Most people would probably agree that the most engaging stories have interesting characters. And in crime fiction, that can include the murderer. To find the character of the murderer interesting doesn’t mean we condone the killing at the core of the plot. But if the murderer is a layered character who keeps our attention, it’s easier to understand the murder, and it can make for a more absorbing story.
For instance, in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, we are introduced to Linnet Ridgeway Doyle. She seems to have it all: money, intelligence, and beauty. But, on the second night of her honeymoon trip on the Nile, she is murdered. Hercule Poirot is on the same cruise, and he works to find out who is responsible. As it turns out, he develops sympathy for the murderer even though he does not condone what that person did. And as the story goes on, readers get to know that person, and it’s clear that the killer is not a unidimensional character. There are layers and depths, and Christie shows that as the novel plays out.
Louise Penny’s A Fatal Grace (AKA Dead Cold) takes place during the Christmas season. Famous life coach CC de Poitiers has recently moved with her husband and teenage daughter to the small Québec town of Three Pines. Almost immediately, she alienates a number of people and it’s not long before she is roundly disliked. On Boxing Day, she attends a traditional Boxing Day curling match and, as the match is in progress, she is murdered. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache investigates the killing, and he soon finds that there are a number of suspects. It’s not an easy case, but in the end, Gamache and his team find out the truth. And it turns out the murderer is an interesting person with more depth and nuances than you might think.
We know the murderer in L.R. Wright’s The Suspect from the beginning of the story. As the novel opens, eighty-year-old George Wilcox has just killed eighty-five-year-old Carlyle Burke. RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg investigates the murder and, after a few false starts, begins to suspect that Wilcox is the killer, or at least knows a lot more than he’s said about the case. The more time goes by, the more suspicious Alberg is of Wilcox, but he’s faced with one major problem: motive. There is no reason why Wilcox should have killed Burke. The two men didn’t get along, but that’s not really a reason to kill someone. And Wilcox doesn’t have a reputation as an unhinged, potentially dangerous person. As the story goes on, we learn more about Wilcox, and we learn how he and Burke know each other, what their stories are, and why one killed the other. And we (and Alberg) find out that Wilcox is an interesting character with depth and history.
Paddy Richardson’s Traces of Red features Wellington journalist Rebecca Thorne. She wants to cement her place at the top of New Zealand television journalism, but she knows there are a lot of hungry new arrivals eager to claim the top spot. So, she’s hoping for the story to make her reputation She thinks she’s found that story in the case of Connor Bligh. He’s been in prison for years for the murders of his sister Angela Dickson, her husband Rowan, and their son Sam. Only their daughter Katy survived, because she wasn’t home at the time of the murders. Many people have assumed that Bligh is guilty, but there are also little pieces of evidence that he may be innocent. If he is, then it’s the story of a career for Thorne. So, she starts asking questions and looking for any information she can get. As she finds out more and more about Bligh, about his history, and about the murders, Thorne ends up getting much closer to the story than is wise. And we learn who really killed the Dickson family and why. The murderer turns out to be an interesting character with some appealing qualities – not at all a unidimensional ‘bad guy.’
And then there’s Keigo Higashino’s Malice. One night, best-selling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found murdered in his home. His wife Rie and his best friend Osamu Nonoguchi discover the body, so when Inspector Kyoichiro Kaga begins his investigations, those two people are of particular interest. But there are two major hurdles in this case. The first is that both suspects have alibis that hold up to scrutiny, so this seems to be a sort of a ’locked room’ case. The other challenge is that there seems to be no motive for the murder. It’s not until Kaga really begins to look into the victim’s past that he learns what Hidaka was like, and this gives him what he needs to work out who the killer is. Then the challenge becomes how to prove his case.
It isn’t easy to create a murderer who is an interesting character. After all, murder is a horrible thing, and it’s hard to have sympathy for someone who commits that crime. But there are some fictional murderers who have depths and nuances that keep readers’ interest. Which ones have stayed with you?
*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice’s The Last Supper.
Crime Writer Margot Kinberg 
Definitely agree Margot – there has to be more to the murderer than just a cut-out character. I want motivation, complexity, layers, backstory – all of that makes a mystery so much more interesting!!
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You put that really well, KBR! We may not want to cheer for a murderer, but it is important, I think, that that character have some depths, some nuances, and some complexity. To me, that makes a story more realistic, as well as (as you say) more interesting!
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I think that’s why I’m less keen on serial killers -their motivation is so far removed from normal it doesn’t really hold my interest. I always prefer the type of murderers whose crimes arise from their characters and from the circumstances they find in.
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I know just what you mean, FictionFan! I’d rather a murderer whose motivations and character I can understand, even if I do think murdering is horrible. Serial killers aren’t as appealing to me, either.
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Murderers are human beings and as such there are more sides to them than just the urge to kill. Many of the most prolific killers have been described as personable men or women, quiet and unassuming, but always willing to help. Often polite. But then again, psychopaths are good at appearing ‘normal,’ and can ape behaviours to fit in with people, going undetected. They have families and might be married, often with children. Their family and friends are frequently the last to find out about the murderous activities of their relative. Not all killers are loners, and introverts who only love their mothers. Building the layers of character is fun, and the reader can be moved from disgust to sympathy and back again oftentimes. I enjoy trying to do this, and think of the layers of an onion being gradually peeled off as I attempt it. I envy writers who achieve this with apparent ease. It is not easy. Fab piece, Margot, thanks as ever.
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You’re quite right, Jane. Murderers are human, and as such, they’ve got backstories, personalities, and so on and that’s what can make them interesting as characters. It’s equally interesting to think about how a murderer would think it necessary to take another person’s life. That alone is the sort of question that makes for an interesting fictional plot line.
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Gosh, so right you are! How does someone get to that point? The Broadmoor doctor said everyone can kill. Most of us have a switch that stops us, others ignore the switch, putting it simply. Food for thought.
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Food for thought, indeed, Jane. It does make me curious to think about how that ‘switch’ you mentioned stops working. Perhaps everyone can kill, but most of us don’t, and difference is fascinating.
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I wish I could recall all of his talk but it was a while ago. But you have to wonder…
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Exactly, Jane…
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Reblogged this on Jane Risdon and commented:
Another thought-provoking article about one of my favourite topics, is from Margot Kinberg. If crime and murder intrigue you, read on…
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Reblogged this on Pattys World and commented:
A very interesting post.
I too can find murderer characters likeable and interesting. I’ve even at times, found myself kind of pulling for them to get away with their crimes if I felt they may have had a justifiable reason for their kills.
Maybe I’m twisted. LOL.
Or maybe the authors just did an amazing job at creating characters.
Either way, this is fascinating.
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Another great, thought-provoking, post, so much so I had to think about it overnight. LOL So I came up with two books by Freeman Wills Croft that had been written from the murderer’s pov that I had enjoyed a lot. And they were, Antidote to Venom where the owner of a zoo wants to knock someone off for money to save his zoo and to fund his new lifestyle. I thought it was excellent and enjoyed reading how he planned to do this. He was awful but you couldn’t help admiring his determination and imagination. Ditto Crofts’ 12.30 to Croydon athough I can’t now remember a lot about that. The other book that came to mind was Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris, where the reader is right inside the head of the protagonist but still not privy to the big secret. This one is a huge favourite of mine although I’m not a big fan generally of her books.
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Thanks, Cath. I’m so glad you thought the post was interesting! And thanks for mentioning the Crofts books. He did create some interesting characters, I think. I must confess, I’ve not (yet) read the Harris, although it sounds intriguing. And it is interesting, isn’t it, how we may not be a big fan of an author’s work, but there’s that one book we love. Funny how that happens!
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I think I try and read less about murder, than other crimes to be honest, Margot. I never got too far with with Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series, but he’s one I can remember. .
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That’s interesting, Col. I think we do sort of settle on the crimes we want to read about, and that makes some sense; books about murder are different to heist novels or other sorts of crime novels. And thanks for the reminder of Dexter – now there’s an interesting character…
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Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley is the one who stays with me. Tricky to pull off and slightly queasy inducing but she manages to make him likeable and a cold blooded killer. Not something I’d ever attempt to do!
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I couldn’t agree more, Victoria! Tom Ripley is a fascinating character, even as it’s repulsive to think of what he’s done. It took so much talent to make that work, I think. And I don’t think I’d try it, either!
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I enjoyed the post. I have thought Michael Connelly created complex killers early in the Harry Bosch series but more recent books have featured brutal killers with little complexity of personality. The murders and investigations remain complex. I wish he would re-introduce memorable killers.
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I know what you mean, Bill. In fact, I almost used the killer in The Black Ice in the post, but then in the end, I didn’t. That was a complex character with some solid layers. I suppose it’s harder after so many novels to create such characters, but I hope Connelly gets back to them.
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