Thursday, December 2: Femme Fatale
HOLIDAYS MAKE FOR A MURDEROUSLY GOOD TIME FOR READING
by Deborah Elliott-Upton
Crime doesn’t take a holiday. In fact, many books have been written on this theme, including Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb and Nora Roberts (huh? Isn’t this the same person?), No Holiday for Crime by Dell Shannon and of course, the anthology Cat Crimes for the Holidays edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Edward Gorman and Larry Segriff. Okay, I admit I haven’t read any of these yet either, but it’s interesting to see that these selections made the top ten listings on Amazon with a search of “holiday crime books.”
Why are holiday crime stories so popular? Maybe it’s all the stress of shopping, trying to stay within a Christmas budget, and all those simply miserable people we see at the mall. They look like they are not just tired, but weary. I wouldn’t have to be psychic to figure out their feet ached, their patience had been tested once too many times, and they are wondering if any of this frenzied commercialism is worth the trouble.
At a time of the year where we should be feeling more spiritual or at peace, often our thoughts turn toward unholy thought. Besought with grumpy overworked sales clerks, misbehaving children (and their parents) and a waning economy shake the HO HO HO right out of December. Sometimes it seems as if Ebenezer Scrooge had the right idea at the beginning of A Christmas Carol with his Bah humbug! attitude.
I sometimes enjoy rooting for the bad guy to win. I don’t think this makes me – or any other readers – a bad person. We should admit to ourselves that How the Grinch Stole Christmas is more of a fun read because the Grinch was so bad. Isn’t there a moment when we want to hold our hands over our ears when another version of a “Jingle Bells” is repeated ad nauseum almost everywhere we go?
I almost didn’t sell my short story, “A Piece of Christmas” because the editor thought the main character shifted the blame on another guy (who wasn’t a good guy either, but he didn’t do this particular crime for which he was arrested). With some editing, the story was accepted, but I think the editor still wished I’d forced a come-uppance on the true thief. In life, the bad guys sometimes get away and some poor fool in the wrong place does a wronged time, too.
Fiction isn’t real. No one really dies. No one is really robbed. No one is really trotted off to jail. But if the story is well-written, the reader believes it to be true. If we’re caught up in the story, it seems real. For me to experience feelings of a fictional criminal lashing out at society is certainly better than my reacting to someone in a department store who is also as tired and grumpy and just wants to go home as I do. Reading about someone else being in a predicament much worse than mine is somehow nice. Does that make me a bad person?
Reading a crime story for me is like being a giant Etch-A-Sketch. Those hostile feelings are magically erased and I am ready to face the crowds again. Later. After I savor a piece of pumpkin pie and one more short story. Maybe a humorous one so I won’t be such a Grinch this holiday season.
I couldn’t agree more. There is something about holiday crime stories where how the characters react to situations, makes them great stress relievers. Take “A Criminal Brief Christmas” for example!
On Monday, our guest columnist Steve Hockensmith wrote about holiday-themed crime stories. Unfortunately, A Criminal Brief Christmas doesn’t fit the bill. That slender volume is actually a “best of” anthology and none of the stories in it has anything whatsoever to do with Christmas. My original title for it was Criminal Brief for Christmas, because it was being offered as the prize in a Christmas-themed contest. Rob Lopresti suggested the current title, so I asked the authors to vote on which they liked better, and they all preferred it to my original one (except me, of course), and it was thus christened.
There are a few numbered limited edition copies in both paperback and hardcover (unsigned) left over from Bouchercon, if anyone out there would like to purchase one. The pbs are $15 and the hcs are $35. Contact me using the “Contact/Support” link in the sidebar at left under “Admin” if you’re interested.
I agree with the ‘bad guy’ thing. It does make you feel better to know someone else is far worse. And it’s fun to watch the villains think terrible thoughts and cause some trouble. Makes life seem less chaotic somehow….. :]]
After going to Walmart after work yesterday to pick up something I thought I had to have and it was on the way home I’m thinking you could write a Christmas crime story about the thoughts going through my mind while trying to manuever the aisles.
I think in addition to what you’ve mentioned, most of us have some extra time to actually read during the holidays.
It’s not a crime….:-)
In fact, it’s criminal if you don’t read whenever you can IMHO.
Merry Christmas to all of my friends here in Criminal Brief land.
I reccomend the Criminal Brief anthology highly! As for bad guys, when I was little and watched The Wizard of Oz I always wanted the Witch to return in a sequel. (“She’s back, and this time she’ll start with the little dog…”)
Jeff– you’re a man after my own heart. I always wondered about the witch of the South…was she a good witch or a bad witch?
The witches of the North and South were the good ones. In the books, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South, don’t know if she’s called that in the movie. The Good Wotch of the North makes only a couple of appearances in the Baum books.