it's a mystery

[calimac]

peake says, apropos of Dorothy L. Sayers' The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, that when he was a young crime-fiction reader, he "found it a tremendous disappointment. Now I understand why, it is barely a crime novel at all. That is just the excuse for a novel about the social consequences of the First World War, which is fascinating but not what I expected back then."

My comment was that I find this interesting, because the only thing that can make a murder mystery palatable to me is for the mystery to be the least important part of the plot. Which is why I like Sayers. It was many re-readings before I could even remember whodunnit in a Sayers novel.

I think the reason is that the necessity, in a classic by-the-rules mystery, to try to hide the culprit's identity from the reader means that that identity is not contingent. By merely jiggling the clues a little, it could just as easily turn out to be someone else (or mere happenstance) without altering the book much at all. The murderer could have been innocent, or an innocent person the murderer, without changing their observed behavior or personality. Consequently it doesn't matter emotionally who the murderer is, and I can't bring myself to care.

I realize this makes me sound like Edmund Wilson, a fate normally to be avoided, but honestly ...

Comments

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

Interesting point. I recall reading that Unpleasantness was also one that Sayers herself was not happy with, what with the induced confession, followed by suicide. That later, she wasn't pleased that that's the way she had it play out.

But your observations intrigue me. I think it explains why I like P.D. James. The people in her stories are intriguing as personalities. The first book of hers that I read was Death of an Expert Witness, and the way people reacted to Dalglish interested me.

I'll have to go think about this some more.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

*nodding*

Two things I tend to skim in murder mysteries: long descriptions of the dead person (fromwhich no doubt clues will be built on) and discussion of clues, with personality and character left out. I read them for the social interaction, I have no interest in forensics & puzzles.

[milwaukeesfs.livejournal.com]

There do seem to be two types of mystery readers: the 'armchair detectives', who like to try to puzzle out the mysteries (me), and those who like to read for character and setting and don't so much care whodunnit (Georgie). Our tastes do overlap quite a lot, though.

[khatru1339.livejournal.com]

When Agatha Christie wrote plays beased on her novels, she sometimes changed who the killer was -- because it was as easy to do as you observe. (I nonetheless have a tremendous weakness for her novels, and have recently reread 15 (!) of them, with no end in sight.)

I of course also love the Sayers books. Another classic British mystery I admire tremendously is Green for Danger by Christiana Brand -- great setting (rural hospital during WWII), and I liked all the characters so much I was quite distressed that one of them would have to turn out to be the killer.