A crime like murder leaves devastation in its wake. Even after the crime’s been adjudicated, grief, resentment, and a lot more are still there. This is especially true if there are unanswered questions and unresolved doubts. That underlying tension is terrible to live with in real life, but it can add suspense to a crime plot. So it’s no wonder that this is such a popular plot point in the genre.
For instance. In Agatha Christie’s Five Little Pigs, Carla Lemarchant hires Hercule Poirot to investigate the sixteen-year-old murder of her father, famous painter Amyas Crale. At the time, everyone assumed that the killer was Crale’s wife Caroline. She had motive, too, as he was carrying on a not-very-well-hidden affair. In fact, she was arrested, tried, and convicted in the matter and died in prison. But Carla is convinced that her mother was innocent, and she wants Poirot to prove it. Poirot agrees and interviews the five people who were present at the time of the murder. He also gets written accounts from each one. From those interviews and accounts, he is able to piece together what really happened. Throughout the novel, we see how the murder of Amyas Crale has haunted those involved and still impacts them sixteen years later.
As Tove Alsterdal’s We Know You Remember begins, Olof Hagström is returning to his hometown, the small Swedish town of Kramfors. He hasn’t been back in twenty years, but now, he has come to visit his father Sven. When he arrives at his father’s home, though, he finds that Sven has been murdered. Local police detective Eira Sjödin begins the investigation. We soon learn that Sven Hagström was not a popular person and could have made any number of enemies. More than that, the family has a dark past. Twenty-three years earlier, Olof was accused of the abduction and probable murder of sixteen-year-old Lina Stavred. In fact, he even confessed, and was sent away to a juvenile facility. It is possible that the murder of Sven Hagström has to do with that older case. Eira will have to dig into the town’s past – and her own history – to get to the truth. As she does, we see how what happened to Lina Stavred still impacts everyone.
Belinda Bauer’s Blacklands is the story of twelve-year-old Stephen Lamb. He and his family live in a working-class town on Exmoor. It’s not a happy family, though. Nineteen years ago, Stephen’s uncle, Billy Peters, went missing and was never found. It’s always been believed that he was abducted and killed by a man called Arnold Avery, who’s now in prison for other crimes against children. Nothing could be proved, though, so the family has never had concrete answers. The whole thing has taken a real toll on the family, and Stephen wants to help. He decides to write a letter to Avery and ask him where Uncle Billy’s body is, so that at least the family can say goodbye. Avery answers the letter and before long, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins. As the book goes on, Bauer shows just how much that long-ago crime has impacted the family.
The real action in Charity Norman’s Remember Me begins as Emily Kirkland returns to her native New Zealand after years in London. Her father Felix has been diagnosed with dementia, and family friend Raewyn Parata has told Emily that Felix can no longer really live on his own. The Parata family, who live next door to Felix Kirkland, has a tragic past. Twenty-five years earlier, Raewyn’s daughter, Leah Parata, went on a three-day hiking and camping trip and never returned. No body was discovered, so it’s hard to say exactly what happened. She was an experienced camper, so she would likely have been able to take care of herself. One theory is that she left because she wanted to, but there’s no evidence she was unhappy. If she did die in an accident, or was murdered, there’s no evidence of that, either. The case left a pall on the town, and it’s still affecting people. As Emily starts taking care of her father, she comes across a note that hints at what might have happened to Leah. This spurs Emily on to try discover the truth. Even after twenty-five years, some people still don’t want to talk about it.
There’s also Jane Harper’s The Dry. Aaron Falk works with the Australian Federal Police in Melbourne. He makes the trip to his hometown of Kiewarra to attend the funerals of the family members of Luke Hadler, Aaron’s boyhood friend. It looks as though Luke was beset by financial problems (there’s a severe drought, and farmers can’t get anything to grow). Those problems led him to ultimately kill himself and his family members. The thing is, though, that there are little pieces of evidence that suggests another explanation. One strong possibility is that it’s all connected to the death of Ellie Deacon, a childhood friend of Aaron’s and Luke’s, who was killed twenty years earlier when they were all teens. That death has cast a real pall on the town since that time. In fact, plenty of people are not happy to see Aaron back in town, since he could have had something to do with what happened to Ellie. Still, Ellie’s parents want answers, and they ask Aaron to look into her death. As the novel goes on, we learn that everyone is still deeply affected by the events of twenty years ago, and that’s woven throughout the story.
No matter how long ago a murder happened, it can still have a deep impact. Novels that show this can offer readers a realistic look at how loss and grief change people. This plot point can also add a layer of suspense. Little wonder it’s so popular.
*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Jerry Jeff Walker’s Mr. Bojangles, made even more popular by a cover version from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.