Oh how I love these solvers of mysteries. Yesterday, I debated with my wife why it is that Sherlock
gained more popularity in the United States than Agatha Christie's Poiroit. And I have 2 theories. . First, the pronounceability of his name. Americans with lazy tongues trip over the French vowels and Hercule wanting to make him into a Greek god and the "o" of the "oit" leaving out consonants and letters. But my second theory, the one I cling more closely to, is that of the side-kick. I think Sherlock is endearing because of his faithful companion, Dr. Watson. And it is through Watson we are brought along for the ride. The regular-Joe who is able to navigate the eccentric intellect of Sherlock. By having a companion of average intellect, we are able to join the journey without feeling inferior. We're able to go along with Sherlock's theories and outlandish behavior because Watson is our guide. And Poiroit, although always explaining to some hapless cop or passenger, we are removed from him because he is without a companion. We like our eccentric recluses approachable - someone who is worthy of friendship despite their prickly exterior.
But then, I found a new detective that started scratching this itch in Atticus Pundt - a lead detective in Anthony Horowitz's novels. Perhaps I liked him immediately because of his first name being a beloved character from other fiction. He's the same strange, likes things his way, unlikable - likeable detective out to solve crimes. That was until, I stumbled across other books written by Horowitz. The Word is Murder features an author named Anthony Horowitz who is following an ex-detective, Inspector Hawthorne and he's tasked with writing the mysteries he solves into best-selling true-crime novels. What I love about these novels is that Horowtiz makes himself a character within the story he is writing about a writer, writing a story. It's all very meta - and highly entertaining. It's a clever twist on the detective trope that engages me as a reader and challenges me as a writer. What would it be like to put myself, but not truly myself, into my works? How could I become a character within a piece I am writing? A fun little exercise that varies from the tired first-person narration that I so often end up reading in my Creative Writing Classes.
And it does what Sherlock has done. It brings the reader right along with the detective, quite literally as the narrator and the writer are one in the same.
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