tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post9210663238758095728..comments2024-03-26T17:48:56.627+00:00Comments on 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?': The Writing Life - Thinking AlikeMartin Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-89385585544061836692021-03-04T12:10:17.736+00:002021-03-04T12:10:17.736+00:00Thanks. Arthur. That's very interesting and I ...Thanks. Arthur. That's very interesting and I like the clock idea! The Bayard book is very entertaining, if you like that sort of thing, which I do. Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-91839582831232426052021-03-04T00:00:26.028+00:002021-03-04T00:00:26.028+00:00Apparently Carr and Rawson twice wrote stories wit...Apparently Carr and Rawson twice wrote stories with different solutions for the same premise. One was a murder in a room with doors and windows sealed on the inside with gummed tape (see Douglas Greene’s biography of Carr, p. 284; Carr’s novel was He Wouldn’t Kill Patience, Rawson’s story “Out of This World,” EQMM June 1948). Later, on a challenge, they both wrote stories involving someone going into a telephone booth and disappearing (see Merrivale, March and Murder, edited by Greene, p. 263); the stories were “Detective’s Day Off” (Carr) and “Off the Face of the Earth” (Rawson, in Death Locked In and other anthologies).<br /><br />It’s not surprising to me that different writers would have the same idea for a mystery. When I was in my twenties and tried to write detective stories, I twice had ideas that I later found Carr had used decades earlier (and, needless to say, had used much better; embarrassingly, I read Carr’s Death in Five Boxes without guessing he’d used the same trick I’d used). I also had the idea of a witness claiming to have seen the time on a clock—but what the witness actually saw was a reflection in a mirror so she thought the time was 6:15, not 5:45; I think Rawson used that idea. The one that surprised me was that in 1979, as a joke for my sister (a fellow Christie fan) who hadn’t liked the solution of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I wrote a parody solution accusing another character. I later read that Pierre Bayard had written a book, about the same time, that claimed Poirot was wrong—and accused the same character that I had, but apparently in all seriousness.<br />Arthur Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01648491529210591835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-53624897406085033532021-03-03T12:42:07.911+00:002021-03-03T12:42:07.911+00:00Michael, that's a very interesting comparison ...Michael, that's a very interesting comparison that hadn't occurred to me. Must re-read them!Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-37099216010709959872021-03-02T20:44:53.578+00:002021-03-02T20:44:53.578+00:00EC Bentley's "The Clever Cockatoo" a...EC Bentley's "The Clever Cockatoo" and Dorothy L Sayers' "The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey" are another pair of stories which use the same idea.Michael Lydonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-52784027809367040842021-03-02T11:17:02.175+00:002021-03-02T11:17:02.175+00:00Art, I can't call the titles to mind, but I...Art, I can't call the titles to mind, but I'll check and let you know<br />Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-61639683557354137262021-03-02T11:16:33.709+00:002021-03-02T11:16:33.709+00:00Hi Jonathan - yes, that's just about my favour...Hi Jonathan - yes, that's just about my favourite programme and I was delighted by the questions. A memorable moment!Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-27485934608337129162021-03-02T01:05:02.429+00:002021-03-02T01:05:02.429+00:00What are the Carr & Rawson stories with the sa...What are the Carr & Rawson stories with the same "impossible" premise? Where did they appear - EQMM? Sounds like they'd be worth tracking down.Art Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01334930459109747106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-68926965011281681112021-03-01T21:21:02.669+00:002021-03-01T21:21:02.669+00:00This is off-topic, but tonight's episode of Un...This is off-topic, but tonight's episode of University Challenge had a picture round about members of the Detection Club! (Sorry, but you weren't one of them.)Jonathan Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12653613829349599589noreply@blogger.com