August 22, 2020
Dear Simon Brett:
The Clutter Corpse was literally the answer to a
prayer.
Sadly, I’m not talking about your masterful handling of
depression, which I hope helps people understand the condition better. It
really was amazing to see it spelled out so empathetically.
No, I’m talking about all the story tropes you’ve managed to
avoid, to wit:
Young woman returns to a (usually) quirky hometown after
some life-failure or other; opens a business; finds a body; decides, on the
flimsiest of pretexts, to investigate the murder herself; withholds information
from the authorities; meets a hunk; dithers for fully half the story (or
series) about whether or not he likes her despite the massive signals he’s
sending (because, inexplicably, he never gets around to actually asking her
out); and does something incredibly stupid at the end to put herself in danger.
Bonus Quibble 1: The same person finds the body, time after
time. Doesn’t anybody else in this town ever in walk in the woods or explore
old houses? Bonus Quibble 2: Ordinary-looking women marvel that the hunk has
fallen for them; neither ordinary nor stunning women ever fall for
ordinary-looking men. Bonus Quibble 3: Women under 5’8” complain about being
short. I’m 5’3”, and the only time I feel short is when I’m trying to reach
items on the top shelf. Never when I’m around taller people. Bonus Quibble 4:
Authors these days seem to be unable to use verb tenses consistently or
correctly.
But you avoided most of this. I did not gnash my teeth once
during this story (although there was one eye-roll moment which I will not
reveal to my blog readers).
The “answer to a prayer” part was because I have been
looking for years for an engaging story that didn’t commit one or all of the
above sins. Some stories are very well written, but either because authors go
for the easy kill, or they are strong-armed by editors, they always include the
cliched idiocy into the stories. I had about given up on finding books that, no
matter how well-written otherwise, wouldn't make me grind my teeth with all the
will-he/won’t-he havering.
Many thanks.
(If you could please avoid the Romance Cliffhanger cliché,
where the protagonist seems like s/he’s finally going to get things
straightened out with his/her true love at the end of the book, only to have
the song and dance repeated throughout the series, I’d appreciate it. Charles
Paris’s travails in this direction got on my nerves.)
I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the next Decluttering
Mystery.
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