When I
submitted my new mystery manuscript to Billie Johnson, the publisher of Oak
Tree Press, I was a bit nervous about something missing from the plot. Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery doesn’t
have a dead body. It’s a mystery novel without a murder. No murder? How did I
think I could get away with that? Doesn’t the reader expect somebody to get
offed?
Well maybe
most mystery readers expect murder most foul every time they curl up with a
cozy, but it turns out Hooperman is
not alone. Murder may be the most nefarious thing that can happen in a plot,
but it’s not the only crime that needs to be solved, and murderers aren’t the
only perps who need to be brought to justice.
Wilkie
Collins’s The Moonstone, published in
1868, is considered by many to be the first detective novel in the English
language, and the crime in that complex plot was not murder, but theft. Theft
was also crime solved by Detective C. Auguste Dupin in Edgar Allan Poe’s story
“The Purloined Letter,” published back in 1845. We still honor Mr. Poe with the
Edgars given out every year. The 1800s also gave us bloodless mysteries by a
couple of literary giants, Jane Austen (Northanger
Abbey) and Charlotte Bronte (Jane
Eyre); although to be honest I never thought of these two novels as mystery
stories. But the Sherlock Holmes stories were certainly mysteries, and many of
them did not involve murders.
Moving
forward into the Golden Age, we find that some of the greats wrote one or more
bloodless mysteries. These include Agatha Christie (The Secret Adversary), Dorothy L. Sayers (Gaudy Night), and Josephine Tey (Brat Farrar).
More
recently we find many popular contemporary authors to have written at least one
non-murder mystery each, including Donald E. Westlake, Janet Evanovich, Dick
Francis, Laura R. King, Hallie Ephron, Ellis Peters, Carola Dunn, and the list
goes on and on.…
I don’t
imagine myself to be in the ranks of any of these great writers, but I’m glad
to know Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery
is in such good company.
Anyhow,
murder or no murder, Hooperman is
very much a mystery. Why? Because it has a crime to be solved: somebody’s
stealing a massive number of books from the store. There’s a closed circle of
suspects: the bookstore staff. There’s a hero: an amateur sleuth named Hoop,
hired to snoop. Tension and the threat of violence: the bookstore is fire
bombed twice. There’s a love interest, and of course the woman Hoop falls in
love with is a prime suspect. There are red herrings, clues, even a weapon.
There’s a showdown, the thief is brought to justice, and our hero is rewarded.
So, unless
you’re incurably bloodthirsty, I think you’ll enjoy Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery.
John,
ReplyDeleteWho needs murder? A mystery is a mystery!
I was happy to see that the publication date for "Hooperman" is getting close. I also noticed (on Amazon) that your new book is available for pre-order. Do you know when it will be released on Kindle?
Pat, I believe the Kindle edition should be ready shortly after the print edition. The print edition is indeed coming soon, and I'm looking forward to that!
DeleteSounds like my kind of book! And I write about theft too, John, in The Goddaughter series. Looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteTheft has enough crime to make a story, but as you know, crime plus danger make a mystery.
DeleteYou certainly get a vote of thanks from my wife. She's always asking me why I have to have someone murdered. My mysteries and suspense novels always have a murder. But I agree; it's not necessary. Any loss will do - loss of reputation, loss of goods, loss of something that somebody cares deeply about. Good post - as usual. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Jim. Loss makes a good story. A good crime novel should probably involve a quest to discover who stole whatever was stolen, and then to recover the stolen goods, and give the thief what he or she deserves.
DeleteThis is an interesting topic, John. Given the competition for mystery readers, the stakes are high. I've never written a mystery that didn't have a corpse or two, but that doesn't mean it's a requisite. Still the stakes must be high. I would argue that a mystery novel could not effectively be built around shoplifting, jay-walking, littering, or public nudity. Other than that, all crime is fair game.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree with you, Bill. Stakes must be high. Somebody has lost or stands to lose something of value. Somebody's in danger and could get seriously hurt, even if it's just psychologically.
DeleteJohn, You've named a few of my favorite mysteries. I revisit The Moonstone on occasion. The stakes must be high but the aura surrounding the mystery can at times be so compelling that the incident investigated sometimes takes a backseat to the telling of the tale.
ReplyDeleteTheresa, thanks for your comment. As far as I'm concerned, the telling of the tale is what makes the tale worth reading.
DeleteI see I'm the only non-mystery writer to reply so far, John. But I do teach writers, including mystery writers, and your subject of no-corpse necessary is something useful to know in case some "body" brings the subject up. Thanks for another interesting blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen. I don't actually consider myself a mystery writer, but a writer who writes mysteries.
DeleteA theft, a missing person, history -- all things that can include mysteries. Excellent post, John. A few of my favorite mysteries didn't include murders.
ReplyDeleteMarja McGraw
Thanks for stopping by, Marja. Happy Halloween!
ReplyDeleteThis is a super fun post...I love it. How great for Halloween. I'm pointing my readers this direction in my newsletter. I think you're already on the distribution list, but if not, please let me know. Cheers -Kris kris@kristenelisephd.com
ReplyDelete