Plot Devices That Should Never Be Used in Mysteries
I read a lot of detective fiction from the “golden age” of mystery writing, meaning the era of Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Josephine Tey. Every now and then I branch out and try to read a mystery from a living author, but I am often disappointed. The mysteries published nowadays tend to be too long, unsolvable by the reader and full of tedious characters.
I have tried to read new mysteries that have won awards, thinking that I can let the critics weed out the bad stuff for me, but even some of the award-winning novels turn out to be stinkers. The most offending stories are those who hang the suspense on plot devices that are literally hundreds of years old and can be spotted by the reader in the first twenty pages. I can tolerate those plot devices in a novel that’s eighty years old; then they have kitsch value. But in a current, non-satirical novel, they just look like laziness. So, as a kindness to mystery authors everywhere, here are a list of story elements that are not now - and will never be unless they are given a couple hundred years’ rest - suspenseful or mysterious.
- Transgendered persons. If you want to include a transgendered person in your story, fine. But don’t hang the plot on their status. Waiting until page 197 to reveal that GASP! Jack was actually born as Jane, the missing heiress who everyone had been looking for! is annoying. This has been used since Shakespeare. It isn’t shocking anymore. It isn’t even believable. Someone somewhere would have noticed the absence/presence of an adam’s apple or large mastoids, or mentioned that Jack gets an awful lot of hormone injections.
- Pseudonymous letters. When Bob writes letters to Joe, please respect your readers enough to recognize that we all know the letters might have been written by Steve. Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac was written in 1897. We have all had time to hear the story.
- Multiple Personalities. Can we PLEASE give this one a rest? It has been used in every soap opera. When I read Anne Perry’s Cain His Brother, even though the multiple personality thing was obvious, I kept reading because I couldn’t believe she was actually going there. But she did. I was so disappointed.
- Secret Identical Twins. The last time I saw this used well it was in one of G.K. Chesterton’s short stories. That was 100 years ago, and it only worked then because he was being whimsical. Until another mystery novelist can manage comparable whimsy, the secret identical twin should be retired.
If these storylines could be quietly abandoned for, say, eighty years or so, perhaps they could be used again. After all, there is currently nothing wrong with a story in which the butler did it.
edj
Although if you put a butler in a modern story, wouldn’t that be suspicious right off?
I love classic mysteries too. Right now I’m trying to read Agatha Christie in French, and it’s harder than it looks. Do you like PD James? She’s a modern I like. Also, when I’m in the right mood, I enjoy a good Dick Francis novel. He’s a bit dated already though.
Our bookstore in Mauritania was given STACKS of mysteries, ranging from fun to truly awful. I’m trying to remember who else I liked…I’ll e you if I think of any. Ruth Rendell? Have you tried her?
Tonggu Momma
Lately I’ve gotten into the Ladies Detective Agency series. I’ve only read the first one and just picked up the second. Have you ever read it? What did you think?
MJ
Bravo! I agree. I would add two that I’ve seen a bit too much of (uh-oh–we’re running out of storylines) the long lost child with a grudge and/or search for said child, and the spouse/child/exspouse for insurance money. Although they can be used well, they tend to not be.
Julie
Well done! I would also add to your list the lazy writer’s “device” of withholding information from the reader in order to create suspense. This typically takes the form of a document that the protagonist gets to read… but we don’t. *cough* The DaVinci Code *cough*
alice
I keep trying to like Anne Perry, but with the exception of the WWI series, I am disappointed. It’s too easy to guess who did it. They’re just a little lackluster in my opinion.
zoom
Oh you hit a nerve on this. In my opinion, most modern mystery writers write with the intention of their book becoming a movie. I find this especially annoying with American writers versus British writers.
Karen
Wonderful! Agreed on many of your authors…. though I do have a soft spot for Tony Hillerman and PD James.
Veronica Mitchell
I love PD James. How could anyone like mysteries and not like PD James? She is in a class by herself.
edj, Dick Francis can be amusing as a light read. His words to the press when his wife died impressed me. I’ve never read Ruth Rendell. Maybe I’ll give her a try.
TM, I love the Ladies No 1 Detective Agency novels, too, but I always save those to listen to as audiobooks read by Lisette Lecat. Her accents make Africa seem even more real.
Julie, I’ve never read the Da Vinci Code. Now I have another reason not to.
Alice, I have fallen out of love with Anne Perry. I can’t enjoy her anymore.
Zoom, I’ve heard that John Grisham writes all his books to be movies. So why not just see the movie? But now that you mention that, I am having a hard time thinking of American mystery writers that I like. Not since Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett died. Hmm. Erle Stanley Gardner is dead too.
Karen, I haven’t tried Hillerman. Maybe I will.