WHEN MURDER IS A LAUGHING MATTER
It's a question I puzzled over quite a bit when I started to write my Crampton of the Chronicle series of humorous crime mysteries. I’ve not been alone. It turns out writers have been puzzling over the same problem for at least two thousand five hundred years. I found a story in ancient Greek literature about a guy called Euphiletos who kills his wife because she’s been having an affair with a rascal called Eratosthenes. When he’s hauled up before the judges, Euphiletos gets off by raising some laughs and painting himself as a comically deluded cuckold.
Fast-forward about one thousand five hundred years, and Will Shakespeare is penning one of his darkest scenes, the murder of Duncan in Macbeth. The groundlings are going to need a bit of light relief after this, the Bard thinks. So he writes one of his funniest scenes, in which a drunken porter rambles about the dangers of having sex when you’re drunk.
Well, there’s nothing like standing on the shoulders of giants when you’re trying to learn something new. So examples such as these provided some useful pointers when I started to write the Crampton mysteries. The question I had to answer was how to make murder mysteries fun in the modern world.
I read lots of other writers’ comic crime and it seemed to me that the key to making murder a laughing matter lie in creating a central character that readers would identify with. I realised I needed a protagonist who could solve mysteries - and win smiles. But my hero couldn’t be a mere clown. He had to have the brains to solve mysteries which baffled the police. He needed the wit to talk himself out of dangerous situations.
I was also struck by the fact that quite a high percentage of humorous crime mysteries are narrated in the first person by the central character. That’s important because the first person gives the author the opportunity to let the protagonist tell his own story in his own words – or in the case of a Janet Evanovich’s brilliant creation Stephanie Plum, her own words.
The voice of the protagonist is the key to humorous crime fiction. It is the voice of the hero - essentially his inner perception of the events taking place around him - which either lightens or darkens the tone. The voice needs to be his unique way of seeing the world. And that voice may set a whole range of tones - cynical, sardonic, flippant, sarcastic, resigned, angry, and many others. Someone said that comic characters see the world through the wrong end of the telescope. It’s their different view - so unexpected we’ve not considered it before - which creates the humour. Colin Crampton, my protagonist is a crime reporter on a Brighton evening newspaper. The late British journalist Nicholas Tomalin said the three qualities needed by a successful reporter were “a plausible manner, a little literary ability and rat-like cunning”. I guess that about sums up Crampton.
Crampton’s humour comes from a flaw in his character. He battles against odds to fight for justice - but he’s a master at pulling outrageous newspaper scams to get his stories. He reaches high, but acts low. He’s a knight in armour with a rusty sword.
Comic crime fiction, in one sense, is a sub-category of the traditional cozy mystery. It's important to ensure the reader never gets close enough to be splattered with the blood or smell the rotting corpse. In the Crampton series, Colin's investigations become something of a romp which he tackles with a cast of colourful characters - aided and abetted by his feisty on-off girlfriend, Shirley Goldsmith.
Since I started writing these books – there are 10 of them now - I've been very encouraged by messages from readers who've enjoyed a lighter mystery than gritty and gruesome "Nordic noir". But I've also learnt one important lesson about humorous crime fiction. No matter what difficulties Colin Crampton encounters, he must always have the last laugh.
* The latest Crampton of the Chronicle adventure is The Mother’s Day Mystery – http://getbook.at/tmdm.
About Peter Bartram:
Peter Bartram brings years of experience as a journalist to his Crampton of the Chronicle crime series – which features crime reporter Colin Crampton in 1960s Brighton, England. Peter has done most things in journalism from door-stepping for quotes to writing serious editorials. He’s pursued stories in locations as diverse as 700 feet down a coal mine and Buckingham Palace. Before turning to crime, Peter wrote 21 non-fiction books in areas including biography and current affairs. Peter is a member of the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers’ Association. His website is at www.colincrampton.com
Peter Bartram, author of the Crampton of the Chronicle comic crime mysteries, tells how he tackled the task of making merry of murder…
I imagine there’s nothing amusing about being shot with a revolver at close range. Or being stabbed with a knife in a back alley. Or being beaten to death by a blunt instrument. So how is it that when we read about murder in fiction, it can sometimes be funny?
It's a question I puzzled over quite a bit when I started to write my Crampton of the Chronicle series of humorous crime mysteries. I’ve not been alone. It turns out writers have been puzzling over the same problem for at least two thousand five hundred years. I found a story in ancient Greek literature about a guy called Euphiletos who kills his wife because she’s been having an affair with a rascal called Eratosthenes. When he’s hauled up before the judges, Euphiletos gets off by raising some laughs and painting himself as a comically deluded cuckold.
Fast-forward about one thousand five hundred years, and Will Shakespeare is penning one of his darkest scenes, the murder of Duncan in Macbeth. The groundlings are going to need a bit of light relief after this, the Bard thinks. So he writes one of his funniest scenes, in which a drunken porter rambles about the dangers of having sex when you’re drunk.
Well, there’s nothing like standing on the shoulders of giants when you’re trying to learn something new. So examples such as these provided some useful pointers when I started to write the Crampton mysteries. The question I had to answer was how to make murder mysteries fun in the modern world.
I read lots of other writers’ comic crime and it seemed to me that the key to making murder a laughing matter lie in creating a central character that readers would identify with. I realised I needed a protagonist who could solve mysteries - and win smiles. But my hero couldn’t be a mere clown. He had to have the brains to solve mysteries which baffled the police. He needed the wit to talk himself out of dangerous situations.
I was also struck by the fact that quite a high percentage of humorous crime mysteries are narrated in the first person by the central character. That’s important because the first person gives the author the opportunity to let the protagonist tell his own story in his own words – or in the case of a Janet Evanovich’s brilliant creation Stephanie Plum, her own words.
The voice of the protagonist is the key to humorous crime fiction. It is the voice of the hero - essentially his inner perception of the events taking place around him - which either lightens or darkens the tone. The voice needs to be his unique way of seeing the world. And that voice may set a whole range of tones - cynical, sardonic, flippant, sarcastic, resigned, angry, and many others. Someone said that comic characters see the world through the wrong end of the telescope. It’s their different view - so unexpected we’ve not considered it before - which creates the humour. Colin Crampton, my protagonist is a crime reporter on a Brighton evening newspaper. The late British journalist Nicholas Tomalin said the three qualities needed by a successful reporter were “a plausible manner, a little literary ability and rat-like cunning”. I guess that about sums up Crampton.
Crampton’s humour comes from a flaw in his character. He battles against odds to fight for justice - but he’s a master at pulling outrageous newspaper scams to get his stories. He reaches high, but acts low. He’s a knight in armour with a rusty sword.
Comic crime fiction, in one sense, is a sub-category of the traditional cozy mystery. It's important to ensure the reader never gets close enough to be splattered with the blood or smell the rotting corpse. In the Crampton series, Colin's investigations become something of a romp which he tackles with a cast of colourful characters - aided and abetted by his feisty on-off girlfriend, Shirley Goldsmith.
Since I started writing these books – there are 10 of them now - I've been very encouraged by messages from readers who've enjoyed a lighter mystery than gritty and gruesome "Nordic noir". But I've also learnt one important lesson about humorous crime fiction. No matter what difficulties Colin Crampton encounters, he must always have the last laugh.
* The latest Crampton of the Chronicle adventure is The Mother’s Day Mystery – http://getbook.at/tmdm.
Peter Bartram brings years of experience as a journalist to his Crampton of the Chronicle crime series – which features crime reporter Colin Crampton in 1960s Brighton, England. Peter has done most things in journalism from door-stepping for quotes to writing serious editorials. He’s pursued stories in locations as diverse as 700 feet down a coal mine and Buckingham Palace. Before turning to crime, Peter wrote 21 non-fiction books in areas including biography and current affairs. Peter is a member of the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers’ Association. His website is at www.colincrampton.com
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