Today, Len Tyler follows up on his guest post on Monday with his proposed new ten commandments for classic detective fiction. Enjoy!
1 No violence should
take place on the page when it can take place off the page and be reported back
without too much upsetting detail.
2 No sexual activity
should be included that cannot be easily replicated by a typical crime reader
at home, with the aid if necessary of items that are readily obtainable from
Waitrose.
3 While not actually
denying the existence of modern scientific methods of detection, the crime
should as far as possible be solved by logic, ingenuity and sheer British
pluck.
4 The police should
tolerate, and preferably welcome, the assistance of an amateur detective,
especially one who has never come across a murder before.
5 No clue should be
discovered by a police officer if it could reasonably have been discovered by
the amateur detective.
6 The employment of
secret passages is permitted, so long as they are not the entire solution to an
otherwise inexplicable murder.
7 Identical twins
may be introduced into the book, provided they are knowingly referred to as
‘the Knox brothers’.
8 Nobody shall be
murdered in a town if they could have easily traveled to a small village to be
murdered.
9 Any technology not
available during the Golden Age (mobile phones, internet etc) must fail just
when most needed.
10 Snowstorms shall,
as a matter of course, last long enough for the amateur detective to
investigate all aspects of the case before the police can arrive.
I hope this revision of the rules will be of value to traditional crime writers and of some interest to those who read their books. Those who would like further discussion of these issues - and who might enjoy a fictional killing or two - may like to consider reading Farewell My Herring, the ninth instalment of the Herring series, available (as they say) from all good bookshops and the usual vendors of ebooks
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