Reviews

‘a delightful amateur sleuth novel with a well balanced mix of domestic and academic life and a strong sense of place.’ [Stage Fright]

- EUROCRIME.CO.UK

Nasty People

Last summer at the St Hilda’s crime fiction convention I guessed who the murderer was (Val McDermid!) in the after dinner play. I wasn’t the only one to get it right, but mine was the name picked out of the hat, and the prize was a year’s subscription for a crime novel sent by Blackwells every month and selected by them. Shiny new books! For free! Well, you can imagine what a treat that is and with what eager anticipation I rip open the parcel every month.

As a result I am reading more contemporary crime than usual and one of the books I’ve received is Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party. I liked the set-up – a group of thirty-something friends celebrate New Year in the Scottish Highlands, are cut off by snow, and then a body is found. One of them must have done it: but who? I was gripped by the narrative and raced through it. And yet . . . what a very unpleasant group of people! What did they see in each other? I put the book down feeling glad that I don’t have friends like this.

When I moved on to the next book from Blackwells, I began to feel conscious of a trend. The protagonist of this one is a professional woman who drinks too much, has reckless adulterous sex, and treats her husband and child appallingly. I couldn’t get interested in this woman or care about her. I disliked her too much – and disapproved of her (call me old-fashioned . . ) and I felt the conclusion of the book let her off too lightly.

Nasty people as protogonists are not a new thing in crime fiction. Highsmith’s Tom Ripley, for instance, is a sociopath, but he is superficially charming at least. This new trend seems to be something rather different. Did it begin perhaps with Gone Girl (which I thought was a tour-de-force) and The Girl on the Train (which I haven’t read)? Do I have a point or am I becoming a censorious old bat?

10 Comments

  1. Margot Kinberg
    February 10, 2020

    I don’t think it’s just you, Christine. I’ve noticed something very similar as I’ve read contemporary crime fiction. Whether the protagonist is also the main sleuth, or one of those caught up in an investigation, it seems much more normal, if that’s the word, for that character to be unsympathetic. Of course, I have to admit I’d get irritated if the main character had no faults or shortcomings. We all have those, and characters who don’t are not realistic. That said, though, I do lose patience with novels where there’s nothing appealing about at least one of the major characters.

    Oh, and congratulations on your win – must be lovely to unwrap a new book each month like that! Well deserved.

    Reply
    • Christine Poulson
      February 10, 2020

      Glad you feel the same, Margot. There does seem to be a vogue for women in particular to behave badly in crime novels. I am all for gender equality. But still . . .
      Yes, I am very much enjoying those new books coming through the letter-box and it is good sometimes to read something that you wouldn’t have chosen yourself. It is easy to get into a rut.

      Reply
  2. Sheila Otter
    February 11, 2020

    Christine,

    I think you are right on “The Hunting Party” is sitting on my floor ready to be returned to the library. Bah reminds me of all the bullies I hated in school. I recently joined Goodreads and they send me books to consider each month;; I have found that so much of mystery fiction today are psychological thrillers rather than mysteries in the old fashion sense of the word. So I was particularly grateful to you for a previous post about Barry Forshaw’s overview of Crime Fiction.

    It has helped me reconnect with crime fiction I may have missed, classics that I’ve never got around to reading and writers I may have missed. The book I got from the library is “The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction”; I think this is an earlier version of the book your discussed in your last post. I’d love to go back and view Inspector Morse episodes but the old ones don’t have closed captioning so my husband can’t enjoy them; although we both loved the Inspector Lewis series.

    Thanks for your informative posts.

    Sheila,
    London, Ontario Canada

    Reply
    • Christine Poulson
      February 11, 2020

      I’m glad it’s not just me! I am rather tired of this ‘domestic noir’ as it’s called. I do like a good old-fashioned mystery. Glad that Barry Forshaw has been helpful in that respect.
      It is a pity that you can’t watch Inspector Morse. I’ve just started watching Lewis and am enjoying the leisurely pace and the excellent acting.

      Reply
  3. tracybham
    February 11, 2020

    I don’t read enough new fiction to have a basis for an opinion on your question… except that I am sure you are not becoming a “censorious old bat.” But I did read The Hunting Party, and the most unbelievable part was that the group of “friends” would have continued their tradition, with all of them being either obnoxious, or insecure and needy. Fortunately, even under those circumstances, I did enjoy reading the novel.

    Reply
    • Christine Poulson
      February 11, 2020

      Thanks, Tracy! Yes, it was a gripping read, but it really was a case of ‘with friends like these, who needs enemies?’

      Reply
  4. Moira@Clothes in Books
    February 11, 2020

    Looking at it a different way, it seems that whenever a book is successful, the copycat novels come along. Wicked-but-seemingly innocent? Yummy Mummy gone wrong? Group of friends losing it? Book X with this theme made a fortune, surely everyone will want to read the same book. I would be mortified to be the copycat writer, but it does seem that these books sell. It is all rather depressing. Do you think it always happened and we are just more aware of it now?

    Reply
    • Christine Poulson
      February 12, 2020

      I think you are right. The Girl on the Train is a case in point with lots of ‘The Girl . . . ‘ titles following. Yes, I wouldn’t care to be a copycat writer. I was amused by a short story written by Martin Edwards with the title, ‘The Girl on the Bandwagon’ and published in EQMM last year! Yes,indeed!

      Reply
  5. Moira@Clothes in Books
    February 11, 2020

    But PS, what a lovely prize and treat!

    Reply

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