May I Suggest Murder? an overview of crime fiction for readers’ advisory services staff (2011) by Rachel Franks

A brief but interesting account of crime fiction.

Description: Crime fiction first started to gain widespread popularity in the 18th century, a popularity which dramatically increased in the 19th century. Today, crime fiction is the most popular form of fiction with almost one in every three new books published in English falling into the crime fiction category. Since the early days of crime fiction the genre has evolved into an incredibly diverse area of fiction, making it one of Australia’s, and the world’s, most popular. There is, literally, a dead body to suit every reader’s taste. Such scale and scope of choice, however, can create challenges for readers wanting to read crime fiction for the first time or wanting to extend their reading past a favourite author or series. This overview of the genre identifies the main sub-genres of crime fiction, providing a set of concise definitions illustrated with international and Australian examples of crime fiction works.

Rachel Franks (2011) May I suggest murder? An overview of crime fiction for readers’ advisory services staff, The Australian Library Journal, 60:2, 133-143, DOI:10.1080/00049670.2011.10722585
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2011.10722585

Sherlock Holmes (r) and Dr. John H. Watson. Illustration by Sidney Paget from the Sherlock Holmes story The Greek Interpreter, which appeared in The Strand Magazine in September, 1893. Original caption was “HOLMES PULLED OUT HIS WATCH.”

My Book Notes: The Wrong Shape, 1911 (s.s.) by Gilbert K. Chesterton

Esta entrada es bilingüe, para ver la versión en castellano desplazarse hacia abajo

Reading Time (2019). Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 3536 KB. Print Length: 1001 pages. ASIN: B07MZ6BNWV. Content: The Innocence of Father Brown; The Wisdom of Father Brown; ‘The Donnington Affair’; The Incredulity of Father Brown; The Secret of Father Brown; The Scandal of Father Brown; and ‘The Mask of Midas’. NOTE: This edition Father Brown: The Complete Collection has only 52 of the 53 Father Brown short stories Chesterton wrote.  The 53rd story is “The Vampire of the Village,” often included in some versions of  The Scandal of Father Brown, but not in this volume.

Book Description: ‘The Wrong Shape’ is a Father Brown mystery short story originally published in The Saturday Evening Post (10 December, 1910), one of the twelve short stories included in The Innocence of Father Brown, published in book form in 1911. In this instance Father Brown, of the small church of St. Mungo, accompanied by a very tall French friend of his called Flambeau investigates the death of the celebrated poet Leonard Quinton, whose body has been found in his study, together with a note that read: “I die by my own hand; yet I die murdered!”.

My take: ‘The Wrong Shape’ is a delightful account of a Father Brown mystery, included in The Innocence of Father Brown and available free in the Internet. It is one of my favourites and has all the characteristics of the series. The two plots encompasses both the investigative elements (the detection itself) together with the story of the crime. And Father Brown sums up very well the difference between a miracle and a mystery what looks certainly curious –for the time it was written– coming from a Catholic priest.

‘You call it queer, and I call it queer,’ said the other [Father Brown], ‘and yet we mean quite opposite things. The modern mind always mixes up two different ideas: mystery in the sense of what is marvellous, and mystery in the sense of what is complicated. That is half its difficulty about miracles. A miracle is startling; but it is simple. It is simple because it is a miracle. It is power coming directly from God (or the devil) instead of indirectly through nature or human wills. Now, you mean that this business is marvellous because it is miraculous, because it is witchcraft worked by a wicked Indian. Understand, I do not say that it was not spiritual or diabolic. Heaven and hell only know by what surrounding influences strange sins come into the lives of men. But for the present my point is this: If it was pure magic, as you think, then it is marvellous; but it is not mysterious–that is, it is not complicated. The quality of a miracle is mysterious, but its manner is simple. Now, the manner of this business has been the reverse of simple.’

My rating: A (I loved it)

The Wrong Shape has been reviewed at Past Offences

About the Author: Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was born in London, educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly. Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.

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La forma equívoca (1911) de Gilbert K. Chesterton

Descripción del libro: “La forma equívoca” es un relato de misterio breve del Padre Brown publicado originalmente en The Saturday Evening Post el 10 de diciembre de 1910. Es uno de los doce cuentos incluidos en El candor del Padre Brown, publicado en forma de libro en 1911. En este caso, el padre Brown, de la pequeña iglesia de San Mungo, acompañado por un amigo francés muy alto llamado Flambeau, investiga la muerte del célebre poeta Leonard Quinton, cuyo cuerpo fue encontrado en su estudio, junto con una nota que decía: : “¡Muero por mi propia mano pero muero asesinado!”

Mi opinión: “La forma equívoca” es un relato encantador de un misterio del Padre Brown, incluido en El candor del Padre Browny disponible de forma gratuita en Internet. Es uno de mis favoritos y tiene todas las características de la serie. Las dos tramas comprenden tanto los elementos de investigación (la propia investigación) como la historia del crimen. Y el padre Brown resume muy bien la diferencia entre un milagro y un misterio, lo que parece ciertamente curioso, para el momento en que se escribió, viniendo de un sacerdote católico.

—Sí —continuó el padre Brown—. Usted dice que es extraño y yo digo que es extraño, pero ambos queremos decir cosas opuestas. La mente moderna confunde siempre dos ideas diferentes: misterio, en el sentido de lo maravilloso, y misterio, en el sentido de lo complicado. En materia de milagros, esta confusión es la mitad del problema. Un milagro es admirable, pero simple. Simple por lo mismo que es un milagro. Es la revelación de un poder que dimana directamente de Dios (o del diablo) en vez de proceder indirectamente a través de la naturaleza o la voluntad humana. Aquí, usted dice que este caso es maravilloso porque es milagroso, porque es una brujería obrada por ese indio malvado. Entiéndame usted bien: yo no niego que sea un hecho espiritual o diabólico. Sólo el cielo y el infierno conocen las extrañas influencias que determinan los pecados humanos. Pero lo que yo digo es esto: si, como usted lo supone, es un caso de magia, claro es que será maravilloso, pero no será misterioso, es decir, no será complicado. La calidad del milagro es misteriosa, pero su procedimiento es simple. Y he aquí que, a mi modo de ver, el procedimiento de este asunto ha sido todo lo contrario de lo simple. (Traducción copiada de Internet)

Mi valoración: A (Me encantó)

Sobre el autor: Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) nació en Londres, se educó en St. Paul’s y fue a la escuela de arte en el University College de Londres. En 1900, se le pidió contribuir con algunos artículos de revistas sobre crítica de arte y se convirtió en uno de los escritores más prolíficos de todos los tiempos. Escribió cien libros, contribuciones a 200 más, cientos de poemas, incluida La balada del caballo blanco, cinco obras de teatro, cinco novelas y unos doscientos cuentos, incluida una popular serie en la que aparece el sacerdote-detective, Padre Brown. A pesar de sus logros literarios, se consideraba principalmente un periodista. Escribió más de 4000 ensayos periodísticos, que incluyen 30 años de columnas semanales para el Illustrated London News y 13 años de columnas semanales para el Daily News. También editó su propio periódico, G.K.´s Weekly. Chesterton se sentía igualmente cómodo con la crítica literaria y social, la historia, la política, la economía, la filosofía y la teología.