Let Detective Sidekicks Take a Bow

Most mystery readers enjoy imagining themselves with the sharp detective wits of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Inspector Endeavour Morse or Inspector Thomas Lynley. I'm sure emulation is a lot rarer for the sidekicks of those noted fictional sleuths, who are, in order, Dr. John Watson, Captain Arthur Hastings, Detective Sergeant (DS) Robbie Lewis and DS Barbara Havers. But sidekicks play a very important role. Imagine the mystery plot without them! A sidekicks helps move along the plot by engaging with the main detective character to convey thoughts and feelings quickly and conversationally, by acting as a sounding board for theories and courses of action, and by delivering both red herrings and hot leads. The "duo" concept moves the plot much more naturally and interestingly than if the writer had to resort to big chunks of internal monologue to provide clues and revelations! Sometimes the sidekick can even take over as narrator (reliable or unreliable) a la Dr. Watson. The sidekick narrator, always close to the action, is especially useful in artfully placing clues while keeping the detective's inner process veiled right up to the climax. All sidekicks also offer a way to humanize or deepen the main detective's character by adding humor, emotional interaction, personality contrast, or social commentary. The loyal sidekick can smooth off-putting traits of a complex lead detective, such as Holmes' cold arrogance, Poirot's petty fussiness, Morse's morose overthinking, Lynley's aristocratic maleness. And, of course, sidekicks can be very useful as agents for sudden twists and exciting confrontations and rescues. If you want to meet more mystery fiction sidekicks, in addition to the well-known sleuthing teams noted above (from the pens of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Colin Dexter and Elizabeth George), see Wikipedia's list of detective teams at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_detective_teams and Colin Dexter's favorite sidekicks: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1383782/Dr-Watson-Detective-Sergeant-Lewis-Colin-Dexter-greatest-sleuthing-sidekicks.html

Holidays & Mysteries Reveal Family Dysfunction

It's the holiday season, and families gather to celebrate, tolerate or denigrate as the case may be. If your family has its share of dysfunction, it may be time to gain perspective via mysteries with dysfunctional families at their core. For example, check out A Banquet of Consequences, this year's new Inspector Lynley mystery by Edgar Award-winning Elizabeth George. At the center of a family's deadly web sits mother Caroline Goldacre, a pathological liar who has damaged her sons, driven one husband away, made her incumbent partner miserable, and is now blamed for a troubled son's suicide by his girlfriend, whom mom blames in turn. When someone is poisoned, is monster Caroline also a murderer or, as she claims, the intended victim? Either scenario makes sense with this mom from hell! For a lighter take, read The Spellman Files, the first novel of Lisa Lutz's humorous mystery series featuring Isabel "Izzy" Spellman. Izzy works for her dysfunctional, though snoopily competent, family in their private investigation firm. The Spellmans are so addicted to detecting that they spend their off hours investigating each other--tailing, wiretapping and backmailing family. When Izzy's parents hire her 14-year-old sister to trail her and find out about her love life, Izzy decides it's time to quit. But she has to finish one last job, a missing person cold case that turns into the most important case of her life. For a classic psychological thriller, turn to the 1986 Edgar Award winning A Dark Adapted Eye by Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine. Narrator Faith Severn recalls a 30-year-old tragedy involving her dominating, possessive aunt, Vera Hillyard, who initially seeks to control her beautiful younger sister Eden to the neglect of son Frances, and then abandons focus on Eden to dote on younger son James, who may or may not be illegitimate. When Eden marries but cannot have children, she demands custody of James, claiming he is mistreated by Vera. The two sisters become embroiled in a custody battle that ends in violence and disturbing revelations. Or maybe you just want to escape with a comforting, seasonal "cozy" mystery instead: http://cozy-mysteries-unlimited.com/thanksgiving-list