murder-free mysteries?

Does every mystery have to include a murder? I've just posted some reflections on this question on my Amazon blog.

Reading note. "There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much pother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader's trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded."--S.S. Van Dine, creator of Philo Vance, 1928

Comments

[pablo]

I still contend that there is plenty of opportunity for malice and mayhem in murderless mysteries!

[Larraine]

sorry - but murder is where it's at.

[Pablo]

I tried to leave a comment at your Amazon blog, but I wasn't properly registered, so I'll blather away here.

I am firmly in the camp that a mystery does NOT need a murder in order to be captivating and interesting. Most of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries did not include a murder. (Many did not even include a crime.) They were character driven, which is where good writing still resides.

I think there are plenty of puzzles and mysteries in everyday life that, under the skilled hand of a capable writer, can be presented in an intriguing and captivating way. And their resolution can still be meaningful, even life changing, for the characters in the story if they are presented as real people with real problems and real ambitions.

I find that some mystery novels simply have too many murders in them. The old joke about the death rate in Cabot Cove stands. It's the most dangerous place on the planet, and after a point, the willing suspension of disbelief just can't be sustained.

As for Van Dine's dictum, I don't buy it. Why should modern readers and writers feel compelled to honor some rules DECLARED by an "authority" in the past? You write the story you have. You don't craft the story around some arbitrary rules. That's not writing. That's typewriting. (Sorry, Mr. Capote.)

[Pam]

Hi Susan,
I am finding 'The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood' extremely refreshing without the murder of a human being. As far as Ridley 'hiding a rattish sort of smile' and that he 'danced a jig of pure delight' over Rollo's murder, now that cracked me up! I love an intelligent mystery which doesn't involve murder. Sometimes I think a mystery would be better without the murder because sometimes it seems forced. I really enjoy the way you embellish your books with humor, too, which to me makes them even better.