The Parlor PI's discussion
NOV Book Discussion – MSW: "A FATAL FEAST" (Chapt. 11-17)
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I guessed who the victim would be. Probably because he was so mysterious and just an odd duck. I feel bad because the killer used Seth's knife and Jessica was the one who forgot to take it back after they served dinner.
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Surprisingly Jessica's thanksgiving dinner turned out really well. Everyone was cordial to one another and there were no arguments or disagreements. But it's possible that someone at that dinner harbored some murderous thoughts towards Hubert Billups.
Tina wrote: "LM, although I like my mystery to happen earlier in a story, I was okay with Billups' murder occurring when it did. The letter mystery filled the suspense gap until things progressed. Gave the read..."One of the fascinating things about the mystery genre is that the writer can explore and go down various paths -- in other words, a writer can take many fresh approaches and angles. In this instance of A Fatal Feast, the writer decides to feature the murder late in the story. Along with A Fatal Feast, I've been reading P.D. James' book called "Talking About Detective Fiction" which explores the mystery genre and the various approaches and devices explored throughout the centuries. In the book, James mentions the rules that many said should be applied to mystery stories. Interestedly, James says,
"Rules and restrictions do not produce original, or good, literature, and the rules were not strictly adhered to. . . . Certainly a proper regard to structure and balance would suggest that the murderer should make an appearance comparatively early in the story, but a demand that this should be no later than two-thirds of the way through the narrative seems unduly restrictive. Some novelists like to begin either with a murder or with the discovery of the body, an exciting and shocking beginning that not only sets the mood of the novel but involves the reader immediately in drama and action. Although I have used this method with some of my novels, I have more commonly chosen to defer the crime and begin by establishing the setting and by introducing my readers to the victim, the murderer, the suspects, and the life of the community in which the murder will take place. This has the advantage that the setting can be described with more leisure than is practicable once the action is under way, and that many of the facts about the suspects and their possible motives are known and do not have to be revealed at length during the course of the investigation" (pg. 57-59).
What I like about the approach that James' describes in the quote in which Donald Bain displayed, is that it gives the writer time to explore the characters, providing us shades of mystery along the way such as the character Archer Franklin who comes to great suspicion later on in the story. Whereas, if Bain introduced us to the body earlier on in the story we would only get a glimpse of characters like Archer in an interview and through the lips of others. Regardless of whether a body is discovered at the beginning or the middle, I like variety and it keeps things fresh within the genre.
Are there any MSW books where a body is discovered at the start of the book (a good example of a non-MSW book would be Agatha Christie's The Body In The Library).
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Since Jessica's so enwrapped in the death of Hubert Billups, she hasn't had the chance to continue working on her novel. And her deadline is right around the corner. November is almost over and the month of December is her deadline.
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Chapter 17 kind of confirms what we all thought about Archer Franklin. He seems to be a con man, one who sponges off other people for money. He's asking Wilimena for money and her sister Kathy is concerned. I kind of figured that something was a little off with Archer and when Jessica doesn't find anything about him online about this "wealthy businessman" it just makes him even more suspicious. Here are some of my thoughts about a possible connection between Archer and Hubert Billups: We can go with Kathy's suspicions and believe that Archer is hiding from the law due to his con games or that he is hiding from someone that he has specifically conned in the past -- it's catching up with him. Either way, he's not who he said he was, he's not wealthy nor is he associated with commodities. It could be that Archer has been sponging off of others to support himself, specifically women -- vulnerable women, and unfortunately Willie seems to be the next victim. Now, what if Archer did kill Hubert? What motive would Archer have? Now as to Hubert Billups, he doesn't seem like the type who would naturally cause trouble. It's as if his eccentric personality is what caused trouble to come to him, for example, the situation with Wally Winstead and with Mr. Catalana. With the kind of person he is and his odd behavior of showing up idly at places, it's possible that he stumbled across something that he shouldn't have which resulted in him being killed. George Sutherland observes the fact that Billups was stabbed in the chest, coming to the conclusion that whoever killed him confronted him face to face. Maybe blackmail was involved? Maybe Billups is a blackmailer. Could there be more to Billups than meets the eye? It's possible that Billups stumbled across Archer's con game, asked for money and that night Archer stabbed Hubert to shut him up.
OR could Archer be someone from Billups past? Could Archer be the man from the photo in front of the Down-The-Hatch restaurant/bar? If so, what's the connection between the two and Down-The-Hatch? Could Billups have been one of the owners of that bar?
I don't know, I get this feeling that Archer is the murderer. But please don't tell me "whodunit"! I'm just speculating!
I think those 2 photos that Jessica stumbles upon at Billup's room is the key to this mystery. . . . but as to what they mean, I'm not sure yet.
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Tina wrote: "However, I'm starting to forget major details to the story as I'm on to another book."I'm sorry I went very slow in this book discussion. Next time I'll just take part in one instead of hosting.
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Will you be reading any Christmas classic mysteries this year? Know of any good ones?
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Will you be reading any Christmas classic mysteries this year? Know of any good ones?"
Tina wrote: "I use to like the early Anne Perry mysteries of the grandma involved with the family (forget the series) but they use to be really good. Then Ms. Perry went off on this gloom and doom theme for the..."The series with Aunt Vespasia (is that the character you're talking about?) is from the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt series.
For this Christmas I'm going to read one of Anne Perry's Christmas books, "A Christmas Hope"
which is about a poet that gets killed. I can't wait to read it! It's been awhile since I've read Anne Perry so this book would be a good return.Oh, I forgot! I got from the library a collection of 4 short stories from P.D. James called "The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories"
so I'll read from that too
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Those titles sound good, LM. Don't hesitate to nominate your picks next time we select titles. Jan. will be next up.
Tina wrote: "It was the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt series, LM. Loved it! I think we discussed those winter episodes at the old place. Those titles sound good, LM. Don't hesitate to nominate your picks next time ..."
Yes, we did discuss one of the winter/Christmas stories from Anne Perry. We had a great discussion!
I think I'll be able to nominate my pick for Jan. and take part in a discussion. If I host another book discussion in the future I'll try not to be like a slow turtle like I was with A Final Feast. Speaking of A Final Feast, I'm almost finished. I'm going to post the final discussion to it later today (though we're already in December and you guys are already on another book discussion, LOL!)
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The Parlor PI's
Books mentioned in this topic
The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories (other topics)A Christmas Hope (other topics)
Anyways, here we are and we're almost halfway finished with A Fatal Feast. We finally come across a body at the end of Chapter 13 and it's . . . . HUBERT BILLUPS. And he's stabbed with Seth's knife, the exact same one that Jessica used at the Thanksgiving dinner at the senior center. Now the only question left to ask is "whodunit" and "why?"
To kick off the discussion, I start off with this QUESTION: Do you think the body of Hubert Billups should have been discovered sooner for the readers rather than waiting thirteen chapters later? It's sure a great opportunity for the writer to explore and delve into character development. But do you think Donald Bain succeeded in this or not?
Next week we're going to conclude with Chapters 18-25!
Let's start discussing!
REMINDER: If you've read the book before or read it for the first time and recently finished, PLEASE don't tell me who the murderer is. If you want to speculate who you thought the murderer was before you found out don't hesitate to do so but again, do so in a way that I or anyone else who hasn't read the whole book won't obviously figure out "whodunit". Thanks!