Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

The thing about cars being popular (and in some cases, omnipresent) is that they need to be fueled. Even electric vehicles need to be recharged. That’s a big reason why gas/petrol stations are a fixture in so many places. Some stations offer mechanic services and/or a convenience store. Some offer car washes, too. But even little one-pump stations are sometimes a very welcome sight for the driver. With these stations playing such important roles in real life, it’s no surprise that we see them in crime fiction, too.

For example, in Agatha Christie’s Sad Cypress, we are introduced to Ted Bigland, who works as a mechanic at a local garage/petrol station. As the story begins, he’s in love with Mary Gerrard, the lodgekeeper’s daughter at nearby Hunterbury. He’s not happy, because she’s just returned from abroad, where she got an education, and now he feels she puts herself above him, if you will. Then, tragedy happens. One afternoon, Mary dies of what turns out to be poison. The most likely suspect is Elinor Carlisle, who had more than one motive. She’s even arrested and put on trial. Local GP Peter Lord wants Elinor’s name cleared because he’s fallen in love with her. So, he asks Hercule Poirot to investigate. Poirot agrees and begins to talk to the people who knew Mary. As you’d expect, he hears about Ted Bigland’s relationship with the victim, so Ted becomes a possible suspect.

Several of Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason novels include scenes where Mason is establishing alibis or trying to trace a witness or suspect. And sometimes, that involves gas stations. For instance, in The Case of the Lazy Lover, he receives two checks from a woman named Lola Allred. She hasn’t officially hired him for anything, and he doesn’t know her. But he follows up on the checks. One is genuine check, but the other is forged. Now the case becomes complicated, and Mason tries harder to track Lola Allred down. At one point, he visits a gas station where she allegedly filled up her tank, and the attendant describes her fairly accurately. That helps Mason to trace her, but matters quickly get more complex when her husband turns up dead and she becomes a suspect. It’s a tangled case for Mason and his secretary, Della Street.

In Ruth Rendell’s One Across, Two Down, we meet Stanley Manning, who works as a petrol station attendant. He can’t afford luxury, and he’s never had much of a career, mostly due to his prison record. Still, he’s trying to make a good life for himself and his wife, Vera. The big problem is that Vera’s mother Maude is making that well-nigh impossible. She despises her son-in-law, is vocal about it, and the feeling is definitely mutual. The only thing that keeps Manning going is that he’s hoping Vera will inherit her mother’s fortune. Things get so bad that Manning decides to take matters into his own hands. And that turns out to be a fateful, tragic decision.

Michael Stanley’s A Carrion Death is the first in the writing team’s series featuring Botswana police detective David ‘Kubu’ Bengu. He investigates when the body of an unknown man is found in rural Dale’s Camp. There’s not much to go on at first, but then, a receipt is found near the body. It turns out to be from the Number One Petrol Station, so Bengu goes there to find out what he can. Once there, he learns that the vehicle in question was a Land Rover painted a garish shade of yellow. That’s enough for Bengu to learn that the vehicle belonged to the Botswana Cattle and Mining Company (BCMC). Now, Bengu has an important lead to follow, and it turns out that the BCMC is related to the man’s death.

There’s also Julia Keller’s Summer of the Dead, in which we meet Lindy Crabtree. She works at a combination gas station/convenience store in rural Raythune County, West Virginia. She also cares for her father, who has mental and physical problems. She and her co-worker, Jason Brinkerman, don’t have easy lives, but they’re doing the best they can. They get drawn into a very dark web when two murders shock the residents of the county. County Prosecutor Bell Elkins investigates the deaths and gets to know both young people as she does. Since the gas station/convenience store is a hub for the area, Lindy and Jason know just about everyone, and between them, they have a lot of information about who comes and goes. That’s helpful as Bell works on the case. But what she doesn’t know is that Lindy has some dark secrets of her own that she’s desperate to keep to herself.

Wherever you stop to fill up, you’re likely to leave a ‘footprint,’ whether it’s an electronic transaction, a receipt, CCTV footage, or someone noticing you. So, these places are sometimes really useful for investigators. And, since they’re so tightly woven into the fabric of modern society, they’re often a part of the local scene, both in real life and in crime fiction.

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a Rolling Stones song.