Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

Have you ever dreamed of being a rock star or something like it? On the surface, it’s very appealing, and there’s a lot of money in music for some people. But it’s very hard to get to the top in that business. Even for very talented artists, it’s difficult to get noticed, to get that first important gig, and to get a following. And it takes natural talent. Lots of people, after all, can look good onstage, keep a tune, and so on. The ones who are really successful put in a lot of hard work to hone their skills. It’s not an easy life, but there are people who dream of it and do what it takes to get there. And they can make interesting characters in crime fiction. The music business can be an interesting backdrop for a story, too.

For instance, Peter May’s Runaway begins in 1965, when Jack Mackay and some of his friends decide to leave their native Glasgow and head to London, where they want to make it as rock stars. Things don’t go as planned, though. At first, the group does get gigs and enough interest in their work to let them dream of big success. Then things begin to spiral and the result is tragedy. Fifty years later, one of the band members claims the police got the wrong person in the original case. He wants to return to London with his former bandmates to set things right. The story is about a case that’s solved, but it’s also about trying to make it in music and the sorts of changes that happen as we grow.

In Katherine Dewar’s Ruby and the Blue Sky, we are introduced to the Owls, an up-and-coming band. When the Owls win a Grammy Award for best song, lead singer Ruby makes an impassioned speech supporting sustainable living, eco-responsibility, and re-using or growing/making instead of shopping. Fans of the group listen, and it’s not long before there are marked reductions in all sorts of purchases. This puts Ruby squarely in the sights of big corporations. But it also causes a lot of stress within the band; the other members want Ruby to concentrate on putting their next release together. And then there’s the eco-group that had more or less adopted Ruby and her fame. It all leads to some very dangerous situations that may not end well…

Brian L. Porter’s A Mersey Killing: When Liverpool Rocked and the Music Died takes place in Liverpool. In 1964, when the story begins. The ‘Merseybeat’ sound is popular, and groups like Gerry and the Pacemakers are getting international audiences. Musician Brendan Kane and some friends have formed a group, Brendan Kane and the Planets, and they do get a local following and some gigs. But they still haven’t shot up to the heights of popularity that they want. Brendan finally gives the group a sort of ultimatum. He’ll agree to give it one more shot in a last-ditch effort to get some fame. If it doesn’t work out, he’ll leave the group and try to make it in the U.S. as a solo act. The group agrees, and they try their best. More than 30 years later, a body is pulled from the Liverpool waterfront. Detective Inspector Andrew ‘Andy’ Ross and Sergeant Clarissa ‘Izzy’ Drake of the Merseyside Police investigate. They soon learn that the body might be linked to the ‘60s Mersey music scene. They’ll have to find the link between Brendan Kane and the Planets, and a corpse pulled out of the water.

S.L. Beaumont’s The Carlswick Affair introduces readers to Stephanie Cooper. She’s taking some time off before beginning her study of art history at Oxford and has decided to stay with her grandmother Ellie in the small town of Carlswick. She soon learns about a feud between her family and the Knox family that’s been going on since WW II. It has to do with art that was stolen by the Nazis, and since art history is Stephanie’s interest, she decides to try to find out what happened. That choice gets her into grave danger when she uncovers some secrets. It turns out that, even after so many years, there are people who don’t want the history of Carlswick to come out. In the course of the novel, Stephanie meets the members of an up-and-coming indie band called The Fury. They’re gaining a lot of popularity, and there are several scenes in the novel where the band is rehearsing, playing in local venues, and so on. And it just so happens that the lead singer is James Knox, a member of the family the Coopers have been feuding with for decades. That plays an important role in the novel.

There’s also Jane Risdon’s short story Dreamer. In it, we meet the members of the band Dreamer. They’ve got a lot of potential, and Gypsy Records is interested in signing them. The only proviso is that the band will have to let its founder, Jake, go. As you can guess, Jake’s furious. He refuses to let the band use the music he wrote (which is almost all of it); they’ll have to write their own songs. That causes a serious rift in the band, but what the members don’t know is that there are other forces at work that threaten everything. And it turns out that those forces are deadly.

It’s really hard to make it in the music business. Some people succeed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, Most, though, don’t. Still, people dream of filling the largest arenas and writing songs that move millions. And that can make for a fine story.

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of the Beatles’ first official single. Happy Birthday, Sir Paul!