Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

If you’re a parent, then you know that parenting presents all sorts of challenges. For one thing, children don’t come with user manuals, so right from the beginning, parents learn by experience. And each child is unique, with unique needs and strengths. Put it all together and it’s little wonder parents get so frazzled sometimes. But most parents truly love their children and do their best to be good parents, even if it doesn’t all work out well sometimes. If you’ve ever felt guilty for having ONE OF THOSE DAYS as a parent,  rest assured that there are parents out there far worse than you. An interesting post from Moira at Clothes in Books has reminded me that crime fiction has lots of examples of bad parenting. No doubt they’ll make you feel better about your own parental decisions.

In Agatha Christie’s Appointment With Death, we follow fledgling doctor Sarah King as she joins a group taking a sightseeing tour to the ancient city of Petra. Also on the tour are the members of the Boynton family. Sarah quickly sees that family matriarch Mrs. Boynton is controlling, domineering, and malicious. She has the members of her family so cowed that they don’t dare go against anything she says. And she uses psychological manipulation to keep her family under control. When she suddenly dies one afternoon, it’s first put down to heart failure. After all, she was elderly and unwell. But Colonel Carbury, who’s investigating the matter, isn’t so sure. Hercule Poirot is in the area, and Carbury asks him to investigate. Needless to say, the members of the Boynton family come under suspicion. So does Sarah, since she and Raymond Boynton have developed an interest in each other. It’s a difficult case, and more than it seems on the surface.

As Barbara Vine, Ruth Rendell explores toxic parenting in The Minotaur. In it, newly qualified nurse Kerstin Kvist wants to move to England to be near her lover Mark Douglas. So, she accepts a position with the Cosway family. Her charge will be thirty-nine-year-old John Cosway, who’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She soon learns that this is no ordinary family. For one thing, the family seems to be living in the Victorian Era in several ways, and that’s odd enough. Family matriarch Mrs. Cosway is tyrannical and completely self-absorbed, so for her, John’s well-being is of little importance, even though he is her son. In fact, she has given strict orders that he is to be kept heavily medicated. At first, Kerstin follows instructions. But she begins to believe that he doesn’t need medication. So, without letting anyone know, she starts to withdraw the drugs he’s using. And that decision ends up having tragic consequences.

We first meet PI Matthew Scudder in Lawrence Block’s The Sins of the Father. He’s a former cop who’s left the force and now does informal PI work for people, and they ‘give him gifts’ in return. One day, he’s approached by wealthy businessman Cale Hanniford. Hanniford’s twenty-four-year-old daughter was recently murdered, and the police have arrested and charged twenty-one-year-old Richard Vanderpoel in connection with the crime. Hanniford wants Scudder to find out what led to the murder, and what sort of life his daughter was living. Then, he explains that he and Wendy had been estranged, and that he didn’t really know his own daughter. Somewhat reluctantly, Scudder agrees to find out what he can. He interviews Vanderpoel, but the young man is either too dazed or too drugged to be of much help. Shortly after the interview, Vanderpoel commits suicide. Scudder decides to keep his commitment to Hanniford and find out what was really going on. And when he finds out the truth, we learn about the role that toxic parenting has played in the lives of both young people.

Sara Blaedel’s The Killing Forest begins as a group of men gather in a forested area near the small Danish town of Hvalsø. With them is fifteen-year-old Sune Frandsen, who’s joining the men for the first time. The group prepares to observe a Viking ritual at which Sune will ‘become a man,’ but when he sees what’s going on, he leaves and ends up going missing. Louise Rick, who’s with Denmark’s Special Search Agency, is sent to the town with her police partner Eik to try to find the boy. As a matter of course, they interview Sune’s family members and others he knows, and they begin to learn about the night of his disappearance. It turns out that Sune’s father put a lot of pressure on the boy to participate, and that it was extremely important to him to ‘fit in with the others in the group. And now, his riding roughshod over his son may cost the boy his life.

And then there’s Simon Lendrum’s The Slow Roll. O’Malley is an Auckland-based professional gambler. He’s got a reputation for being able to find people, whether or not they want to be found. So it’s not surprising that Loto Tupoula would seek him out. Tupuola’s daughter Serafina has gone missing, and her father wants her back safely. O’Malley’s reluctant at first, because there are any number of reasons Serafina might not want to be found. But he’s finally persuaded. One possibility is that she’s with her boyfriend, Jesse Browning, so that’s O’Malley’s first stop. The trouble is, Jesse’s father is mixed up with some very dangerous criminals, and it’s made clear to O’Malley what will happen to him if he ever goes to the Browning home again. Still, he’s able to establish that Serafina is alive and well. That’s not enough for Tupuola, who insists that she return home. Now, O’Malley goes up against Browning and his men, as well as the police, who are trying to get evidence against Browning. Among other things, this is a really interesting look at how what parents want and do can impact their children.

And that’s the thing. Parents do affect their children deeply. Most do the very best they can to make sure that impact is a good one. But some don’t. Space only permits a few examples of toxic parenting. Which have stayed with you?

Thanks to Moira for the inspiration! Now, treat yourself to a visit to her excellent blog, where you’ll find interesting discussion on clothes and culture in fiction, and what they say about us.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Pink Floyd’s Mother.