There are some aspects I want to address in the opening of "Mystery/Detective/Thriller" novels.
How do they open? -- I always feel myself comparing them to Brown's novels... I have no idea why.
The Dante Club - 2 openings (which is the same as the Rule of Four). An article opens that is seemingly disconnected, but we later realize it is the beginning of the introduction of the "worms" used to kill in the opening murder. And then, it opens with a police chief investigating a murder scene. There are two different openings for this book, but it essentially opens with a murder that needs to be solved. And, being of the 19th century, it is perfectly fine to use "reasoning" rather then scientific knowledge to solve it.
The Rule of Four - 2 openings. The first occurs centuries before and is the death of two messengers. It sets quite a morbid and "adventurous/exciting" outlook for the book, which it does not uphold. It then reopens with the introduction of the college students and another murder soon after.
The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons - opens very similar to the Rule of Four in the descriptions of the initial murder, however it is more connected to the mystery that needs to be solved. This opening is effective because it immediately begins the novel with a mystery and begins it high-paced and intriguing, which the rest of the builds off of and continues.
The Holme's stories. These typically open with HOlmes still in his apartment and being introduced... with the mystery brought to him. As in, someone comes asking for his help, whether it is a client or the police, and then he investigates the scene. It is a much less dramatic and anticipation packed beginning when compared to the DaVinci Code.
The Alieniest and the Angel of Darkness i remember opening in slightly different ways. It's similar to the Holme's story in the sense that the characters are awoken and then brought to the scene of the crime. However, at the same time it's similar to a Brown novel because it opens with a murder which is analyzed and described.
I think the reason why the Holme's stories open the way they do is because Holme's needs to be able to analyze the character's/clients more than the other novels do. A lot of his solving of the crimes is based on his own observation skills. Also, the novel isn't based on the psychological mind of the killer or how he killed but rather WHO the killer is. For this reason, the time before when the clients are introduced or background information provided is essential. Also, since Doyle sets the scene as Watson looking back and describing the crimes, it makes more sense to start it off with background info, and start it as it occurred and as they knew of it. That means... sitting in their house waiting for the call to action.
Most of these other books open with a murder, but some are more effective than others. The opening for the rule of four was intriguing and different, but later seemed almost random since it didn't connect very well to 2 college boys trying to solve the riddles of a book. The Alienist and the DaVinci code are different - the opening murders are effective in capturing the attention of the readers and setting the mood and pace for the rest of the book. In the Alieniest, the mutilation fo the bodies served to show there was a deeper pyschological reason for the murder, while the murder and position of the curator in the daVinci code was used as a starting clue to the rest of the code. These "murders" are effective because they are part of the "mystery" that needs to be solved, and therefore are important to the novel. This wasn't the same for the Rule of Four, as I already said in a previous post.
(I almost felt as if the opening was a copy of the style/opening of Brown... but just not nearly as effective when considering the book as a whole) -- in general it opened well, with great mysteries and interest and then died towards the end because of "lame" answers/connections"....
And that concludes my "openings" for now.
Thinking about it, I wished I had compared the Italian Secretary to a real Holme's novel a little more... maybe i will.
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2 comments:
I like this kind of overall comparison that you are doing - it really elucidates some of the aspects of the genre...I think you need to read some more of the Holmes stories...and did you read The Beekeeper's Apprentice? Very good modern take on Holmes.
Hmmm.. nope but i think that'll be my next book. I did want to read some more HOlme's stories, too..
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