One plot point (or perhaps it’s even a trope at this point) that we see in crime fiction is the young couple wanting to run off and start a new life. It’s handled differently in different novels, and of course we see it in other genres, too. The popularity of this trope isn’t surprising. For one thing, I think we’ve all been fed up at one point or another and understand the urge to break free. For another, it’s a flexible trope, so the author can use it in a light or comic novel or in the darkest noir story. There are many, many examples out there in crime fiction; here are a few.

In Agatha Christie’s Taken at the Flood, we are introduced to Lynn Marchmont, who’s recently been demobbed from the Wrens after WW II. She’s back in her home village of Warmsley Vale, and at first, she’s glad to be back with her mother Adela. Soon, though, she starts to feel a bit restless. There’s very little excitement in the village, and even though she’s more or less engaged to Rowley Cloade, that relationship doesn’t seem to fit anymore, either. Everything changes when she meets David Hunter. His sister Rosaleen was married to Lynn’s Uncle Gordon Cloade until he was killed by a bomb blast. Now, Rosaleen is set to inherit her husband’s wealth. The other members of the Cloade family had depended on that money, so they work to fight Rosaleen’s claim. They get help from an unexpected source when a man calling himself Enoch Arden comes to town. He claims to know that Rosaleen was married to someone else at the time of her wedding to Cloade, so she can’t inherit. When Arden is killed, Hercule Poirot looks into the matter on behalf of two members of the family. In one plot thread, Lynn and David find themselves attracted to each other, and David in particular wants to get away and take Lynn with him. The question will be whether she’s willing to give up the life she’s known.

Natsuo Kirino’s Real World features a small group of Tokyo teens. One of them, Toshiko Yamanaka, hears loud crashes coming from the house next door. When she hears nothing else, she goes on about her business. But later, she finds out that the woman who lived in that house has been murdered. The police suspect that the dead woman’s son Ryo might be responsible, but Ryo has gone missing. Toshiko finds that Ryo has taken her bicycle and her telephone, but she doesn’t say anything to the police, as she has a sort of sympathy for him. Ryo contacts Toshiko and three of her friends, so they’re able to keep in touch with him as he makes his escape. Part of Ryo’s dream is to just get away and start somewhere else, and he’s not the only one. These young people are under a great deal of pressure to excel in school, and to otherwise meet their parents’ expectations, and it’s a lot to bear. That theme of wanting to run off and start over plays a role in the story and has a tragic outcome.

Shamini Flint’s Inspector Singh Investigates: A Curious Indian Cadaver features Inspector Singh of the Singapore police. In the novel, he’s taking some sick leave, so his wife suggests that they travel to Mumbai to help celebrate the wedding of her cousin’s daughter Ashu. It’s to be a major society event with all the trimmings, and Singh is hoping he’ll get the chance to relax and enjoy the feast. Such is not to happen, though. Ashu does not want to go through with this wedding; she’s in love with someone else and determined to be with that person. Just before the wedding, she goes missing. Singh is pressed into service to find her. Once he learns that Ashu didn’t want to get married, it seems logical that she ran away with the person she really loves. But all that changes when she is found dead. Her grandfather wants to know how and why she died, so he insists that Singh stay on the case and solve the murder.

Cathy Ace’s The Wrong Boy takes place in the small Welsh town of Rhoseddraig, where Helen Jones, her mother Nan, and her daughter Sadie run the local pub, the Dragon’s Head. Seventeen-year-old Sadie helps out in the pub when she’s not studying, but her heart’s not so much in it. She’s in love with Aled Benyon, and dreams of their future together. To her, their love is perfect – the ‘always and forever’ kind of love in fantasies. Helen, of course, is more prosaic about the whole thing. The village is turned upside down when human remains are found underneath a rock near the village. Detective Inspector (DI) Evan Glover has all but retired from the police, but he can’t resist being curious, so he gets involved in the investigation. As the case goes on, some old secrets are turned up and family histories are involved. Part of the story is told from Sadie’s point of view, in first person, so we see how she’s impacted by her dream of getting away from it all with Aled. We also see how this case impacts the two of them. 

Brian L. Porter’s A Mersey Killing: When Liverpool Rocked and the Music Died takes place in the early 1960s, a time when Liverpool is the place to be. Groups like the Beatles are just starting out, and the Merseybeat sound is gaining worldwide popularity. Brendan Kane and his group, the Planets, want their share of musical fame. They’re well enough liked locally but haven’t gotten the stardom they want. Brendan wants the group to try one more time; if they don’t make it, he’ll go to the US and try to make his fortune there. His bandmates reluctantly agree. The band doesn’t make it big, so Brendan follows through on his plan to leave. What no-one knows is that Brendan’s girlfriend Marie Doyle is planning to run off with him. The two dream of being together and making a new start. More than thirty years later, in 1999, a body is pulled up from the waterfront area. Detective Inspector Andrew ‘Andy’ Ross and Sergeant Clarissa ‘Izzy’ Drake of the Merseyside Police investigate. At first, they think the body is that of Marie Doyle since she went missing years earlier. But it turns out that it’s not her body. Now, the team has to find out who the dead person is, and what it all has to do with the Mersey scene of the early 1960s.

It can be tempting to just give it all up and run off with someone, but it’s seldom that easy. But that trope can add tension and suspense to just about any novel. Little wonder it’s so popular across genres.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run.