Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

A recent interesting post and comment exchange with FictionFan at FictionFan’s Book Reviews has got me thinking about stories that are ‘over the top’ and require a lot of suspension of disbelief. Those stories can be campy fun, or they can be frustrating, depending on how they’re written and how you feel about letting go of your disbelief. And, of course, people have different ideas about what counts as ‘over the top.’ However you define it, and however you feel about books like that, plenty of people feel there’s a place in crime fiction for such stories.

For example (and this is the novel that sparked the comment exchange I had with FictionFan), there’s Agatha Christie’s The Secret of Chimneys. The story begins when Bulawayo tour guide Anthony Cade gets a strange commission. A friend of his will inherit £1,000 from a man whose life he saved, so long as he takes that man’s memoirs to his London publisher by a certain date. At the same time, he’s to return some compromising letters to the woman who wrote them. Rather than leave Africa himself, he asks Anthony to make the trip. Anthony agrees and ends up drawn into a web of Balkan politics, international jewel thieves, lots of money, and murders. It’s not the sort of whodunit that many people associate with Christie, and it’s not for those who truly dislike letting go of disbelief. But for those who are happy to go along for the proverbial ride, it can be over-the-top fun.

Geoffrey McGeachin’s  Fifty, Fat and F***ed tells the story of Australian banker Martin Carter. As the novel opens, Carter’s marriage is falling apart. Matters are only made worse by the fact that everyone’s forgotten his birthday. Then comes yet another blow: he’s made redundant at work. On his last day at work, Martin can’t resist helping himself to a million-dollar payoff. He steals a police-issue ATV and makes off with the money. And that’s just the start of his adventures. He meets and rescues a librarian called Faith, who’s having her own problems with a biker. He and Faith also meet up with a New Age biker gang that runs a motel and an old-age care home. And the adventures continue. It’s got oddball characters, unlikely happenings, and comic moments. Plenty of readers would call this an over-the-top story, but those who are willing to let their disbelief stay at home might enjoy the ride.

John Scalzi’s Starter Villain introduces Charlie Fitzer, a substitute teacher who lives with his cats, Hera and Persephone, in a house he co-owns with his stepsiblings. His dream is to buy the house and a local bar, but he doesn’t have the money or the credit rating to do that. Then, everything changes. His billionaire uncle, Jake Baldwin, dies. Baldwin’s assistant approaches Charlie with an irresistible offer. If Charlie attends his uncle’s memorial service, he’ll inherit enough money to buy the house and bar. From Charlie’s point of view, it’s not much to ask, so he agrees. He soon gets much more than he bargained for. It comes out that his uncle was a supervillain whose ‘business associates’ think Charlie is taking over for his uncle. Now, Charlie is up against his uncle’s business rivals, who won’t stop at killing him. There are also authorities who are trying to stop the supervillains, and it doesn’t help that Charlie’s been accused of arson (which he didn’t commit). But Charlie has resources of his own (or rather, his uncle did). Uncle Jake had a private island guarded by intelligent dolphins (who can talk) – and a great deal of futuristic weaponry. And it turns out that Charlie’s cats are genetically modified so that they can type. And they, too, are intelligent… As you can see, this is an over-the-top story that asks the reader’s disbelief to take a long rest. But for those who like going for the ride, it’s fun.

Fans of Carl Hiaasen will know that many of his plots involve unusual, even over-the-top characters and events. In Skinny Dip, for instance, Charles ‘Chaz’ Perrone decides to kill his wife, Joey. It seems that Joey has become suspicious of Chaz’ connection with a known water polluter, and he’s afraid she’ll tell the authorities. His plan is to take her on a boat trip of Florida’s Everglades and push her overboard, and it would work – except that Joey is a competitive swimmer who doesn’t die. Instead, she finds a floating bale of marijuana and uses it to get to safety – on a private island owned by a former police officer. Now, she wants to get back at her husband and also bring him to justice. There are all sorts of strange characters and events in the story that would likely challenge one’s disbelief. But readers who enjoy some off-the-wall elements would likely find the story fun.

There’s also Chris McGeorge’s Now You See Me. This one doesn’t have strange characters and funny scenes. But it does feature some over-the-top elements. Newly successful author Robin Ferringham gets a strange call from a young man named Matthew McConnell, who claims to have a message from Robin’s wife Samantha, who’s been missing for three years. The message mentions things that only she would know, so Robin, who’s desperate to find out what happened to his wife, takes the call seriously. It turns out that Matthew is in prison in connection with the disappearance of five former friends who took a canal boat ride and never returned. Matthew says he’s innocent, and he wants Robin to help get him out of jail. In exchange, he’ll give Robin more information about what happened to Samantha. Robin agrees and starts asking questions. The novel doesn’t really have wit in it, but there are over-the-top elements in the story that are best appreciated without one’s disbelief in tow.

Some people don’t mind leaving their disbelief behind. Others do. And sometimes it depends on the story and the characters. Wherever you stand on the issue of over-the-top stories, they do show up in crime fiction, and they can be fun.

Thanks, FictionFan, for the inspiration. Now, do go visit FictionFan’s blog. Fine reviews, book discussion, and fun await you.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from  Richard Rodgers’ and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Impossible/It’s Possible.