a Mystery mystery
So, I was chatting with a friend last night, and it got late, and I didn't get to finish my rant; why do so many mystery writers resort to Main-Character-Stupidity to make the mystery more perplexing? Back when Agatha Christie had Poirot declare himself an imbecile, I didn't mind because I was young and foolish. Nowadays, whether I'm reading Marcia Muller, or Rex Stout, or Ed McBain, all too frequently the plot depends on an extended brain freeze on the part of the sleuth. Even Kathy Reichs (who is usually better), a forensic anthropologist writing a forensic anthropologist, still gets herself into a point where her main character finds out that either her nephew is pipelining info to the bad guys, or he's in their sights. Does she confront him and catch him on the horns of the dilemma? (Either you're a danger to me, or you're in danger, but either way you should run along to safer environs...) No, she avoids talking to him about it, which extends the plot for quite a few pages. Argh! Is it so difficult to write a mystery with a really intelligent protagonist?