Mystery Women

I agree with Norah; mystery is the fluff I read when I need something light that doesn't require much thinking. Usually, I read mysteries when I'm sick. And while sick in bed the last time around, in January, I discovered three woman crime writers: the queen of mystery writers, Elizabeth George; the relatively new-to-crime-but-otherwise-tenured writer Kate Atkinson; and the brand-new writer Tana French. George is American; Atkinson is British; and French is a bit of everything (her bio states Irish-Italian-American; she lives in Ireland). George has written God-knows-how-many books featuring Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Tommy Lynley and his side-kick, the unattractive, frumpy Detective Sergeant Barb Havers; Atkinson has three crime novels under her belt, telling the tale of private eye Jackson Brodie and, increasingly so, his friend (and, presumably, future lover), Detective Inspector Louise Monroe; French just published her second book, in which a murder case is led by Dublin murder squad Detective Cassie Maddox, the ex-partner of Rob Ryan, the first novel's detective. Shaking the illness in January, I wasn't quite ready to shake crime fiction, and I've read a lot of George/Atkinson/French the past couple of months.

Here my two cents' worth of wisdom:

George obviously knows what she's doing. She crafts her plots well enough that each book remains a whodunnit up to the last page. Her writing is fun to read. Both these points make her books good, readable, and enjoyable crime fiction. The big "but" is the books' flirtation with the romance genre: Lynley doesn't just represent New Scotland Yard, he's also the Earl of Asherton, who doesn't need to work but chooses to do so. Havers, on the other hand, is at the opposite end of the class spectrum. Lynley has everything (the manners & money, looks & ladies); Havers has only her dementia-ridden and smelly parents to look after, and a really bad temper because of it. It's not that Lynley and Havers ever get together--it's not that bad--but the story of Lynley and his love interest, Lady Helen Clyde, and the little love triangle between Lynley, his best friend (and forensic investigator) Simon and his wife, Deborah (Lynley's ex), seem tedious at times, especially because George uses romance fiction language. If you're a frequent Masterpiece Mystery! watcher (turn to your public television station on Sunday evening) or stay up after Tatort, chances are you're familiar with the BBC production of the Inspector Lynley series. One of the best mystery series on public TV, if you ask me.

I read Atkinson's novel in a weird order, starting not with her first, but second book, One Good Turn. This was a very fun read; even though the solution of the crime puzzle isn't as rewarding ('cause disappointing, in as far as the story promises a bigger bang than it delivers), reading the intertwining narratives of the different characters is quiet entertaining. This is also true for her third novel, When Will There Be Good News?, but not so much for her first, Case Histories. It appears that Atkinson gets better with time. Her books center around ex-soldier and ex-cop Jackson Brodie who, as private eye and divorcee, stumbles into crime scenes as accidentally as into relationships, but he does so convincingly. The romance doesn't take over the crime, as it occasionally does in George.

French writes long books, books that take a long time to read, which, depending on the illness you're sick in bed with, can be quite good. What distinguishes French from Atkinson or George is her literary ambition. French obviously wants to write a novel with a mystery in it, not mystery fiction. Her ambition is, at times, her downfall, in particular in her new book, The Likeness. It was impossible for me to take the leap of faith required to follow her story: that undercover agent Cassie, who looks precisely like the murdered victim, gets away with living among the victims' roommates without being found out. Once you can accept this basic frame of reference, you're off to a good read. However, if you're constantly doubting how any of this is possible, it's a bit of a pain to make it through almost 500 pages. I picked up her second novel after having enjoyed her first one quite a bit: although In the Woods also requires you to accept certain unlikely facts, it's easier to do so. Her first book is driven as much by the crime as by the relationship between the two detectives, Cassie and Rob. Once this relationship turns sour (by the end of the first novel), French runs out of ideas for a second novel, and I wonder if she's personally more invested in her detectives' relationship than the crimes they're supposed to solve.

All in all, I think it's noteworthy that woman mystery writers seem to add a love narrative to their crime fiction, as if crime alone won't do the trick. It's not bothersome at all in Atkinson, and I'd also highly recommend George, but I don't extend my recommendations to French.