In the October 2023 email newsletter, IAO’s Saskia Wilson-Brown ponders the writers and the aromatic language in early 20th century British murder mysteries.
October, 2023
Is anyone out there a fan of murder mysteries?
At the IAO, we have a soft spot for Agatha Christie. Her writing is crisp and her plotlines are unexpected (sometimes predictably so), but we love her mainly for the events that took place in December 1926.
After kissing her daughter goodnight, she got into her car and promptly disappeared, leaving English tabloids in a frenzy of unknowingness. Would they have to call in Hercule Poirot? Or perhaps the gentle Miss Marple? Had Agatha succumbed to one of her own plotlines?
Not so. She was discovered alive eleven days later, without a memory of the missing days (or so she said), and registered in a hotel under her husband’s mistress’s name. We suspect… a mid-life crisis. As humans, living in this world, we can deeply empathize.
From the perspective of smell, however, our favorite writer is New Zealand mystery queen Ngaio Marsh.
Marsh had a genuine knack for aromatic language, and her books make use of smell at every opportunity. Scent permeates her descriptions of places and people. It even figures as a plot device in one of her most famous novels, False Scent.
A lovely London starlet fatally sprays herself with insecticide instead of her favorite perfume. Detective Alleyn of Scotland Yard, dapper and handsome, smells (ahem) a rat.
October’s so great for a cozy book-reading session. Let’s all do that! And when we need a break, we can convene for a novelful of classes and talks at the IAO. Many of them are a little bit spooky, but you can’t blame us for getting into the spirit of the month.
It’s what Agatha would have done.
With love,
– Your friends at the IAO
Images
Top: Daily Herald, 15 December 1926, announcing that Christie had been found. Public domain. Source.
Bottom: Ngaio Marsh in the spotlight, 1940s. Public domain. Source.
