Conventional wisdom holds that a crime story should start building tension quickly, and there is logic to that. If readers aren’t drawn in right at the beginning of a story, it’s hard to draw them in later. And some readers only give a book a few pages before they make the decision about whether to continue reading. The thing is, there are several ways to start building tension. Not every story begins with the discovery of a body, for instance, and not every story really has to in order for the tension to start.

For instance, Agatha Christie’s Cat Among the Pigeons begins as a group of girls arrive at the exclusive Meadowbank School for summer term. There are various conversations as the girls and their families are greeted and the pupils start getting settled in. It doesn’t take long, though, for tension to start mounting. We see, for instance, that Grace Springer, the new games mistress, is not particularly well-liked. There are other slight tensions, too, At the end of the chapter, Christie mentions that murder will come to the school, and indeed it does. Not long after the term begins, Grace Springer is murdered. Then there’s a kidnapping and more murder. But the tension in the first chapter – before it all really gets underway – is more subtle than, say, having a character find a body right away.

As Phoebe Atwood Taylor’s The Cape Cod Mystery begins, Prudence Whitsby and her niece Betsey escaped the summer heat and are staying at their cottage on Cape Cod. As you can imagine, it’s no time at all before they start getting letters and telegrams from friends and relatives who want to come and stay. They finally decide on one guest each: Prudence’s friend Emma Manton and Betsey’s friend Dot Cram. Also there for the summer is writer Dale Sanborn, who’s staying in the cabin next door. All goes smoothly until one night when Prudence’s cat Ginger goes missing. She traces the cat to the house next door, where she finds that Sanborn has been murdered. Local sheriff Slough Sullivan opens the investigation and soon settles on Bill Porter, a friend of Prudence. Prudence doesn’t believe Bill is guilty, and neither does his cook/’man of all work’ Asey Mayo. Together, the two look into the case and find that more than one person had a motive. In this case, the tension doesn’t start right away; it builds gradually against a background of a peaceful seaside summer.

Aditya Sudarshan’s A Nice Quiet Holiday begins peacefully enough, as the title suggests. Justice Harish Shinde (called the Judge throughout most of the novel) and his law clerk Anant visit the town of Bhairavgarh, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. They’re hoping to relax and beat the Delhi heat. While they’re in Bhairavgarh, they’ll be staying with Shinde’s old friend Shikhar Pant, who is also hosting a group of other people. At first, everything goes smoothly as the Judge and Anant meet the other guests: Shikar’s cousin Kailish Pant, who is a well-known writer; Kailish’s friends Ronit and Kamini Mittal, who run an NGO; Shikhar’s friend Pravin Anand and Anand’s son Avinish; and Dr. Davendra Nath and his daughter Mallika and sons Ashwin and Nikhil. The tension begins to build as we learn that the guests have very diverse views on the Mittals’ NGO, which is concerned with HIV/AIDS education. There are a few disagreements, but things are still relatively calm until one afternoon when Kailish Pant is found murdered. Inspector Patel investigates, and he finds more than one motive. In this novel Sudarshan begins by setting the scene and introducing the characters, so that although we feel mounting tension, it’s not at the breaking point right away.

In Louise Penny’s A Rule Against Murder, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie follow a long tradition and visit the Manoir Bellechass to celebrate their anniversary. They’re well known there, and the owner, Clementine Dubois, greets them warmly. They’re prepared for a relaxing time together, enjoying each other’s company and the lovely hotel and setting. The first part of the novel is peaceful as the Gamaches arrive and settle in. But this year, things are a little different. A reunion of the Finney family has been booked at the hotel, and those guests have taken most of the rooms. It’s going to mean that the Gamaches have to take a much smaller room, but for them, that’s not a major problem. Little by little, though, we see that the Finneys are not a big, happy clan. There’s a great deal of tension and it builds as the Gamaches witness some of the family’s interactions. As if that’s not enough, there’s a serious storm brewing, and it could mean the loss of power or worse if it’s bad enough. The tension keeps building and the storm strikes. Then there’s the discovery of a tragic death. It’s a difficult case that will strike close to home for the Gamaches. But it starts out quite peacefully.

And then there’s Herman Koch’s The Dinner. The novel starts out on a superficially very peaceful note. Paul and Claire Lohman, and Paul’s older brother Serge and his wife Babette, meet for dinner at an exclusive Amsterdam restaurant. As their dinner begins, the talk is a little light, and the atmosphere is of course luxurious. As the evening progresses, though, the tension builds as we learn about each of these people, and as we learn the real reason for their meeting. It seems that their fifteen-year-old sons have committed a terrible crime. Now, the couples have to decide what to do about it. And that discussion reveals some very dark things about all the people involved. The novel starts out calm, if not happy, but as the suspense builds and readers learn the truth, we see that all is not as it seems.

And that’s the thing about some crime novels. They can and sometimes do begin peacefully, even pleasantly. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have plenty of suspense and tension. Which ones have stayed with you?

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Tom Petty’s Running Down a Dream.