Desperation can do strange things to people. People who are desperate for money will do just about anything, legal or otherwise, to get it. People who are desperate for a cure for some illness they have will pay anything, trust anyone, to get well. And the list goes on. Unfortunately, that’s how a lot of scammers and grifters make money; they prey on that desperation. And even in cases where desperate people go to legitimate sources for help, they can still nearly destroy themselves in the process. In crime fiction, that can make for a powerful motivator and a layer of character development. It can also serve as a solid plot point.

For instance, in Cornell Woolrich’s Night Has a Thousand Eyes, we meet New York City Homicide Detective Tom Shawn. Late one night, he is taking a walk when he sees a young woman who’s about to jump from a bridge. He convinces her to come down from her perch and takes her to an all-night diner where she tells him her story. She is Jean Reid, daughter of wealthy business magnate Harlan Reid. She is at her wits’ end because she and her father both believe that he will be killed in a few days’ time. It seems that Reid had recently made the acquaintance of a man called Jeremiah Tompkins, who is, as he puts it, cursed with being able to predict the future. And he’s predicted death. Harlan Reid believes him because he’s made other predictions that have come true, but Shawn is no fool and neither is Jean Reid. For the matter of that, neither is Harlan Reid, but he’s become desperate, and it’s on his behalf that Jean is so worried. Shawn agrees to return with Jean to her home and see if he can be of any help. As the story goes along, we see just how much desperation has impacted both Reids.

Barbara Neely’s Blanche on the Lam introduces professional housekeeper Blanche White. As the story begins, she is leaving a court hearing during which she was sentenced to prison for writing bad checks. Blanche is financially responsible for her niece and nephew, and she knows they need her paychecks. If she goes to prison, there’s no telling what will happen to them. So, she manages to duck her prison escort and escapes from custody. She finds a hiding place at a home where she’s mistaken for the new temporary housekeeper. In order to save herself and protect her family, Blanche takes on the role and finds herself embroiled in a murder mystery. That one desperate move changes everything for Blance.

In Caroline Graham’s A Ghost in the Machine, police are called in when local financial executor Dennis Brinkley is found dead. On the surface, it looks very much as though he was killed in a terrible accident with one of the ancient machines that he collected. His body was found in the room where he kept them, and there’s no evidence to suggest that anyone else was there. But Dennis’ good friend Benny Frayle is not so sure. She is convinced he was murdered. She goes to Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby with her concerns, and he agrees to look into the matter. He does review the investigation, but he can’t find anything untoward. But Benny continues to believe the death was murder. Her desperation to find out the truth drives her to attend a séance led by self-styled medium Ava Garrett. At that séance, Ava tells Benny that she will ask Dennis to reveal his killer’s name at the next séance. Before she can, though, Ava is murdered. Now, Barnaby and his team have two murders to solve. And this is hardly the only crime novel in which a character’s desperation leads that person to seek help from a medium.

Carolina Garcia-Aguilera’s Bloody Waters introduces Guadalupe ‘Lupe’ Solano, a Miami-based Cuban-American PI. In the novel, Jose Antonio and Lucia Moreno seek Lupe’s help in a heartbreaking situation. A few years earlier, they adopted a baby whom they called Michelle. The process wasn’t entirely legal, but the couple was desperate to have a child, and they had the means, so they took that route. Now, Michelle is in need of a bone marrow transplant, and the only possible donor is the child’s biological mother. They never found out that woman’s name, so now they want Lupe to find out who she is. There’s not much time, as Michelle won’t last long without the transplant, so Lupe will have to act fast. But she soon finds that some dangerous people do not want her to find out the truth about Michelle. The search brings danger to Lupe and ends up in more than one murder.

There’s also Brian Stoddart’s A Madras Miasma, which takes place in 1920 Madras (now Chennai) during the British Raj. Superintendent Christian ‘Chris’ Le Fanu gets a difficult new case when the body of Jane Carstairs is pulled from the Buckingham Canal. She’s a visitor from England who’d come to India with her friend, Virginia Campbell. The two women were a part of a group unflatteringly referred to as ‘the fishing fleet.’ During these times, young women are expected to find good husbands as soon as possible. The longer a woman remains ‘on the shelf,’ the harder it is for her, even if she has some sort of job. Women who linger too long unmarried are considered spinsters and have a very uncertain future. So, groups of desperate young women travel to India to try to find husbands among the military men who are there. With this in mind, Le Fanu looks among the people the victim met at parties and other events. He also considers other possibilities. It’s not an easy case, and it sheds a light on the pressure put on young women to find a husband, as well as the desperation some women felt at that time.

Desperation drives people in ways that they might not have imagined. It’s a terrible feeling, but it does make for effective tension and suspense in a crime novel. It’s also interesting as character development.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Melissa Etheridge’s Come To My Window.