Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

Prisons are supposed to be secure facilities that keep prisoners locked away for the length of their sentences. It’s not easy, especially with modern security features, to escape prison but there are some people who manage it. And, while it can make one feel uneasy to think of prison escapees who may have little to lose, it can also make for an interesting plot point. Prison escapes can add to character development, too.

In one example, Edgar Wallace’s The Clue of the Twisted Candle sees mystery writer John Lexman arrested and imprisoned for the murder of an unscrupulous moneylender called Vassalaro. Lexman had motive, as he owed the man a considerable sum, but he says he’s innocent. His friend, Assistant Police Comissioner T.X. Meredith tries to help, but he can’t do much at first, and Lexman is duly incarcerated. Then, he manages to escape with the help of an enigmatic man called Remington Kara. A few years go by, but Meredith hasn’t forgotten the Lexman case or his missing friend. And he comes to suspect that Kara may hold the secret to what really happened. But Kara keeps his own counsel and has his own agenda. When Kara himself is stabbed, Meredith comes to believe that death is linked to Vasslaro’s, and so it turns out to be. It’s a complex case that requires all of Meredith’s keen observation and deduction.

Agatha Christie’s short story Sanctuary introduces readers to vicar’s wife Diana ‘Bunch’ Howard. One day, she goes to the church to see to the flowers. When she gets there, she finds a badly wounded man who manages only one word: ‘Sanctuary.’ Then, he dies. At first, it looks as though the man committed suicide, but if so, why choose an out-of-the-way rural church? The dead man is identified as William Sandbourne, but Bunch is a bit put off by his sister and her husband, who identified the body. Something seems off to her, so she asks her godmother, Miss Marple, for some help. As it turns out, Bunch’s instinct is right; things are not at all as they seem. This death was no suicide; it was a murder that’s related to a jewel theft and a prison escapee called Walter St. John.

In Robert Crais’ LA Requiem, LA private investigator Elvis Cole works with his partner Joe Pike to try to find Karen Garcia, Pike’s former girlfriend, who’s gone missing. When her body is discovered, her father asks Cole and Pike to stay on the case and find out who her killer is. One possibility is a man called Eugene Dersh. Pike and Cole don’t think he’s the killer, but the police are only too happy to fix on him. Then, Dersh is murdered, and a witness has placed Pike at the scene of the crime. Fans of this series will know that Pike doesn’t have a good history with the police; in fact, he’s notorious. So, it doesn’t take much for the LAPD to arrest and imprison Pike for the murder. If he’s to do his share to find out who killed Karen Garcia, and clear his own name of the Dersh murder, Pike is going to have to get out of prison. He manages to escape and joins up with Cole to find the answers. They’re going to have to work quickly, though, because the police are looking Pike and they’re not the only ones…

Barbara Neely’s Blanche White is a professional housekeeper whom we first meet in Blanche on the Lam. As the novel opens, she’s in court because of a bad check that she wrote. For her, prison isn’t an option, because she’s taking care of her sister’s two children. So, she tricks the bailiff who’s escorting her to the cells, and escapes from the courthouse. She knows that she is now a fugitive, so she takes a temporary housekeeping job as a way of keeping out of sight. Before she knows it, Blanche is drawn into another crime when a murder is committed in the house where she’s working.

And then there’s Belinda Bauer’s Blacklands. Twelve-year-old Steven Lamb lives with his mother, brother, and grandmother in a small Exmoor town. It’s not a happy life, though; the family has never really recovered from the disappearance years earlier of Steven’s Uncle Billy. At the time Uncle Billy went missing, everyone assumed a man called Arnold Avery was responsible. There wasn’t enough evidence to prove it, though, so he was never convicted. When Steven learns that Avery is in prison for other crimes, he decides that the best way to lay his family’s ghosts to rest is to ask Avery what happened to Uncle Billy. So, he does just that and writes the man a letter. The two begin a correspondence which soon turns into a sort of cat-and-mouse game. For Steven, it’s a way to try to get some answers for his family. But Avery has a different agenda, and the stakes all of a sudden get much higher when he decides to plan an escape from prison.

Most people who are imprisoned don’t want to be there. And there are some who’ve found ways to escape. It’s not easy, but even with today’s improved surveillance and security, it can happen. And when it does, this can make for a suspenseful plot point.

*NOTE : The title of this post is the title of a song by Queen.