What is a “Literary” Mystery Novel?

A DEEPER LOOK: PURSUED: TEN KNIGHTS ON THE BARROOM FLOOR (from the notes of Mel R. Jones and additional research)

Well, first of all, we need to differentiate between four common types of mystery fiction, such as the detective story, the horror story, the adventure mystery and the character or literary mystery. Combinations of these types is possible, but usually one classification predominates over the others.

One of the most familiar types of escape fiction is, of course the detective story, or the whodunit puzzle that must be pieced together by the detective in order to discover the hidden identity of the murderer. Sherlock Holmes may have used deduction and intuitive skills to solve his cases, but modern detectives use the help of science and its technicians. It’s the most intellectual and the least emotional of all types of mystery fiction. For example, in English detective novels, mental activity can even dominate action, such as in Agatha Christie’s characters of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

The horror story is the direct opposite of the detective story because its appeal is emotional, passive, filled with fear, apprehension and terror. Its purpose is to bring the dread to an end somehow, as the hero is chased, fearing what will happen to him/her if the horror catches up, such as in Stephen King’s The Shining, or It.

The adventure mystery, such as a spy novel, is a combination of the previous two types of mystery fiction, appealing to readers’ identification with the danger of the central character, but the solution of the puzzle serves a larger end than mere personal safety. There is an important mission to be accomplished or protected and uses both the pursuit plot of the detective novel and the trap technique of the horror story. Notable examples include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre or Six Days of the Condor by James Grady.

Finally, the character or literary mystery is the most variable of the four forms. Although the solution of the puzzle is important, it also includes the psychological aspects of the characters and the modes of their societies.

This type of mystery novel is the closest to real life situations and characters. Aspects of the previous types of mystery fiction are finite, and can become repetitive. However, the human nature element offers an endless variety and the widest scope for an author’s talent, imagination and understanding.

It produces “borderline” mystery fiction that can be enjoyed by a broader audience than the previous three types mentioned. Examples include Mystic River by Dennis Lehane, In the Woods by Tana French, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, or in the past, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier, or more recently, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

What elements of Pursued: Ten Knights on the Barroom Floor by Mel R. Jones lend themselves to a “literary mystery fiction” classification? First of all, it is complex, multi-layered, and intricately woven, containing a story within a story. A cross-cultural tale about war with an intriguing mystery and a touch of romance, Jones’s novel features characters of four cultures—American Japanese, Australian and primitive natives—who are caught up in the conflict experienced in World War II in New Guinea, a land that time forgot.

The contrasts between the civilized and the primitive, the past and the present in the novel are not only interesting, but also intriguing. When a B-24, which had crashed into a remote interior mountain of New Guinea in 1943 is discovered in 1972, a U.S. Army remains recovery team and the investigator of a crime scene there camp between two antagonistic primitive native tribes. They try to bridge the cultural gap between their two worlds in order to secure native help, notwithstanding the language barrier, in conducting the search for remains and for clues of what happened there thirty years previously.

Mortui Vivis Praecipiant, “Let the dead teach the living,” comes into play as the characters have to walk in the shoes of American airmen from the downed B-24 bomber and those of Japanese survivors from their bombing raid to find the answers to the story, all the while plagued by a mysterious pursuer of the past, with ties to international intrigue, who threatens their own survival.

There is much for a reader to enjoy in the rich, full-bodied depth of this “literary” mystery novel, a tale of yesteryear whose secrets weave a deadly web in the present.

Reference: Rodell, Marie F. Mystery Fiction, Theory and Technique. New York, NY: Hermitage House, 1952. Print.
[avatar]Marian[/avatar]