Whispered Imagination - Jul 9
And now a word about Trust – since lack of Trust is one of the reasons so many promising crimes don’t succeed in the world of crime fiction.
Imagine it's 1951 (for example) - imagine you are tennis star Guy Haines cornered during a routine train journey by a charming, but a little off-center, character named Bruno (hereafter referred to as Idea Man). An “idea man” obviously, since he has lots of ideas he’s willing to share with someone he's just met (maybe he should have been a writer).
One of his most exciting concepts involves the removal of Motive in murder. It’s commonly known that, after an incident of foul play, the police investigation moves out in concentric circles: similar to ripples from a stone falling into still water. They always begin with the spouse – or, in Guy’s case, the unhappy spouse - since Guy’s wife is now Officially Inconvenient.
Bruno’s father, as it happens, is also Officially Inconvenient, and Bruno (hereafter referred to as Mr Excitement) is inspired by the sudden inspiration of two men who can resolve these Inconveniences by just “trading murders”. Bruno refers to it as “criss-cross” – a mutually beneficial transaction.
It’s only natural to think that – if eminently practical plans like this were adopted more often – murders would be much harder to solve.
But the narrative arc of the story is how the plan comes to nothing – since tennis star Guy Haines has no inclination to Trust a stranger he's met on a train – even though Bruno (hereafter referred to as Killer A) seems to trust his companion on sight.
There’s “criss” – but not “cross” – and we end with a final startling scene (the least merry merry-go-round ever).
But – taking the theme a little further – what if there were Trust? What if the conspirators were not strangers, but women of mature and careful judgment who have known each other all their lives? What if there were not only means, but method, motivation, and leadership?
What then?
Imagine it's 1951 (for example) - imagine you are tennis star Guy Haines cornered during a routine train journey by a charming, but a little off-center, character named Bruno (hereafter referred to as Idea Man). An “idea man” obviously, since he has lots of ideas he’s willing to share with someone he's just met (maybe he should have been a writer).
One of his most exciting concepts involves the removal of Motive in murder. It’s commonly known that, after an incident of foul play, the police investigation moves out in concentric circles: similar to ripples from a stone falling into still water. They always begin with the spouse – or, in Guy’s case, the unhappy spouse - since Guy’s wife is now Officially Inconvenient.
Bruno’s father, as it happens, is also Officially Inconvenient, and Bruno (hereafter referred to as Mr Excitement) is inspired by the sudden inspiration of two men who can resolve these Inconveniences by just “trading murders”. Bruno refers to it as “criss-cross” – a mutually beneficial transaction.
It’s only natural to think that – if eminently practical plans like this were adopted more often – murders would be much harder to solve.
But the narrative arc of the story is how the plan comes to nothing – since tennis star Guy Haines has no inclination to Trust a stranger he's met on a train – even though Bruno (hereafter referred to as Killer A) seems to trust his companion on sight.
There’s “criss” – but not “cross” – and we end with a final startling scene (the least merry merry-go-round ever).
But – taking the theme a little further – what if there were Trust? What if the conspirators were not strangers, but women of mature and careful judgment who have known each other all their lives? What if there were not only means, but method, motivation, and leadership?
What then?
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