settings like Las Vegas. Las Vegas isn’t exotic in the same way that places with more history and culture are, but the tourist part of the area is flashy and dramatic, and with its history, the gambling and the rugged setting around the city, readers can easily imagine a crime would take place there. It’s little wonder that novels such as Faye Kellerman’s Moon Music and two of Michael Connelly’s novels, part of Trunk Music and all of Void Moon, take place there. There are other novels, too, of course, that are set in that city.

Of course, the thing about “exotic” is that it’s different for everyone. People who live in an area probably don’t consider it exotic and mysterious, even though others do. What about you? Which places “count” as exotic for you? Which novels have you read because they took place in an exotic setting?

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a Frank Sinatra song.

>I Can Show You the World*

>Well-written crime fiction does much more than just tell a good story. It teaches us, too. And I suppose it’s the educator in me that appreciates anything a teacher does to help students learn. There are dozens of ways in which crime fiction teaches, but a comment exchange with Mack at Mack Captures Crime has focused me on one in particular – culture. There are crime fiction novels that take place quite literally all over the world. Each of those novels (well, the well-written ones) reflects the culture of the characters and place, and sometimes of the author, too. Of course, a novel’s not going to teach very much if the amount of cultural information presented in it overwhelms the plot. In a well-written crime fiction novel, the plot and characters drive the rest of the novel. But it’s surprising how much culture we can learn (and teachers can teach) just by using crime fiction.

For example, we can learn much about English culture from the novels of Agatha Christie. One of her sleuths, Hercule Poirot, is a Belgian, so he sees the English from an “outsider’s” perspective, That point of view actually offers us an interesting insight, especially when it comes to certain customs. For instance, in The Murder on the Links, Poirot and Hastings investigate the stabbing death of Paul Renauld, a Canadian émigré to France. The roots of this murder seem to lie in the past, so Poirot decides to travel to Paris to look into the details of a past crime that may have a bearing on Renauld’s death. As he takes his leave of Hastings, Poirot says:

“You permit that I embrace you? Ah, no, I forget that it is not the English custom. Une poignee de main, alors.”

There are several other Christie novels in which we learn about differences between Poirot’s culture and that of his adopted country.

Christie’s novels that feature Miss Marple have much to teach about some of the changes in English culture, especially since World War II. In The Mirror Crack’d (AKA The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side), for instance, we learn about the coming of council housing, and how that changed the culture of village life. In that novel, Miss Marple and her friend Dolly Bantry investigate the poisoning death of Heather Badcock, one of the residents of a new development that’s recently come to St. Mary Mead. Heather’s poisoned after she drinks a cocktail given to her when she meets her film idol Marina Gregg. At first, it’s believed that Heather was poisoned accidentally, since she has neither fortune nor enemies. The cocktail was originally Marina Gregg’s, so the police believe Marina was the intended victim. Then, it becomes clear that someone intended that cocktail for Heather. So Miss Marple and Dolly Bantry look into the case to find out who would have wanted to kill Heather Badcock and why.

Every year, the Miles Franklin Literary Award is given to the best Australian

“published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases.”

In 2010, that award was given to Peter Temple’s Truth. In that novel, Stephen Villani, acting head of the Victoria Police Homicide Squad, faces several wrenching challenges during a hot summer of devastating bushfires in the Victoria area. He’s dealing with the botched killing of two Aboriginal teens in an operation he authorised. A dead girl has been found in a posh apartment. Her clothes and possessions have been taken, so identifying her won’t be easy, and no-one in this exclusive apartment building is willing to help. And then the bodies of three men with ties to local crime leaders are found; all three have been brutally murdered. As Villani and his team struggle with these cases, and Villani struggles with his personal life, Temple also shares much about Australian culture.

The same is true of Adrian Hyland. His Emily Tempest novels feature a young woman who’s half White and half Aborigine. As she works with police sergeant Tom McGilivray, we learn much about the Outback culture, the Aboriginal culture, and the language used among the people.

In Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, we meet Mma. Precious Ramotswe, who runs a very well-regarded Botswana detective agency. Throughout the these novels, McCall Smith shares much about the culture of Botswana as well as the mysteries that Mma. Ramotswe and her assistant Mma. Grace Makutsi solve. For example, in Morality for Beautiful Girls, Mma. Ramotswe gets a visit from a Government Man who is convinced that his new sister-in-law is trying to poison his brother. Mma. Ramotswe agrees to find out the truth, and she travels to the Government Man’s home village. While she’s there, she meets his brother, his brother’s wife, and the other members of the family. She’s invited to share a meal with the family, after which everyone, including Mma. Ramotswe, is sickened. Now the mystery gets even deeper, and Mma. Ramotswe has to look into the family’s past as well as get to know everyone in the household to find out who’s responsible for the poisoning, and why it happened. In this story, we learn quite a bit about family traditions, farming and cattle-raising and other aspects of Botswana culture. And this is only one story; there are lots more in this series.

There are many cultures in India, and Tarquin Hall shares some of them in his Vish Puri series. Puri heads Delhi’s Most Private Investigators, Ltd., and works with an assortment of friends and family members to solve cases. In The Case of the Missing Servant, for instance, Puri is hired by wealthy attorney Ajay Kasliwal, who’s been accused of murdering his servant Mary. While he’s working on that case, Puri is also involved in two other cases. One is the case of Vini Singla, who wants Puri to investigate her fiancé Ramesh Goel. Goel seems to be a perfect match for Vini – too perfect. In another “matchmaking” case, Puri unmasks Neelah Amand as a fraud. Amand had represented himself as the owner of the Empress of India restaurant, so that he could marry a woman of a higher caste. When Puri looks into the case, though, he finds out that Amand is really only a cook.

H.R.F. Keating shares some of the culture of Mumbai in his Inspector Ganesh V. Ghote series. Ghote is a determined inspector who often has to fight the established bureaucracy of the justice system, as well as the power and influence of the very wealthy people he sometimes investigates. Ghote also travels at times to other parts of India, and we learn about the cultures in places like Calcutta and Delhi as well as that of Mumbai.

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s series featuring Reykjavík attorney Thóra Gudmundsdóttir is full of Icelandic culture. In Last Rituals, for instance, Thóra works with German banker Matthew Reich to solve the murder of Harald Guntlieb, a German student who was studying in Iceland. Part of the mystery surrounding his death has to do with Icelandic history and mythology, and we learn about that aspect of culture in this novel. These novels also share quite a lot about daily life in Iceland, as well as other parts of the Icelandic culture.

I’ve only had space here to mention a few examples of crime fiction novels that can teach us about different cultures. And the fact is, we all have a culture. So it would be nearly impossible for me to outline all of the novels that can be used this way. What do you think? Which crime fiction novels do you think do justice to your culture? Which novels would you recommend for someone who wanted to learn more about where you live?

On Another Note…

Want to learn more about other cultures? Why not participate in the 2011 Global Reading Challenge community meme, ably led by Dorte at DJs Krimiblog? It’ll give you the opportunity to read books that take place all over the world.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Tim Rice and Alan Menken’s Whole New World.