Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

In many crime novels, the sleuth is a police detective or private investigator, so that person’s involvement in an investigation is straightforward. But there are also plenty of fictional characters who are drawn into a crime plot completely unintentionally. It can be a little trickier to make that plot point work well since it may require a little more suspension of disbelief. But in the right hands, that sort of accidental involvement can be really effective. Readers still have to be willing to ‘go along for the ride,’ but it can make for an engaging story.

For example, in Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit, Anne Bedingfield’s father has recently died, leaving her very little money. There’s not much to keep her in London, as she doesn’t want a more conventional job, such as a typist. A bit at loose ends, Anne happens to be at an Underground station when a man falls or is pushed under an oncoming train. She happens to get her hands on a note that the man had in his pocket and is curious about what it means. After a short time, she works out that it refers to the upcoming sailing of the HMS Kilmorden Castle for Cape Town. On a whim, she books passage on the ship. Almost right from the beginning of the voyage, she’s drawn into a web of intrigue, stolen jewels, and murder, just from being in a certain cabin on the boat. It’s an odd way to start off on what turns out to be quite an adventure for Anne.

Edmund Crispin’s The Moving Toyshop begins as Richard Cadogan arrives in Oxford late one night. He’s walking into town when he happens on a toyshop. He’s drawn to it and tries the door. To his surprise, it’s unlocked. Now curious, Cadogan walks around the shop and then up to the second floor. There, he finds the body of a middle-aged woman. He’s leaving when he’s knocked unconscious. Hours later, he wakes to find that he’s not in a toyshop at all, but in a grocery. He manages to get out quickly and goes right off to find his friend, Dr. Gervase Fen, who has a reputation for solving strange cases. When he and Fen return to where the toyshop was, there’s nothing there but the grocery. There’s no evidence that the place was ever a toyshop, and no evidence that there was a body there. With so little to go on, Cadogan wonders if he’s going crazy, but Fen is now intrigued. Together, the two of them begin asking questions, and find themselves drawn into a very odd case.

In Christopher Brookmyre’s Quite Ugly One Morning, we are introduced to journalist Jack Parlabane. He’s just returned to Edinburgh from Los Angeles and is still a bit disoriented. One morning, he wakes up to a big commotion going on in the downstairs flat. He’s very much hung over and decides to go downstairs and ask whoever is making the noise to stop. As he leaves his own flat, it occurs to him that he’s locked himself out. He left his window open, though, and hopes to climb in from the corresponding window downstairs. When he enters the downstairs flat, though, he finds the body of a man. Parlabane wants no part of being involved in a murder case, but he’s still locked out. So, he tries to slip through the window only to be caught by Detective Constable (DC) Jenny Dalziel. Of course, Dalziel draws the obvious conclusion at first. But after Parlabane’s presence is explained, Dalziel thinks Parlabane’s journalist background may be of use to her. So before he knows it, Parlabane is drawn into this case.

David Housewright’s Unidentified Woman # 15 is part of his Rushmore McKenzie series. McKenzie is a Minneapolis-based former police officer. He came into a great deal of money, so although he does do private investigation, he’s no longer a cop. One day, he and his partner Nina Truhler are driving on a stretch of road between Minneapolis and Saint Paul when a pickup truck cuts them off. A man in the truck climbs into the truck bed, opens the door, and dumps a young woman out onto the highway. McKenzie manages to avoid hitting her, but that sets off a chain-reaction accident. When everything’s finally cleared, Mckenzie and Truhler go on their way. The young woman didn’t die, but she was injured, and St. Paul Police Commander Bobby Dunstan is sure someone was trying to kill her. The woman herself has no memory of what happened. She doesn’t even remember her own name. So, Dunstan asks McKenzie to shelter her for a few days until the police catch whoever’s responsible. McKenzie agrees and ends up drawn into a case of robbery and murder.

And then there’s Finn Bell’s Dead Lemons. In this novel, the protagonist, who is also called Finn Bell, is trying to start a new life after surviving a car wreck that has left him in a wheelchair. His marriage is over, so he’s a bit at loose ends. He takes a cottage in the small South Island, New Zealand town of Riverton. Bell soon discovers a tabby living in the cottage, and decides to contact the cottage’s former owner, Emily Cotter, to see if the cat belongs to her. That’s how Bell learns about the Cotter family’s tragic history. In 1988, Emily’s daughter Alice went missing. There was the suspicion that the Zoyle brothers, who live nearby, were responsible, but nothing could ever be proven. A year later, Emily’s husband James went missing. Bell is curious about what happened, and in his way, he’s looking for something to occupy him. So, he starts reading up about the Cotter case and asking questions. He ends up getting drawn into past tragedy and dark secrets.

And that’s the thing about getting involved in a fictional case of murder. For cops and PIs, it happens as a part of their jobs. But sometimes, people get involved completely by accident.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Dr. John’s Right Place Wrong Time.