Eloisa on Peculiar Crimes
I love mysteries. I grew up with my mother’s passion for Dorothy Sayers turning into my own passion for P.D. James. To this day, I love discovering a good new writer. Obviously, mysteries are like romances: they’re both genre fiction. And I love genre fiction. I find that an author’s ability to surprise me within the boundaries of a genre novel—when I know that love has to result, or death has to be solved—so much more interesting and challenging than an open-ended novel in which the author is free to wander wherever he or she wants.
But the corollary to this is that it’s darn HARD to write a really good genre novel! We all know that. It’s as hard to write a perfect example of a Harlequin Presents as it is to write a single title romance like one of Lisa’s. It’s not a question of size, or publisher, or anything like that—it’s a question of a voice so strong that we’re lured into the story, forgetting that we’ll know how it ends, seduced by the details, by the flow of plot, by our own surprising joy in the story.
Done with the soap box—on to the discovery! I read a rave in Publishers Weekly about a relatively new series of misfit detectives living in London during World War II. These two young policemen, John May and Arthur Bryant, run the London Police Department’s Peculiar Crimes Unit. Peculiar Crimes! I could have ordered it just on the idea alone. This book is written by Christopher Fowler, who apparently had a career in horror before moving to crime, but I’m happy to announce that he uses his gothic touches to add atmosphere and not for prolonged gruesome scenes. Mr. Fowler has an incredible, idiosyncratic, wonderful voice. I felt transplanted back to a theatrical performance during the Blitz, in a whirlwind of theatrical egos, weird murders, great dialogue and even better description. Here’s a snippet of dialogue:
“He’s ruining my entrance. I said to him, ‘Darling, I wouldn’t let any man step across my entrance, let along an old cow like you,’ and he said, ‘I can’t see how you would know, dear, you’ve never been with a man in your life’...He said, ‘I’ve played the Duke of York’s, Her Majesty’s, the Queen’s,’ and I said, ‘The Queen’s is an ice rink, dear, no wonder you’re so frigid.”
The second book (Seventy-Seven Clocks) is even better. I’m gobbling up the third one now and loving it!
I guess what I have to say is, if you love history and you love mysteries (and the first isn’t necessary), I’ve found a wonderful new Valentine’s Present for you! What about you? Anyone discovered a great new voice in genre fiction lately, a Valentine’s Present for all of us? Tell us who it is!