In some novels, characters go on a literal journey that turns into a dangerous, even perilous trek. That strategy can add a great deal to a crime novel. For one thing, it creates atmosphere, suspense, and more. For another, it can support character development. People often don’t behave in their regular lives the way they do during a dangerous trip. They may find hidden reservoirs of strength and bravery, or they may resort to theft or murder because they want to survive. It’s not really surprising, then, that treks and arduous journeys turn up in crime fiction.

For example, in Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes investigates the murders of two American visitors to London. As it turns out, their deaths have everything to do with the past, and Conan Doyle explores that past. It seems that years earlier, a man called John Farrier and a little girl called Lucy were the only survivors of an ill-fated pioneer trip across the American West. Farrier took Lucy in and looked after her, but the journey was dangerous and difficult, and they nearly didn’t survive. They were rescued by a group of Latter-Day Saints and built new lives with those people. The deaths  that Holmes investigates have their origins in what happened during those years in Utah. It’s a real reminder of how difficult it really could be to travel anywhere distant at that time.

Jock Serong’s Preservation takes place in 1797 Sydney. Lieutenant Joshua Grayling has just been given a very strange case to investigate. A ship called the Sydney Cove was on its way to Sydney when it wrecked near what is now Tasmania. Seventeen crew members began the treacherous journey to Sydney, but only three have arrived: William Clark (supercargo of the ship); his manservant; and Mr. Figge (a tea merchant who was a passenger). It will be Grayling’s task to find out what happened to the ship, and, more importantly, what happened to the fourteen men who didn’t make it to Sydney. The truth about the trek through Australia is sad and dark. It shows not just how dangerous an overland trip can be, but also what can happen to human beings who are put in the position of having to make that trip.

Stark Holborn’s Nunslinger is the ten-part story of Sister Thomas Josephine. It’s 1864, and Sister Josephine begins her journey from the St. Louis convent where she lives to San Francisco, where she is hoping to build a new life. In Book I, the wagon train she’s joined is attacked in Wyoming, and Sister Josephine is left stranded. She’s rescued by by Lieutenant Theodore Carthy, who’s with a group of Federal troops in the area, but her troubles and adventures are only beginning. Along the way, Sister Josephine encounters unforgiving terrain, thieves, murderers, and more. She learns that it’s a lot harder to survive in the wilderness than it is in a convent. More than once, she has to decide between the faith she holds (and the rules she’s been taught), and the realities of a very uncertain set of situations.

In Christoffer Petersen’s Katabatic, a man named Aqqalunnguac Lundblad murders his brother Frederik in a Greenland bar and then flees. Constable David Maratse investigates the case, and naturally, he talks to the people who were in the bar at the time of the murder. That includes the unnamed narrator, a Danish writer. The writer wants to join Constable Maratse on the hunt for the killer, as he’s hoping to use the material for a book. Maratse agrees, and the two set off. The writer soon discovers that this journey is not going to be a simple short ride somewhere. Maratse has a lot of local knowledge and survival skills, and that’s just as well. The terrain is harsh, the weather is treacherous, and all along, the two men are very aware that they are going after a killer. As much as the actual plot (why one brother would kill the other), the journey itself adds tension and suspense to the story.

There’s also S.J.I. Holliday’s Violet. As the novel begins, Violet has just broken up with her boyfriend. They’d been planning a trip on the Trans-Siberian Express, but now, Violet is stuck in Beijing with no ticket and no idea what she’ll do. Then, she meets Claire, who is also scheduled to take the Trans-Siberian Express. She was going to travel with a friend, but her friend has been sidelined by an injury and can’t go. Claire offers Violet her unused ticket, and the two set off for what they hope will be a fantastic adventure. Instead, things soon begin to fall apart. It’s not long before several kinds of danger, including the human kind, appear. And it doesn’t help that the terrain isn’t easy, nor is there much access to things outside the train. Then, we learn that one of these two women is not what she seems, and that raises the danger level even more.

Journeys can be exciting, even life-changing experiences. They give so much opportunity for memory-building, for once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and more. Still, they’re not always safe and fun. But then, little in crime fiction is altogether safe and fun…

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