It’s usually a good idea to pay attention when someone gives a warning. It might be something simple (e.g. ‘I’m just about to use the last of the milk’), or it could be really important (e.g. ‘I just saw your car; your tire’s really low.’). And yet, it’s interesting how often people don’t take warnings seriously. Or if they do, it’s too late. Of course, if people really did always heed warnings, crime fiction might be duller than it is because warnings of what’s to come play a big role in the genre.

For example, in Cornell Woolrich’s Night Has a Thousand Eyes, we meet wealthy and successful New York businessman Harlan Reid. He takes a business trip to San Francisco and, when he’s ready to return, plans to fly back to New York. Then, he gets a telegram warning him that there’s going to be a plane crash. For some reason, he takes the warning seriously and books another flight. When his original flight actually does crash, with all lives lost, Reid wants to find out who knew about the crash before it happened. He learns that a man named Jeremiah Tompkins foretold the crash and visits him. Tompkins sees his gift as a curse, but Reid persuades him to make other predictions, especially when Reid is faced with big decisions. Then, Tompkins predicts Reid’s death. Reid becomes so distraught that his daughter Jean nearly commits suicide. When she meets New York Homicide Bureau Detective Tom Shawn, she tells him her story. He tries to help Jean and her father as they await the fatal day. He also enlists his boss, who looks into Tompkins’ background to see if he’s a confidence trickster trying to take advantage of a wealthy man.

Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders has a major plot point involving warnings. Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings get involved with a series of murders, beginning with the killing of Alice Ascher, who owns a small newsstand. Before each murder, Poirot receives a cryptic warning note telling him where and when the death will occur. And an ABC railway guide is found near each body. Despite those warnings and clues, the killings continue to take place, and Poirot and Hastings work with the police to find out who’s responsible for them. I see you, fans of Sad Cypress.

Caroline Graham’s A Ghost in the Machine is in part the story of financial advisor Dennis Brinkley. One day, his friend Benny Frayle comes to visit him, as she often does. To her horror, she finds that he’s been killed. She alerts the police, and they make an investigation. Their conclusion is that Brinkley’s death was a tragic accident. Benny doesn’t believe it, though, and goes to visit Detective Inspector Tom Barnaby. He agrees to look the case over, but he can’t find any evidence that the police missed something or were sloppy. In fact, he draws the same conclusion that they did. Benny tries to warn him that this was murder, but at first, Barnaby doesn’t take her seriously. Then, a self-styled medium, Ava Garret, hosts a séance at which she says things about Brinkley’s death that only the murderer would know. When she herself is killed, it’s clear that Benny was right. Barnaby and his team now have two murder cases on their hands.

Douglas Lindsay’s We Are the Hanged Man sees Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Robert Jericho taking on a distasteful new role. His boss has ‘volunteered’ him to take part in a reality/unscripted show called Britain’s Got Justice, where contestants compete as apprentice police officers. The show’s ratings have been sagging lately, and it’s hoped that having a real-life police detective on the panel will help the show. Jericho wants no part of it, but he has no choice. Then, Jericho receives a tarot card, The Hanged Man. He’s not sure if it’s a boast or a warning of murder to come, but he and Sergeant Haynes try to find out who sent the card. Then, Jericho gets another card; it’s clear now that someone is targeting him. He and Haynes are trying to work out who it is, when one of the contestants goes missing. As the story goes on, Jericho and Haynes work to find the link between the cards and the disappearance (and some deaths that take place).

In Charity Norman’s Remember Me, Emily Kirkland returns to her native New Zealand after many years in London. Her father, beloved doctor Felix Kirkland, has been diagnosed with dementia, and Emily has come back to help him. Local school bus driver Raewyn Parata lives next door to the Kirkland home and looks after Felix. In fact, it’s she who tells Emily about her father’s condition and who warns Emily of what to expect. When Emily returns, she goes through her father’s things to help him put everything in order. That’s how she finds a possible connection between her family and the Paralta family. And that drives Emily to solve a twenty-five-year-old mystery: the disappearance of Leah Paralta. No-one has seen or heard from her, but no-one ever found a body. Felix tries to warn Emily to leave it, and he’s not the only one. But Emily wants to put the pieces together.

Warnings can take a lot of forms (notes, verbal warnings, etc..). They can be well-intended or threatening. Whatever the case, warnings of what’s to come can add an interesting dimension and level of tension to a story.

NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Creedance Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising.