Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

There’s a heightened tension in a crime story in which two young people go off somewhere, but only one comes back. Sometimes, the one who’s returned is blamed. But even if that doesn’t happen, that person often has a strong sense of ‘survivor’s guilt.’ It’s a very difficult situation, and in a crime novel, it’s got to be handled well, so as to avoid being melodramatic. But in deft hands, that plot point can add much to a story.

For instance, in Catherine O’Flynn’s What Was Lost, we are introduced to ten-year-old Kate Meaney, who lives in a small Midlands town. She wants to be a detective, and has even started her own PI agency, Falcon Investigations. She spends whatever time she can at the newly opened Green Oaks Mall because, she reasons, it’s a place that’s likely to attract crime that she can solve. Kate’s content, but her grandmother, Ivy, thinks the girl should go away to school. So, she arranges for Kate to sit the entrance exams at Redspoon, an exclusive school. Kate goes to Redspoon with her friend Adrian Palmer along for moral support. But only Adrian comes back, and he says he doesn’t know what happened to Kate. There’s a massive search, but Kate isn’t found. Many people in town think that Adrian is responsible for Kate’s disappearance. They make his life so miserable that he leaves town, vowing never to return. Twenty years later, a mall security guard called Kurt sees something unusual on his surveillance camera: a shadowy young girl who looks a lot like Kate. At the same time, he befriends one of the mall’s employees, Lisa Palmer, who is Adrian’s younger sister. Together, the two go back in time, as you might say, and we learn what happened to Kate.

Tana French’s In The Woods is the first in her Dublin Murder Squad series. In it, the body of twelve-year-old Katy Devlin is found at the site of an archaeological dig near the small town of Knocknaree, in the County of Dublin. Garda detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox investigate the murder. For Rob, this is a homecoming, since he grew up in Knocknaree. But he doesn’t have fond memories of the place. Twenty-two years earlier, he was one of three local children who went into the woods to play. Only Rob came back. There was a major search for the missing children, but they were never found, and Rob wasn’t able to be of much help in the search. Now, he’s still haunted by what happened, and determined to find out who killed Katy Devlin and why. Rob’s past is traumatic, but it gives him an interesting layer of character, and it raises the question of whether those past disappearances could be related to Katy’s murder.

Sarah Ward’s In Bitter Chill tells the story of Sophie Jenkins and Rachel Jones. In 1978, when both were girls, they left their homes to walk to school together. Later, Rachel was found, disoriented and slightly injured, but alive. Sophie was never found, At the time, Rachel was questioned, but she’d been drugged and wasn’t able to tell the detectives much. Shortly thereafter, Rachel and her mother left town and started new lives in a new place. Rachel has to revisit the past when Sophie’s mother, Yvonne Jenkins, is found dead. Detective Inspector (DI) Francis Sadler and Detective Constable (DC) Connie Childs investigate the death. At first, it looks as though it might be suicide. But at the same time, it might be murder. And, since Yvonne was connected to the 1978 case, the question of whether her death is linked to her daughter’s disappearance is raised. So, naturally, the police want to talk to Rachel. It’s a difficult case, and it forces Rachel to confront her trauma and ‘survivor’s guilt,’ and put her own ghosts to rest.

In Karin Fossum’s When the Devil Holds the Candle, Oslo Inspector Konrad Sejer and his assistant, Jacob Skarre, get a new case. It seems that two young men, Andreas Winthur and Sivert ‘Zipp’ Skorpe, had spent the day together, but only Zipp returned. Andreas’ mother, Runi, is concerned about her son, and wants the police to investigate. At first, Sejer isn’t overly concerned, since there are any number of reasons that a young man might go off for a few days without telling his mother exactly what he’s doing. But when more time goes by without Andreas returning, Sejer and Skarre look into the matter. As you’d guess, Sejer focuses a lot of attention on Zipp, and believes that he may know more than he’s saying. But Zipp says he doesn’t know what happened to Andreas. Sejer doesn’t think that’s true, but it’s going to take a lot of effort to find out what really went on.

There’s also Nicci French’s Blue Monday. In one plot thread of that story, it’s 1987, and five-year-old Joanna Vine and her nine-year-old sister Rose ‘Rosie’ are walking home from school. Rosie ducks into a sweet shop, only to get annoyed when Rosie doesn’t join her. When Joanna leaves the shop, she doesn’t see Rosie outside, and matters get worse when Rosie isn’t at home, either. There’s a search for the girl, but Joanna can’t be of much help, and Rosie isn’t found. Years later, four-year-old Matthew Faraday is abducted, and Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Malcolm Karlsson investigates. The case bears some similarities to the Rosie Vine case, but that case was long ago. Still, Karlsson thinks it may be worth following that lead. In the meantime, London psychologist Frieda Klein has a new patient, Alan Dekker, who’s been having some strange dreams about adopting a son (he and his wife want children, but haven’t been successful, and Dekker doesn’t want to adopt). Gradually, Frieda begins to think that there could be a connection between her new patient and the Matthew Faraday case. So, she tells Karlsson about Dekker and, each in a different way, she and Karlsson work to find out the truth.

It’s emotionally wrenching when people go missing. It’s even more difficult, in its way, when one of those people returns. There’s the burden of guilt, the pressure to find the one who’s still missing, and more. All of that can be devastating in real life, but it can make for an effective and suspenseful plot point.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from James Taylor’s Fire and Rain.