There’s something about seeing an old flame again. It doesn’t matter whether the breakup was amicable or not, or whether it was mutual or not. Old flames have a place in our memories, and often in our hearts. Seeing them again can be awkward, friendly, or something else, but it usually stirs up feelings. And in fiction (including crime fiction), meeting up with an old flame can add character layers and plot point to a story.

For instance, in Agatha Christie’s The Hollow, Harley Street specialist John Christow and his wife Gerda are invited to spend the weekend at the Hollow, the country home of Sir Henry and Lady Lucy Angkatell.  What Christow doesn’t know is that his former lover, famous actress Veronica Cray, has taken a cottage nearby. On the Saturday night, she swoops in on the pretext of borrowing matches, and she insists that Christow walk her home so they can ‘catch up on old times.’ Christow agrees and, briefly, falls under her spell again. The next day, Veronica tells him she wants them to be a couple again. Christow refuses, and they end up having a terrible argument. That afternoon, Christow is shot. Inspector Grange is called in, and he begins the investigation. Hercule Poirot has also taken a cottage near the Hollow, and he gets involved in the case. It’s not long before he learns of the relationship between Veronica and the victim, and she becomes a suspect.

Martin Edwards’ All the Lonely People is the first in his series featuring Liverpool attorney Harry Devlin. Harry makes what living he can defending the ‘down and out,’ and he’s a firm believer that everyone deserves legal representation. One day, he gets an unexpected visit from his ex-wife, Liz. She tells him that she’s afraid of her current lover, Mick Coghlin, and wants to get away from him. She asks to stay with Harry a few days while she decides what to do. Harry was hoping to reconcile with Liz anyway, so he agrees. Two nights later, Liz is murdered and her body found in an alley. Harry feels a real sense of guilt, since he couldn’t protect her, and he decides to find out who’s responsible. Throughout the novel, we see how much influence exes can have on a person.

We also see that in Surender Mohan Pathak’s The Colaba Conspiracy. Jeet Singh is a former safecracker/lock breaker who’s determined to ‘go straight.’ He’s now a legitimate keymaker/locksmith who has a Mumbai kiosk. One day, an old comrade calls him to tell him about a planned heist that could mean a lot of money. Singh refuses; he’s had enough of police and prison. Then, he gets a visit from his old flame Sushmita. She tells Singh that her husband (the man she chose instead of Singh) has been killed in what looks like a carjacking gone wrong. Now, her adult stepchildren are accusing her of hiring an assassin to stage the ‘carjacking’ so she can inherit the victim’s considerable fortune. Sushmita claims that she’s innocent, but that she needs money to afford a good lawyer. She can’t get any of the inheritance until the case is settled, so she needs financial help. Against his better judgement, Singh agrees to see what he can do. Then he contacts his comrade, and the heist is planned and carried out. But things don’t go well after that. Someone has put obstacles in the way of proving that Sushmita is entitled to inherit. And, since Singh was involved with her, he’s also framed. He’s going to have to solve the murder if he’s to stay alive, clear his name, and help Sushmita.   

In Jon Spoelstra’s Who’s Killing All My Old Girlfriends, we are introduced to Charlie North, a former Chicago-based journalist who now keeps a popular blog. He’s a widower who’s now gotten to a reflective period of his life. He begins to wonder what happened to his ex-girlfriends, and (even though he loved his wife) whether he would have been happier with one of them than he was with her. His plan is to blog about his search for his three old girlfriends and his meetups with them. Things don’t go as planned, though. For one thing, his first ex, Rhonda, is not happy to see him and ends up dumping yogurt on his head. Then, to his shock, she is murdered. His other two exes are murdered as well. As you can imagine, with Charlie as the connection among the three women, the police are more than interested in him as a suspect. If he’s going to clear his name, he’s going to have to find out who the killer is. And that won’t be easy, as someone is determined to frame him.

Anthony Bidulka’s Home Fires Burn is the third in his trilogy featuring Saskatchewan PI Merry Bell. She’s returned to her hometown of Livingsky after a time away. It hasn’t been easy, though. While she’s been away, Merry has transitioned from male to female, and that has meant she has to rework her family and other relationships – not always an easy thing to do. For another, she’s just getting started in the private investigation business, so she’s trying to establish herself – also not easy. Then, she meets up with an old flame, country star Evan Whatley. Before Merry transitioned, her name was Joey, and she and Evan (who’s gay) had a relationship. Now that she’s transitioned, they have to renegotiate what they will be to each other. And that adds a complication. Still Evan hires her to investigate the death of his father, philanthropist John Whatley. A year earlier, Whatley froze to death in what looks like a tragic accident. But Evan doesn’t think that’s true. He wants to find out who (f anyone) murdered his father, and Merry agrees to find out what she can. Along with the murder plot, the story also follows the experience of meeting up with an old flame and working out what that relationship will mean now.

Old lovers are woven through people’s memories and their pasts. And when we meet up with an old flame, we meet up with ourselves as we were at the time. That can be friendly or not, easy or not. Whatever the case, it can add layers to a crime novel.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years.