It All Began with Vidocq!
Mysteries have always appealed to me, from the Sherlock Holmes stories that I devoured as a teenager to the Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie books that expanded their audience through movie and television adaptations. As I began to consider writing my own mysteries, the thought naturally arose to study the genre itself. Where did mystery stories begin? Who invented them, and what was the audience?
I was amazed to discover that it was a very odd Frenchman, Eugène François Vidocq, who lived over two centuries ago, who laid the basis for the modern detective story as we know it. He was a criminal, in fact a galley slave, who turned on his fellow criminals and became a police informant, then a police officer! He was so skilled that his work directly affected a descending crime rate in Paris, and he was responsible for many methods that criminologists today employ. Vidocq became the model for many authors, including Victor Hugo, whose “Les Miserables” used Vidocq as the model for BOTH Jean Valjean and his implacable police nemesis, Inspector Javert!
The first detective story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” by Edgar Allan Poe, was modeled in part after Vidocq’s bestselling “Memoirs,” and Poe mentioned Vidocq somewhat disparagingly as a source. By this time Vidocq was world famous. He established the world’s first detective agency in Paris, and as an international celebrity had actually consulted on the formation of Scotland Yard.
From there, the detective story started to grow. Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and, immortally, Arthur Conan Doyle broadened the detective story with their immortal sleuths, and in the twentieth century the development of the “cozy” mystery by Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers reached new audiences. In America the competing “hardboiled” genre featured Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Gradually the detective story took new forms, including short mysteries for readers to solve on their own.
First, “The Great Detectives: From Vidocq to Sam Spade,” traces the detective story from its origins. The reader learns enjoyably how the detective story began and developed. And there are some interesting byways – just where did the name Sherlock come from, anyway? And who did murder the Sternwood chauffeur in “The Big Sleep?”
Then, “Coffee Break Mysteries” is a collection of twenty short mysteries, for those days when the reader just doesn’t quite have enough time to begin that new novel! The settings are varied and interesting, beginning with “The Plot to Poison George Washington.” Just how would you have voted as a member of that court martial in New York City in 1776? The London of Charles Dickens, Salem, Massachusetts during the witchcraft hysteria, and a 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue ghost story are all found here.
In “More Coffee Break Mysteries: The Sherlock Holmes Edition,” there are twenty new short mysteries to solve. If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan, like me, you’ll be pleased to find five brand new adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, all of which were approved by the literary estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Enjoy some new sleuths we well. We’re sure you won’t give away the real identity of “Martha,” who solves crimes while writing an advice column for the local newspaper!
William S. Shepard’s Series of Diplomatic Mysteries
Prize winning mystery writer William S. Shepard is the creator of a new genre, the diplomatic mystery, whose plots are set in American Embassies overseas. That mirrors Shepard’s own career in the Foreign Service of the United States, during which he served in Singapore, Saigon, Budapest, Athens and Bordeaux, in addition to five Washington tours of duty.
His diplomatic mystery books explore this rich, insider background into the world of high stakes diplomacy and government. His main character is a young career diplomat, Robbie Cutler. The first four books in the series are available as Ebooks. Shepard evokes his last Foreign Service post, Consul General in Bordeaux, in Vintage Murder, the first of the series of four “diplomatic mysteries.” The second, Murder On The Danube, mines his knowledge of Hungary and the 1956 Revolution. In Murder In Dordogne Robbie Cutler and his bride Sylvie are just married, but their honeymoon in the scenic southwest of France is interrupted by murders.
The most recent of the series, The Saladin Affair, has just been released as an Ebook. Robbie Cutler has been transferred to work for the Secretary of State. Like the author once did, Cutler arranges trips on Air Force Two – now enlivened by serial Al Qaeda attempts to assassinate the Secretary of State, as they travel to Dublin, London, Paris, Vienna, Riga and Moscow!
Connect with William S. Shepard
It All Began with Vidocq! - Guest Post from William S. Shepard
Reviewed by Duh
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10:30 AM
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Reviewed by Duh
on
10:30 AM
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