Public Comment

Literary fiction is distinguished from genre fiction by the emphasis on meaning over entertainment. Usually, literary fiction is character driven rather than plot driven. 

Four of 2023’s best literary fiction novels are categorized as mystery, thriller, and suspense. 

A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny 

In the 18th Inspector Armand Gamache novel, Louise Penny provides a plotline where one mystery segues into another. “A World of Curiosities” begins with a flashback, where Inspector Gamache investigated the death of a female drug addict and uncovered horrendous child abuse and pornography. A decade later, the addict’s damaged children reappear in Three Pines, where Gamache lives. In a seemingly unrelated incident, the residents discover a hidden room containing a copy of a 17th century symbolic painting. When Gamache studies the mammoth artwork, he realizes that it contains messages directed to him by the infamous serial killer, John Fleming. 

“A World of Curiosities” affords Louise Penny the opportunity to reflect on good and evil how brave men and women move forward in tragic circumstances. Armand Gamache is a troubled hero, struggling to rise to the challenge of being the only person capable of stopping a brilliant killer. 

Holly: Stephen King 

Diminutive private investigator, Holly Gibney, is operating Finders Keepers detective agency by herself when she gets a request to find a missing girl, Bonnie Dahl. Because of the coronavirus epidemic, the mythical town of Brighton, Ohio, is shut down. Nonetheless, Holly is relentless and soon understands that a serial killer is snatching victims off the Brighton streets. 

The thriller is an opportunity for Stephen King to elaborate the character of Holly Gibney. She hasn’t always been treated fairly, but she has persevered. 

Past Lying: Val McDermid 

Because of Covid, Scotland’s Historic Cases Police Unit is quiescent. DCI Karen Pirie and her colleague, Daisy Mortimer, are holed up in Pirie’s boyfriend’s spacious Edinburgh flat. A friend, a librarian from the National Archives, tells them of a strange new acquisition: the last manuscript of a recently deceased mystery writer, “The Vanishing of Laurel Oliver.” The librarian believes the manuscript plot bears a striking resemblance to the unsolved disappearance of a college student, Lara Hardie. Karen Pirie agrees, and her team begins to look deeper into the Hardie case and Lara’s connection to the dead writer, Jake Stein. 

The long mystery is kept entertaining by the quality of McDermid’s writing, particularly the characterizations of Pirie and her team. McDermid provides extended consideration of relationships. 

Small Mercies: Dennis Lehance 

In 1974, a time of Boston racial tension, a black man, Auggie Williamson, is killed and a white teenager, Jules Fennessy, disappears. Her mother, Mary Pat, sets out to find what happened to Jules and runs afoul of the Irish mob. 

Dennis Lehane’s characterization of Mary Pat Fennessy is spot on, as is his description of her hard-scrabble Irish Boston neighborhood 

Summary 

Not every page of these mystery/thrillers is devoted to action; there are moments where the author, speaking through the characters, explores larger themes. 

In A World of Curiosities Louise Penny asks: “how do we remain hopeful when there is evil all around us?” Inspector Gamache carries the weight of moral responsibility and struggles with depression, “How can I go on when the forces of evil are so powerful?” Of the four authors, Louise Penny is the only one to directly deal with this topic, but it surfaces in each novel. 

The common theme that links the four novels is misogyny: men mistreating women. While Inspector Gamache is the only male protagonist, there is opportunity in A World of Curiosities for Louise Penny to discuss situations where women are discriminated against. In Holly misogyny is the dominant theme. In Past Lying there are multiple allusions to sexism and chauvinism. For example, Karen Pirie decides to break up with her boyfriend, Hamish Mckenzie because he’s too full of himself and decides the covid lockdown rules don’t apply to him. Finally, inSmall Mercies, Mary Pat Fennessy lives in traditional Irish culture where women are seen but not heard; searching for her missing daughter, one of the problems she encounters is that none of the men take her seriously. 

In literary fiction, there’s often a connection between the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and the narrative. In 2023, it’s not surprising that the dominant themes of these four mystery/thrillers are “the battle between good and evil” and “misogyny.” 

Happy New year!