Most of us have to budget our money and plan for our spending, especially in the current economy. It’s not a lot of fun. Still, in the long run, it’s better than getting deeply into debt because of careless spending. That sort of financial discipline isn’t easy, especially when there’s social pressure to indulge in luxuries. But the alternative – not watching your spending – can get you into deep trouble. At least, it does in crime fiction.

Agatha Christie created several characters who aren’t good at budgeting. One of them is Lady Cicely Horbury, whom we meet in Death in the Clouds. She’s married to Lord Stephen Horbury, and although their marriage has failed, she stays with him mostly because of his money. Cicely likes living the luxurious life, especially gambling. She can’t seem to stop herself and ends up getting into debt to a French moneylender called Madame Giselle. One day, Madame Giselle is on board a flight from Paris to London when she is murdered. Hercule Poirot is on the same flight, and he works with Chief Inspector Japp to find out which of the other passengers is responsible. Cicely finds herself a suspect, and certainly the topic of a lot of gossip.

Claudia Piñeiro’s Thursday Night Widows is the story of a very exclusive and expensive residential community called Cascade Heights Country Club, about 30 miles from Buenos Aires. Only the very wealthy can afford to live there, and there are a lot of expectations for lifestyle. Children are expected to attend the most elite schools, people are expected to shop and dine in certain places, and so on. It’s hard to maintain the lifestyle, especially when the financial difficulties of the late 1990s (when the story is set) start to hit the community. No-one is immune to the money problems that arise, but at the same time, no-one is willing to scale back the spending or even perhaps move to a place that’s less costly. So, overspending becomes a big problem. In the end, that leads to a terrible tragedy that occurs one night in 2001.

Blair Denholm’s Sold introduces readers to Gary Braswell, who sells cars at an upmarket dealership on Australia’s Gold Coast. He makes a decent enough living, but he doesn’t spend responsibly. Because of that, he gets in debt to an illegal bookmaker named Duncan ‘Jocko’ Mackenzie. He’s not sure how he’s going to pay the man back when the solution almost magically appears; a wealthy Russian developer wants to buy two luxury cars for his family. The commission from the sale is more than enough to pay off Braswell’s debt, but when he brings the money to Mackenzie, he learns that Mackenzie’s added another condition. Braswell will have to make a drug-buying trip to Bali if he wants to be free of Mackenzie. And that turns out to be just the start of Gary Braswell’s problems. In the end, we see how spending more than you really should can get you into big trouble…

Susan Walter’s Good As Dead begins just after Holly Kendrick’s husband Gabriel is killed in a hit-and-run crash. Holly was injured, but she saw the whole thing. The car’s owner is Jack Kimball, a wealthy and successful Hollywood producer. He doesn’t want word of the accident to get out, so he offers Holly and her daughter Savannah a deal. In return for their silence about the accident, he’ll pay for them to lead a posh lifestyle. They’ll have a house in an exclusive area, and Savannah will have a top-class education. Holly is at first unwilling to take this deal, but in the end, providing for Savannah matters too much to her to refuse. Soon, the two are settled in a beautiful house in a very expensive development. It’s not easy to adjust to this new place. For one thing, Holly has to be careful to reveal absolutely nothing about the accident. For another, the other people in the development have their own secrets and troubles. And one of those troubles is money. Keeping up the lifestyle that’s expected is extremely expensive, and not everyone can truly afford it. In one particular case, that leads to real trouble.

And then there’s Anna Celeste Burke’s A Dead Husband. When attorney Jessica Huntington-Harper’s marriage ends, she returns to her family’s home in Palm Springs. She’s getting ready to turn the page on her life when she gets mixed up in a case of murder. Her best friend Laura’s husband, Roger, has been killed, and Laura’s the chief suspect. It makes sense, too, since they’d been having problems in their marriage. Jessica knows her friend isn’t guilty and decides to use her lawyerly skills to clear Laura’s name. As she finds out more about Roger, Jessica discovers that his business wasn’t doing well. He was spending beyond his means, and in debt to some very shady people. One of them could very well be responsible for his murder. And they’re not the only ones. This novel takes place within very wealthy enclaves where people are expected to maintain a certain lifestyle. So, overspending, especially after some financial bad luck, is a real problem that turns out to have an impact in the story.

It’s not very much fun sometimes to stay within a budget, especially with all of the pressure to spend, spend, spend. But it’s a lot safer than the alternative. Maybe it’s just best to pay off that credit card bill first…

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Traffic’s The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys.