If someone committed a murder in your presence, you’d know about it, wouldn’t you? Or would you? You might not, if that person were skilled enough at sleight of hand or had otherwise prepared. There’s also the element of timing; a person can commit a murder in front of a crowd if there’s a ‘psychological moment’ that captures people’s attention. There are plenty of examples of murders in plain view of others in crime fiction, and it’s surprising how often they’re successful, at least for a time. Here are just a few examples.

Agatha Christie wrote several stories in which a murderer strikes in full view of other people. For instance, in Death in the Clouds, a woman called Marie Morisot is murdered while on a flight from Paris to London. The only possible suspects are the people who were in the same cabin. Hercule Poirot is one of those fellow passengers, and he works with Chief Inspector Japp to find the killer. What’s interesting is that everyone assumes it would be extremely difficult to commit the murder without attracting attention. And yet, when Poirot looks into the matter, he finds that it’s not as hard as it seems – not if you plan and take advantage of people’s inattention.

In Josephine Tey’s The Man in the Queue, small-time bookmaker Albert Sorrell is waiting with a crowd of other people at the door of the Woofington Theatre. Everyone is eager for the doors to open, and when they finally do, people start moving in. Somewhere in that controlled chaos, someone stabs Sorrell. Inspector Alan Grant investigates, and he soon finds he has his work cut out for him. The people near  the victim didn’t notice anything, as they weren’t paying attention. And there seems to be no connection between them and Sorrell. So, Grant has to start again and look into Sorrell’s background. Who might have a grudge? Of those people, who could have been in that crowd and committed the murder without anyone seeing what was happening?

Ellery Queen’s Calamity Town sees Queen visiting the small New England town of Wrightsville. He’s hoping to get some writing done and is staying in a guest house owned by John and Hermione ‘Hermy’ Wright, who are the undisputed social leaders of the town. Against his better judgement, Queen finds himself drawn into the Wright family’s drama, including the sad story of the youngest daughter, Nora Wright. It seems she was engaged to marry Jim Haight, but he left her at the altar and fled from the town. That was three years ago, and now Haight’s returned. Before long, he and Nora rekindle their romance against everyone’s advice. They even marry. But people still don’t trust Haight. That New Year’s Eve, the family is having a cocktail party when Haight’s sister Rosemary suddenly dies of what turns out to be a poisoned drink. Everyone assumes the cocktail was intended for Nora, and that Haight’s responsible. Queen and Nora’s sister Pat are the only two people who don’t think so, and they set about to clear Haight’s name. It’s not going to be easy, though, because the murder took place in a crowded room, where no-one actually saw exactly what happened.

In Rex Stout’s Champagne For One, Archie Goodwin agrees to stand in for a sick friend at a dinner dance hosted by Louise Robilotti. The event is in aid of Grantham House, a residence for unmarried mothers and their children. Several guests at the dinner are women who live at Grantham house, the idea being that they’ll meet eligible young men. During the party, one of the young mothers, Faith Usher, suddenly dies of what turns out to be cyanide. At first, it looks like suicide. But Archie isn’t so sure. He doesn’t have much to go on, though, because the room was crowded, he wasn’t watching Faith the whole time, and didn’t see anyone put anything into her champagne. The killer took advantage of everyone’s distraction and committed the crime in full view of a roomful of people.

Gail Bowen’s Deadly Appearances introduces her protagonist, political scientist/academician Joanne Kilbourn. In it, Joanne attends a community barbecue at which up-and-coming politician Androu ‘Andy’ Boychuk will give an important speech. Shortly after he begins, he suddenly collapses and dies of what turns out to be poison. Joanne saw the beginning of his speech and didn’t see anyone tampering with the water; nor did anyone else in attendance. So she doesn’t know who’s responsible. As a way to deal with her grief, Joanne decides to write a biography of Andy. As she does, she learns more than she ever knew about his life, and she uncovers the reason he was killed.

Louise Penny’s A Fatal Grace takes place just after Christmas in the small Québec town of Three Pines. It is a Three Pines tradition to have a curling match on Boxing Day, so everyone prepares for the big event. The match is underway when C.C. de Poitiers, who’s recently moved to town, is murdered. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache investigates, and that task will be very challenging. For one thing, the victim had alienated nearly everyone in town, so there is no lack of suspects. For another, although everyone was there watching the match, no-one is able to say who committed the crime. It was committed more or less in full view of the audience, but nobody can really say what exactly happened.

And that’s the thing about people’s attention. When there’s a crowd of people, it’s almost impossible to keep your eyes on everyone and watch what every person is doing. Some fictional murderers take advantage of that and commit their crimes in full view of everyone. These are only a few examples. Over to you.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from the Beatles’ A Day in the Life.