There’s a certain appeal to taking a risk and trying to make one’s fortune. Sometimes people travel to a new place to do it, and sometimes they take professional risks (Bill Gates, anyone?). Wealth isn’t guaranteed but wanting to strike out and make one’s fortune can be a powerful motive for action. It can also involve a person in some very dangerous things, especially in crime fiction.

For example, in Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, we are introduced to Mark Frettlby. He’s originally from England but went to Australia to make his fortune. He was extremely successful, too, and has become wealthy. His daughter Margaret ‘Madge’ is in love with Brian Fitzgerald, and the feeling is mutual. Then a man named Oliver Whyte starts paying attention to Madge, and everything changes. Very late one night, Whyte is murdered while he’s in the passenger seat of a hansom cab. Police detective Samuel Gorby investigates the murder, and soon finds that the evidence points to Fitzgerald, and the young man is soon arrested. Neither Madge nor her father thinks Fitzgerald is guilty, and although the evidence is there, Gorby isn’t convinced, either. So, he looks into the case more deeply, and finds that more than one person had a motive for murder.

Agatha Christie’s After the Funeral (AKA Funerals are Fatal) is the story of the Abernethie family. When family patriarch Richard Abernethie dies, his family members gather for his funeral. At the gathering, his younger sister Cora Lansquenet blurts out that he was murdered. Out loud, everyone disagrees; she even tells the others not to pay any attention to her. But privately, everyone wonders whether she was right. When Cora herself is murdered the next day, it seems clear that she was right. Family solicitor Mr. Entwhistle asks Hercule Poirot to look into the matter, and he agrees. He interviews all of the family members, since each stood to gain by the two deaths. One of those members is Abernethie’s niece Susan Banks. She’s an ambitious young woman who wants to make her fortune with a beauty business, and she’s determined to make it happen. All she needs is financial backing, and that makes her very much a person of interest. You’re right, fans of Hercule Poirot’s Christmas.

Jen Shieff’s The Gentlemen’s Club takes place in 1950’s Auckland. In one plot thread, Istvan Ziegler has traveled from his native Hungary to take up a job in New Zealand working on the then-unfinished Harbour Bridge. He’s hoping to succeed there and then bring his wife and son to be with him. It’s a big gamble. For one thing, Ziegler isn’t fluent in English, although he can make himself understood. It’s a completely different culture, too. And there’s always the chance of injury or worse. Still, he’s determined to make good, and willing to do the work necessary. He gets sidetracked when he meets Judith Curran, who’s come to Auckland to have an abortion. She’s been turned out by her family and has no-one else. So, he takes care of her as best he can. That’s how he gets drawn into a web of dark secrets and murder.

Fiona Kidman’s This Mortal Boy is another story of someone coming to Auckland to make good. In this case, it’s the fictional re-telling of the story of Albert Black. He came from Ireland to Auckland in 1953, hoping to do well for himself. Things started off well enough, but they didn’t stay that way, and Black got involved with some dangerous people. One night, he murdered another young man, Alan Jaques. Kidman gives his background, tells the story of the murder and what led up to it, and makes a case that his conviction should have been for manslaughter, not murder, and he shouldn’t have been executed. It’s the sad story of someone who wanted to make good but whose story ended in tragedy.

There’s also Brian L. Porter’s A Mersey Killing: When Liverpool Rocked and the Music Died. As the story begins, it’s the early 1960s, and Liverpool is the place to be for music and pop culture. Bands like Gerry and the Pacemakers are all the rage, and the Beatles are just getting started. The ‘Mersey sound’ is a phenomenal success, and Brian Kane and his band the Planets want to cash in on it. They have a good reputation locally, but so far, they haven’t caught on in the national or international scene. One day, Brian proposes that band try one more time to make it big. If not, he’ll travel to the US, where he has a better chance of making his fortune. The other band members very reluctantly agree, and the band tries once more. They’re not successful, though, and Brian makes plans to leave. Thirty years later, workers find human remains at the Liverpool waterfront, and Detective Inspector Andrew ‘Andy’ Ross and Sergeant Clarissa ‘Izzy’ Drake of the Merseyside Police investigate. At first, it’s thought that this is the body of a young woman who was declared missing at the time. But it turns out that’s not the case. Now the detectives have to sift through the case again to find out who was killed and why.

Striking out to seek your fortune is a big gamble. Sometimes it pays off; sometimes it doesn’t. It’s almost always an adventure, though, and that’s possibly why it’s such a great fit for a crime fiction story. Right, fans of Peter May’s Runaway?

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Lodi.