The Butler Might Have Done It
The most recent detective fiction I have on my mini-library is Shadowman by Cody McFadyen. I have yet to finish the book but the female protagonist and the plot revolving around a relative mystery (to the character, not to me) hooked me to actually purchase the hardbound from my supposed private financial stash.
I can’t say I’m a hardcore fan of the genre but I like how most literature included under its belt make me think. The detective genre can’t fail to work like a puzzle, involving the reader to make use of his or her brain, unless the author misses a few road signs or is a complete newbie.
One detective author who hardcore detective fiction fans should not forget is the grande dame of crime novelists herself, P.D. James of The Private Patient fame. She just published her 14th novel last year starring Cmdr. Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard. 89 years old, she has been writing detective novels for 50 years. This time, her latest literature is a non-fiction entitled Talking About Detective Fiction, by request of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
“There must be a central mystery,” she writes, “and one that by the end of the book is solved satisfactorily and logically, not by good luck or intuition, but by intelligent deduction from clues honestly if deceptively presented.”
The book, according to USATODAY’s Carol Memmott, is “filled with fascinating anecdotes about the genre’s famous and infamous novelists. If you’re trapped in the library with the butler, a body and a candlestick, you’ll have plenty of detective-novel trivia to throw about until the police arrive”.
In addition, here’re a few tidbits from the book:
•The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins, about a diamond stolen from an Indian shrine, is considered the first true British detective story.
•The writers who most influenced the development of the detective genre are Arthur Conan Doyle (The Hound of the Baskervilles) and Edgar Allan Poe (The Murders in the Rue Morgue).
•The four most “formidable” women of the genre: Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh.
Although I have yet to read this new sampling of James’ literary genius, I’m assuming it’ll be fascinating and rich in characters and details just like the novels that have made her famous.
As for my own dance with the genre, I tried to flirt with it on this year’s NaNoWriMo. It was supposed to be heavily influenced by Japanese Culture, mostly with the Yakuza, and have a confused heroine at the helm. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time (any time) for NaNoWriMo. Maybe next year, if I get lucky.
† Jofer
