Crime Fiction Alphabet: M is for Marple, Jane

"The young people think the old people are fools -- but the old people know the young people are fools."

This week letter on Crime Fiction Alphabet is M, check out the rest entries in Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise. She's the host of this event.

My entry for M is Miss Marple. Those of you who are fans of Agatha Christie must've known her. She's the spinster old lady who lived in St. Mary Mead, a village in outskirt London. She's consider as the 2nd most famous character made by Agatha Christie (of course we all know who's the first :D).

Miss Marple was described as small fragile-looking old lady who frequently seen knitting and considered as nosy.  At first people usually looked down on her, only regard her as 'nice old lady' but actually she's very perceptive about human nature. With her skill/talent in understanding human, she managed to solve criminal mysteries, and often triumph police.

There are mixed opinion about her, some people consider her not as detective, therefore didn't like the books that feature her; while some other enjoy reading how she solved mysteries around her. I agree her way of solving crime isn't the exact detective way; she use her knowledge about human not based on clues and evidences. For me, it depend on the case; she's not my favorite Christie's character but I enjoyed some of the books with her in it. My favorite Marple's is Murder at the Vicarage. I'm not sure why though, probably because of other characters in that book. Beside that, I also enjoyed Caribbean Mystery and Nemesis. What about you?

Lynossa

Crime Fiction Alphabet: M is for Marple, Jane

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: K is for Koontz

It's been awhile since the last time I participate in CFA, I feel ashamed of myself but there were - and are - so many things happened in my life and have taken quite amount of my time. For this week's entry, I present: Dean Koontz.
Dean Koontz was born on July 9, 1945. His first novel is Star Quest, which was published in 1968.Then in the 1970s, he begun to grow a publishing of suspense and horror fiction; some using his name, some using pseudonyms. His breakthrough novel was Whispers and this success was followed by his other books.

Because I haven't read his other books, I would prefer to discuss his writing on Odd Thomas. Below is the summary of Odd Thomas, the first on the series:

A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.
Today is August 14.
In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares—and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.

I borrowed this book from a friend, or should I say she suggested this book to me when she learned I like mystery/suspense/thriller. When I started to read it, I didn't expect myself to be captivated by the life of Odd Thomas. Unless several characters in Agatha Christie or Lisbeth in Larsson's trilogy, I rarely care that much into a mystery novels' character as much as I care about Odd. The way he reluctant but still doing it makes me like him so much. He's not the hero type nor anti-hero; in some way he's an average guy. I think Koontz manage to portrayed the regular small city guy perfectly who actually extraordinary without making him too standout among the crowd. He fits perfectly in his little town with all his quirkiness. Perhaps the ghost element will turn off some of the mystery lovers but not me. I'm okay with that (perhaps because I'm also a huge fan of fantasy) as long as it presented in somewhat logical way and keep me trying to what guess will happen next and who's the bad guy and how it will ended.

Lynossa

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: K is for Koontz

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: C is Conan Doyle

It's almost impossible not to discuss Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when we're talking about detective novels. His character, Sherlock Holmes continue to mesmerize fan of mystery novel up until today. I'm not a huge fan of Sherlock though I really admire Conan Doyle for creating an unique character and interesting stories.

Arthur Conan Doyle born on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1876, he studied medicine in University of Edinburgh,thus explain his extensive knowledge on medical term. While studying, Conan Doyle also began writing short stories; his first published story appeared in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal before he was 20.

He started to write Sherlock Holmes on his free time while opened a practice. His first work, A Study in Scarlet, featured the eccentric detective, Sherlock Holmes, released in 1887.
 Sherlock Holmes manage to capture the heart of mystery fans across England and the world, and thus made him famous. At some point, just like Agatha Christie felt annoyed with Hercule Poirot, Conan Doyle also felt the same about Sherlock, in his letter to his mother in 1891, he wrote: "I think of slaying Holmes ... and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things." and he did killed Sherlock in The Final Problem. But the crowd demanded him to bring Sherlock back and he was returning in The Hound of Baskervilles.

Not only continue to work in medic, Conan Doyle also an advocate of justice and investigated two closed cases by helping the falsely accused. The story of Conan Doyle and his 'client' was fictionalized in Julian Barnes novel, Arthur & George.

Many important people in his life passed away before him; his wife Louisa, his son Kingsley, his two brothers-in-law, and two nephews. These lead to depression and his interest toward spiritualism. His fascinated toward spiritualism lead to a disagreement with his friend, famous magician, Harry Houdini. Conan Doyle somehow believed that Houdini had surpassed the spiritual world while Houdini strictly said it's all merely a trick.

Conan Doyle dies at the age of 71, due to heart attack with his last words directed to his wife: "You are wonderful." Even though there were several controversies throughout his life, his fans continued to cherish his creation, especially Sherlock Holmes, even till today.

Lynossa

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: C is Conan Doyle

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: B for Bourne

B is for Jason Bourne. This is not a detective series, but falls into espionage series, even though Jason Bourne is actually not a spy but a special undercover agent, sort of. This series consist of many books but I will only preview the books that were written by the original author, Robert Ludlum.

The Bourne Identity


The Bourne Identity is the first book of this series. I don't normally like movie-cover book, but I love Matt Damon so I quite enjoy this cover. In this book, a nameless guy without memory was found drifting in open sea and saved by a fishermen boat. The brought him to a doctor where he finally manage to recover his health, but not his identity. Thus begun the search for his past.
The clue lead to Switzerland where he found out his name, Jason Bourne. But he also discover other things about himself, his capability in surviving and his uncanny skills in self-defense. This made him feeling unsure about who he was. With the help of a woman he kidnapped, he tried to unrevealed the mystery even though FBI and Carlos the Jackal were searching for him, wanting to see him dead.

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: B for Bourne

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 (1): And Then There Were None

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 starts now! This week's letter is: A

To celebrate the letter A and also to show my love to the Queen of Mystery herself, I dedicate the letter A to Agatha Christie's masterpiece: And Then There Were None.

This novel was first published in England on November 6, 1939 under the name Ten Little Nigger but changed to the current title due to derogatory meaning of Nigger, especially toward black community. 

The original version of Ten Little Niggers rhyme:
Ten little nigger boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were Nine.
Nine little nigger boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were Eight.
Eight little nigger boys travelling in Devon; One said he’d stay there and then there were Seven.
Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.
Six little nigger boys playing with a hive; A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.
Five little nigger boys going in for law; One got into chancery and then there were Four.
Four little nigger boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.
Three little nigger boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.
Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was One.
One little nigger boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were None…


Later on the N-word was changed into Indian. They - whoever they were - considered the N-word in here as offensive but not for the word 'Indian' although if this rhyme was considered as racist and mockery toward black community by portraying death of black children, thus the N-word was forbade, then the word 'Indian' should be viewed the same. With all due respect toward black people, apparently people in those days thought that it was forbidden to mock black people but it was okay to mock Indian, crocked logic. Perhaps this is due to my ignorance as I didn't live in US where I could witness the effect of using the N-word, but this is solemnly based on my view that everything should be treated similar. If the word nigger in this rhyme considered as offensive toward black people, then changing it to Indian means it's offensive toward Indian people.

In essential, I'm against any form of censorship toward book. Let the readers read the original version! Let them think and value it by themselves, let them understand the circumstances during the time those books were created so they could cherish and understand the progress we've achieved today. Instead of banning books or censoring it, discuss it! So we could see the book from different point of view and gain better understanding.

Lynossa

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 (1): And Then There Were None

Commitment: Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011

Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise is once again hosting the very popular Alphabet in Crime Fiction for 2011 and I as a (self-proclaimed) mystery novels fan will participate in the event. If you want to participate as well, here's the rules:

Each week, beginning Monday 10 January 2011, you write a blog post about crime fiction related to the letter of the week.

Your post MUST be related to either the first letter of a book's title, the first letter of an author's first name, or the first letter of the author's surname.

You could write a review, or a bio of an author, so long as it fits the rules somehow.

Please check each Monday for the letter of the week (a letter image will be supplied that you can use in your post as well as the meme icon if you wish), and then link your post back to the page. You will have until the end of the week to complete your mission.

Check out Kerrie's blog, Mysteries in Paradise for more information.

 

Lynossa

Commitment: Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011