Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

At some point in time, most of us look back on our lives and reflect on where we’ve been. We might remember a particular time in life (like university years, or that first job) or we might remember growing up, and the people who were important to us. Reflection plays an important role in making sense of our lives, and it has a role to play in crime fiction, too. After all, a lot of crimes have their roots in the past. Reflection can also add to character development and can move a plot along.

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (AKA Murder For Christmas and A Holiday For Murder) introduces us to the Lee family and its patriarch, Simeon Lee. He’s a malicious, tyrannical old man who’s had quite a checkered past, as it used to be called. One Christmas, he decides that he wants everyone in the family to gather for the holiday. No-one really wants to attend, but no-one dares to refuse, so the family gets together. There’s a lot of underlying tension and a lot of past history among the different members. During one conversation, Lee reflects on his own past, saying how ‘wicked’ he’s been. Everything comes to a head on the night of Christmas Eve, when Lee is murdered in his private room. Hercule Poirot is staying nearby, and he works with the local police to find out who the killer is. As he investigates, he learns about the family’s past, and how it has led to the present murder. You’re right, fans of Five Little Pigs.

Wendy James’ The Lost Girls begins as Jane Tait gets a visit from filmmaker Erin Fury. Erin is doing a documentary on families who’ve endured the murder of one of their members. She wants to interview Jane and her family about the decades-old murder of Jane’s cousin, Angela Buchanan. Jane’s reluctant at first; she wants more than anything to simply go on with her life. But Erin persuades her to consent. Erin’s visit pushes Jane to reflect on the summer Angela died and make sense of it. Angela was spending the summer with Jane, her brother Mick, and their parents when one afternoon, she went missing and was later found dead. The case was investigated, but nothing much came of it. Then, a few months later, another, similar murder happened, and it was believed that a killer dubbed ‘the Sydney Stranger’ was responsible. Still, after all these years, the real truth hasn’t been discovered. As Erin interviews the various members of Jane’s family, they, too, reflect on that summer and how it’s led to where everyone is today. And eventually, we find out the truth.

The focus of Hideo Yoyokama’s Six Four is the fourteen-year-old murder of seven-year-old Amamiya Shoko. As the novel begins, Mikami Yoshinobu is a civilian who works with the police department’s Media Relations team. He learns that the police commissioner will be visiting from Tokyo to pay respects to the dead girl’s family, and that in preparation for that, the case will be re-visited, since it was never solved. At the time of the murder, Mikami was a police detective who was familiar with the case, although strictly speaking, he didn’t work on it. Now, everything will need to be brought up again. Since Mikami wasn’t really involved in the original investigation, he speaks to people who were, so that he and the Media Relations Team can prepare for the commissioner’s visit. Mikami’s own reflections on the case, plus those of the people who were directly involved, bring up some things that just don’t make sense. So, Mikami goes back over the case and starts to ask some questions that some people don’t want answered.

In Jon Spoelstra’s Who’s Killing All My Old Girlfriends?, we are introduced to Charlie North, a retired Chicago journalist who now keeps a popular blog. He’s seventy-two now and reflecting on his life. One of the questions he asks himself is what might have happened had he married one of his old girlfriends instead of his wife Joanna. This inspires him to look up his three former long-term girlfriends and see what’s become of them. The first visit doesn’t go well at all. Then, right after that visit ends, Charlie learns that she’s been murdered. The same thing happens after he visits his second former girlfriend. And his third. Now the police are interested in Charlie, and some even suspect him. He’s going to have to find out who’s framing him and who killed his old girlfriends if he’s going to clear his name.

And then there’s Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions For You. Podcaster and critic Brodie Kane has been invited to return to her alma mater, a boarding school in Granby, New Hampshire, where she’ll teach a two-week course to a group of students. One of the students has chosen to do a podcast on the murder of Thalia Keith. This case hits especially close to home for Brodie because she knew the victim. In fact, Thalia and Brodie were school roommates for a time. While she wasn’t directly considered a suspect, Brodie knew many of those involved in the investigation, and she has her own memories of the place and the people. Originally, a maintenance worker named Omar Evans was arrested and convicted. But Brodie’s student soon unearths clues that Evans may be innocent. Now, much as she’d rather not, Brodie will have to look into this case again to find out the truth.

Reflection can lead a person in many different directions. And in crime fiction, it can be used to tie past and present cases together, and to add character layers. Little wonder we see it as often as we do in the genre.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Edward Holland, Jr.’s Reflections, made popular by the Supremes.