Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

One of the more interesting character types in crime fiction is the ‘heir to the throne.’ I mean the word ‘throne’ metaphorically, as this is often someone set to inherit a parent’s business. If the business is really successful, the heir can become a responsible business owner, determined to take the business to even greater heights. Or, the heir can become dissolute, entitled, or worse. Whatever the case, heirs-to-be can be interesting fictional characters. And in crime fiction, they can be effective suspects in a case of murder.

In Agatha Christie’s After the Funeral, we are introduced to the Abernethie family. Family patriarch Richard Abernethie inherited the family business – corn plasters – from his father and ran it very successfully. He had hoped that his own son would take over after him, but sadly, that son died. So, Abernethie was forced to choose another family member. Now, he has died, leaving his fortune equally to his brother, his sister, his sister-in-law, and his two nieces. At the funeral gathering, one of Abernethie’s sisters, Cora Lansquenet, blurts out that he was murdered. When she is murdered the next day, it seems clear that she was right. Family attorney Mr. Entwhistle asks Hercule Poirot to investigate, and he agrees. All of the relatives are suspects, including Abernethie’s brother Timothy. At one point, Enwhistle is speaking with Timothy, who has this to say about a bit of a rift he had with Richard:

‘That’s not my style. Our father left us all a perfectly reasonable share of his money—that is, if we didn’t want to go into the family concern. I didn’t. I’ve a soul above corn-plasters, Entwhistle! Richard took my attitude a bit hard.

It’s an interesting look at how different people view being an heir to a business.

Carolyn Hart’s Death on Demand takes place on South Carolina’s Broward’s Rock Island, where Annie Laurance lives and works. She is the heir to Death on Demand, a crime fiction bookshop that was owned by her Uncle Ambrose. She’s been getting accustomed to running the shop and putting together events, etc. One of the shop’s highlights is the weekly meeting of the Sunday Night Regulars, a group of writers who live on the island. At the meetings, they take turns giving talks about their books, and overall, it’s an enjoyable experience. One night, though, things turn disastrous. It’s Elliot Morgan’s turn to share his work. But his newest book is a tell-all, and he’s going to share what he’s found out about the other writers. As you can imagine, that does not bode well, and Annie tries to talk him out of it. Morgan refuses her, though, so Annie has to go through with the meeting as planned. Just as Elliot’s beginning his talk, the lights go out. Annie’s able to get to the fuse box and get the lights on again, but not before someone has killed Elliot. The police, in the form of Police Chief Frank Saulter, investigate, and they soon fix on Annie as a suspect. She’ll have to clear her name if she’s to avoid arrest.

Lawrence Osborne’s On Java Road features journalist Adrian Gyle, who’s spent years covering Hong Kong events. In the years since the handover to China, there’ve been groups of people who protest China’s policies there. There are also established wealthy and powerful families who want to keep their positions. They may privately resent the new policies, but they know better than to speak out. So, for Gyle, reporting on the situation in Hong Kong is a delicate matter. He knows some of the activists, and he also knows some of the elite families. In fact, one of his friends, Jimmy Tang, is the son of one such ‘blueblood’ families, and will likely take over the family concerns. Tang is accustomed to having what he wants, when he wants it, although he’s not imperious about it. And lately, what he wants is a young activist named Rebecca To. They have to meet secretly, because there’s too much risk for both if they don’t. Gyle knows about the affair, so when the body of a woman is pulled from Victoria Harbour, he can’t help but wonder if it’s Rebecca. If it is, could Tang be the killer? When Gyle tries to reach Tang, he finds out that his friend has gone missing. Has he deliberately ‘disappeared,’ or has something else happened? I know, fans of Qiu Xiaolong’s Inspector Chen series; several of those books include the heirs of ‘high cadre’ powerful families.

Peng Shepherd’s The Cartographers is the story of Helen ‘Nell’ Young. She is a cartographer who is the daughter of two noted cartographers: Dr. Daniel Young and Dr. Tamara ‘Tam’ Jasper-Young. Nell had planned to succeed her father as Head of the New York Public Library’s Rare Maps. She was well-prepared to take over when the time was right, but a rift seven years ago changed all that. Now, she works for a company that creates cheap maps. Everything changes when Daniel Young is murdered. The police naturally want to talk to Nell, and she goes to her father’s office. There, she finds an old, cheap street map – not the sort of thing you’d find in the Rare Maps section of a library. Now, she wants to find out why her father had the map. And it’s not trivial that the police consider her a person of interest because of the rift with her father. And she still feels as though she’s a successor to her father’s legacy. So, Nell starts to ask questions. That cheap street map turns out to be the key to an old mystery as well as to her father’s murder.

Tim Svart’s Sacrifice features Chief Inspector Kerrenberg and his team, Inspector Karim Gökhan and Sergeant Viktoria von Fürstenfeld. The three investigate when the body of a young woman is found at a beach club at Lake Baldeney, near Essen. After a time, they identify the woman as Danielle Teschner, and begin the work of finding out who would have wanted to kill her. One possibility is her ex-boyfriend, but he claims he’s innocent. Then, the team discovers that Danielle was an escort who also did occasional sex work. That opens up another set of possibilities, so the team follows those leads. They talk to a few of her clients, any one of whom could be guilty. One of those clients is successful business executive Florian König, who more or less inherited his business from his father-in-law, who has retired. König lives a privileged life, with a wealthy wife, a fine home, and expensive tastes. He’s not by any means the only suspect in Danielle Teschner’s murder, but one can easily believe he doesn’t want to lose his ‘heir to the throne’ status.

There are plenty of other fictional heirs and heirs-in-waiting. They can be very interesting characters, and they certainly can make for interesting suspects in a crime novel. Which have stayed with you?

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a song by Elton John and Tim Rice.