Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

Have you ever had this sort of thing happen? You’re scrolling through your social media when you see a post from a friend or acquaintance who’s just had something terrific happen – something you wanted yourself. For example, someone’s child just got a prestigious scholarship, as you’re scrambling for the funds to send your own child off to school. It’s not exactly jealousy; perhaps the word is wistfulness. And it’s awfully common now that so many people live their lives online. It happens, too, even if you’re genuinely happy for others’ success. It happens in crime fiction, and that’s not surprising. That wistfulness adds interesting character layers and can be a motive for almost anything.

For example, in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, we meet Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ de Bellefort. She hasn’t had a particularly easy life, especially not financially. But she’s deliriously happy with her new fiancé Simon Doyle. Her best friend is beautiful, wealthy Linnet Ridgeway, who has everything: brains, money, and looks. Jackie doesn’t envy Linnet, but she is wistful about all that Linnet has. Then she gets an idea: she and Simon will have a solid chance at getting married and being happy together if Linnet hires Simon as her land agent. Linnet agrees, and at first, everything seems to be working out. Then the unthinkable (for Jackie) happens: Linnet and Simon end up marrying. Devastated, Jackie follows the newlyweds on their honeymoon trip, which includes a cruise of the Nile. When Linnet is shot on the second night of the trip, Jackie is the obvious suspect. But it’s soon proven that she could not have committed the crime. So, Hercule Poirot, who is also on the trip, has to look elsewhere for the killer.

In Gail Bowen’s The Wandering Souls Murders, political scientist and academician Joanne Kilbourn is preparing for her daughter Mieka’s wedding. Mieka’s future parents-in-law have invited the Kilbourns to their home for a posh engagement weekend party. Just as the family is getting ready to go, they get an unexpected visitor, Christy Sinclair, the former girlfriend of Joanne’s son, Pete. Christy’s come because she wants to get back together with Pete. Joanne has no interest in that because Christy has a history of lying and manipulation. But she reluctantly agrees when Christy invites herself along for the weekend. It’s not hard to see why Christy wants to be back in the Kilbourns’ circle. They’re a loving, stable family, and that’s something Christy never had and always wanted. The weekend turns tragic when Christy dies of what looks at first like suicide by drowning. It’s not, though, and Joanne gets involved in a complex case with ties to the past.

Max Kinnings’ Baptism features George Wakeham, a London Underground train driver. He’s got a fairly ordinary life: a steady job, a wife and children he loves, and a small house. But he’s wistful about the creative things he wanted to do. For instance, he was a member of a band called Crawlspace, but the band never really made a major success of itself. He wanted to write, too, but that’s never happened. So, although he does love his family, and he’s content enough with his job, he’s still wistful. One morning, a group of three hostage-takers break into Wakeham’s home and take his wife and children. They give Wakeham a mobile phone and tell him that he needs to do everything exactly as they say if his family is to stay alive. Then, they tell him to go to his job as he usually does, and they’ll direct him. Wakeham follows their instructions and gets ready to drive his train. Then, halfway through a tunnel, the hostage-takers order him to stop the train. Wakeham learns that they’ve boarded the train, along with Wakeham’s family. Now, Wakeham has to find out what they want and try to free his passengers and his family. Hostage negotiator Ed Mallory gets in touch with the hostage-takers to see if he can break the impasse before anyone gets hurt. As the story goes on, we see what happens when an ordinary, but wistful, man gets the chance to do something extraordinary.

Megan Abbott’s Dare Me is the story of Beth Cassidy and Addy Hanlon. Beth is the undisputed Queen Bee of her high school, and captain of the cheerleading squad. Addy is her ‘second in command.’ Both girls are envied and at the same time looked up to by many of the rest of the girls in school. Everything changes when the school hires a new cheerleading coach, Collette French. Collette draws the girls into her own inner circle, creating her own elite group. Addy is in that group, but Beth is not. Now, Beth looks on wistfully as she is ‘frozen out’ while Addy becomes an ‘insider.’ The situation gets more and more tense, and, as you can imagine, it all ends in tragedy. Life will change forever for Beth and Addy.

Graham Norton’s Holding features Sergeant P.J. Collins, who serves the small Irish town of Duneen. Collins isn’t stupid, and he knows how to do his job. But he’s never made a lot of himself, he’s overweight, and the people of Duneen don’t really admire and respect him as he’d like. He’s wistful, and maybe somewhat jealous, when he thinks about the other officers he’s known who are rising in the ranks and who are admired. Then, he learns that a set of bones has been discovered on an old local farm. Collins thinks that if he can find out whose remains were found, and how and why that person died, he’ll make a success of himself. So, he begins to dig through the past, interview the people of the town, and try to find out the truth about the bones. As he does, he finds that small towns can hold a lot of secrets.

Wistfulness is a common enough human reaction to finding out that other people are getting, doing, and being things you’d like. It’s not always a healthy reaction when it’s taken too far, but we sometimes can’t help feeling that way. Not even in crime fiction.

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a song by the Beach Boys.