tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post6779548179972694247..comments2024-03-26T17:48:56.627+00:00Comments on 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?': Forgotten Book - Vegetable DuckMartin Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-28828873794524812012014-06-16T02:46:35.766+01:002014-06-16T02:46:35.766+01:00What a wonderful title! Unfortunately, we American...What a wonderful title! Unfortunately, we Americans will more easily find it under the blandly retitled - 'Too Many Suspects'.Tednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-56784517716439564722014-06-13T21:51:39.277+01:002014-06-13T21:51:39.277+01:00Hi John, delighted to hear from you as ever.I thin...Hi John, delighted to hear from you as ever.I think there are two points here. One is "gritty realism", and I'd definitely agree that there is plenty of scope for fun and ingenuity in the detective story - impossible crimes being an example. As to unusual and complex murder methods, I think they have their place too. But speaking for myself, I've always had reservations about putting them at the centre of the story, rather than having them just as an incidental pleasure. I suspect the overwhelming majority of other writers, including those who aren't overly concerned about gritty realism, feel the same. Books where the central puzzle is about whodunit appeal more widely, I think, than puzzles about howdunit, and that is among the reasons why Christie, for instance, was always more popular than Rhode.Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-17917077938286350762014-06-13T19:41:45.619+01:002014-06-13T19:41:45.619+01:00I think this is tour de force of Rhodes' speci...I think this is tour de force of Rhodes' specialty which as you mention is the murder method. I wish more contemporary writers were fascinated with that aspect of mystery writing. Guns and knives are more realistic and get the job done, but I still think the more fanciful detective novels of the past had the ability to mesmerize a reader with the writer's bold imaginative strokes and ingenious ways to dispatch a victim. Too many modern crime novels put me to sleep with their "gritty realism".J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.com