The Making of a Murder Monday

[evelyn_b]

For me, as for many others, the reading of detective stories is an addiction like tobacco or alcohol. The symptoms of this are: Firstly, the intensity of the craving - if I have any work to do, I must be careful not to get hold of a detective story for, once I begin one, I cannot work or sleep till I have finished it. Secondly, its specificity -

Comments

[osprey_archer]

I must read that Auden article! I have long meant to read something by Auden (he's one of those early twentieth century authors I've seen quoted a lot and therefore feel I know something about, except when I reflect upon it further I realize I actually have no idea what he wrote), and that is clearly a good place to start.

The House by the River sounds like breathless good fun. Oh Allison! I predict her new husband is involved in the mystery somehow, will meet an unfortunate demise, and then she's going to marry her true love after all, probably after he gives her a talking to about abandoning him to marry the Earl's daughter he doesn't like.

ETA: I've been reading the Auden article, and it's fascinating. I mean, fascinating in a way where I think perhaps some of it is bosh, but some of it rings very true, and even the bosh I wouldn't want to dismiss out of hand.

This quote in particular really struck me:

I can, to some degree, resist yielding to these or similar desires which tempt me, but I cannot prevent myself from having

[evelyn_b]

That was the part of the Auden article that I zeroed in on! I don't know what I think about the guilt business - I'm not sure that the appeal is quite the same, for me and Auden, but it is an interesting thought.

If I ask myself why I cannot enjoy stories about strong silent men and lovely girls who make love in a beautiful landscape and come into millions of dollars, I cannot answer that I have no phantasies of being handsome and loved and rich, because of course I have (though my life is, perhaps, sufficiently fortunate to make me less envious in a naïve way than some). No, I can only say that I am too conscious of the absurdity and evil of such wishes to enjoy seeing them reflected in print.

I don't think his account of it is quite the one I'd give, but it ties in with things I've been wondering about. Where was I going with this? Maybe I'll be more coherent tomorrow.

[osprey_archer]

I definitely think part of the appeal of mysteries is the idea that things can be and will be put right at the end of the story; the murderer will be caught, the young lovers will be united, and, well, the dead person will still be dead, but as Auden points out the dead person was usually a bit of a jerk to begin with (else there wouldn't be so many people with motives for murder), so that's not a dreadful tragedy. As Auden puts it, innocence will be restored.

So I'm not sure if I read mysteries out of a sense of guilt, precisely, but out of a desire to escape from the messiness of injustice in the real world. Sometimes it's nice to visit a place where everything will be put right by the end of the story, and everyone will settle down to drink tea and toast crumpets over the fire.

[scripsi]

I re-read Christie, and other crime author's all the time! Parner's in Crime is so silly! And I never remember's the stories, so re-Reading is Always a bit of a surprise. :)

[evelyn_b]

I think with Christie I only remember the killer if the misdirection and reveal was really spectacular. So I remember Roger Ackroyd, Orient Express, The Mirror Cracked - things like that. In an ordinarily adept Christie I'm just as likely to forget. She's very good at tricking your mind into doubting itself! And there was nothing very spectacular plot-wise in the Tommy & Tuppence books, but I've already forgotten most of what happened in the ones I've read.

[lost_spook]

There are a lot of people who seem to read detective fiction as some sort of abstract puzzle that has no relation to any other fiction and therefore is Other. I find it baffling. It is a genre, as are many other genres, but definitely may contain perfectly good characterisation and other reasons to re-read - but it seems to have been a consistent response from the first time Wilkie Collins supplied the details of railway timetables as clues till now.

Alison seems to be very busy! I am ever more intrigued. :-)

I hope your library opens and allows you more Christie soon!

[evelyn_b]

I have seen a bit of that around! I don't know. I came to the detective genre with very few expectations, except maybe a vague expectation of lightness? and for me it has been a little bit Other from other kinds of fiction. Not a totally different thing with no connection, but now if I pick up a book that I know is a murder mystery, I expect different things and respond a little differently than I would if it were some other kind of book. So I don't see it quite the way Auden does, but I see where he's coming from, I think? That may be misguided, I'm not sure.

Alison is just a lightning rod for incident. There's a lot of very restrained emotion and we're up to at least one serious plot twist per chapter. I only wish the book were less badly constructed (as a physical object: it's held together with giant metal staples and doesn't open all the way. Cheap sensation indeed!)

[lost_spook]

It is a genre, and there is a formula, but that's true of certain other genres, too - so I don't see why detective fiction is then held further at arm's length. I think less so these days, because of all the serious bleak grim longer things, but you still come across it. I mean, I read that Seven Stories book (which is weird in his conclusions, but the first half is still interesting) and he maintained that crime was not actually fiction and was in fact only a mental puzzle and therefore didn't fit into any of his patterns. But I was re-reading Agatha Christie to provide some light relief and it struck me how well a lot of hers (and indeed other detective novels) fitted into his "Hunting of the Beast"/Beowulf pattern (right down to the murderer often being described as an animal - a snake, a tiger, in Christie's case - and the hero refusing payment (which when you're a private detective isn't good business sense - but think how many times they do it: this one's personal! For a poor person! I've just been sacked from the Force but

[evelyn_b]

It's interesting that that happens, and only(? primarily?) with detective fiction. Do you think it has something to do with detective readers tending to be guilty readers, like Auden said? Or is that not real? I don't know if what Auden says about guilt is true of me or not.

Clearly some people do read for the pure puzzle and have a great time working everything out, and maybe that's why it doesn't feel the same as other stories? I never do; I like the detective to do the work for me. Sometimes I try to guess, but it's very sloppy guessing.

Sorry, this isn't adding much to the conversation; my new job is tiring me out (just tired enough to want to read a murder mystery without trying to solve anything) (not awake enough to reply to comments properly).

[a_phoenixdragon]

*HUGS*

[newmoonstar]

I've got to go back and finish reading Partners in Crime sometime soon- I remember it being amusing fluff, and I could use some of that these days. (I'm also thinking of re-watching the Tommy & Tuppence TV series from the 80s too. Francesca Annis played Tuppence and she was great, the whole series was a lot of fun.)

[evelyn_b]

Do it! It's just a big pile of cotton candy and poorly thought-out Christie espionage. Tommy and Tuppence keep setting fake cases for each other to keep the fake detective agency afloat, and then there are some real ones. Lots of jewel thefts and things. Sometimes they get shot at, but the shot always misses.