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[Re-release] Mysteries in Unusual Formats
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This episode was originally released on January 30, 2024.
Avid mystery fans are familiar with the expectations of the genre. Occasionally, an author will try something new and delight fans in the process. In this episode, Brook and Sarah discuss mysteries that bend genre conventions.
Discussed and mentioned
Wrong Place Wrong Time (2023) Gillian McAllister
Love Letters Between a Nobleman and his Sister written (1684) Aphra Behn
Dracula (1897) Bram Stoker
Woman in White (1859) Wilkie Collins
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2019) Holly Jackson
The Christmas Appeal (2023) Janice Hallet
The Appeal (2021) Janice Hallett
The Woman in the Library (2022) Sulari Gentill
The Documents in the Case (1930) Dorothy L. Sayers
Ink Black Heart (2022) Robert Galbraith
The Block Party: A Novel (2023) Jamie Day
Security (2016) Gina Wohlsdorf
Murder in the Family (2023) Cara Hunter
Tell Me What Really Happened (2023) Chelsea Sedoti
The Twyford Code (2022) Janice Hallett
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels (2023) Janice Hallett
Sliding Doors (1998) film
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) film
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For a full episode transcript, visit https://cluedinmystery.com/re-release-mysteries-in-unusual-formats/
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Transcript
Introduction and Upcoming Plans
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, it's Sarah. Brooke and I are taking a short break from recording new episodes to catch up on our reading lists and plan for the next season of Clued in Mystery. While we're off, we are re-releasing a few of our favourite episodes. We hope you enjoy.
00:00:24
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke, and we both love mystery. Hi Brooke. Hi Sarah, how are you? I'm doing really well, how about you?
Exploring Unusual Mystery Formats
00:00:37
Speaker
I'm great, and I'm excited to talk about today's topics, unusual formats.
00:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, so as mystery fans and mystery readers, we are most familiar with stories that ah you know follow the progression of the detective as he or she gathers the clues and interviews suspects and comes to a conclusion about who the culprit is.
00:01:05
Speaker
or maybe in a domestic thriller, we see the perspective of different characters, we get their interpretation of events until the final big reveal at the end. But I've recently noticed a few mysteries that are told in unusual formats.
00:01:26
Speaker
So, when I first proposed this topic to you, I was thinking of Gillian McAllister's book, Wrong Place, Wrong Time, which is told in reverse. It opens with a woman witnessing her son commit a crime and then she relives time leading up to the event trying to prevent it. It was a fascinating read and I highly recommend it for anyone who's looking for something different.
00:01:50
Speaker
Most of the stories that I've found that are um what you would consider unusual formats are epistolary. And so, you know, the epistolary novel has been around for years. While I was doing the research, I found a list published by Book Riot that shows love letters between a nobleman and his sister, um written in 1684 by Afra Ben as one of the first epistolary novels.
00:02:18
Speaker
Dracula, published in 1897, is probably one of the most famous epistolary novels with letters written between characters. I think for me, the appeal of this kind of a story is feeling that you're reading something that isn't intended for you. It's like reading and a reply all email chain or a long Facebook argument. You can't help yourself getting drawn in. Another example of early mystery fiction told in an epistolary format is The Woman in White, published in 1859 by Wilkie Collins.
Modern Tech in Storytelling
00:02:52
Speaker
More recently, there are books incorporating audio transcripts and other technology that we are more familiar with in the 21st century. ah For example, um transcripts from podcast episodes or text messages. I think of Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder as a great example of this.
00:03:12
Speaker
ah Brooke, I know that you read The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett, which is told through emails and text messages, as is her first book, The Appeal. And she's written a couple of other books that also explore different ways of telling mysteries.
00:03:27
Speaker
Another unusual format is a book within a book. So I really enjoyed Solari Gentile's The Woman in the Library, which was published in 2022, especially because of the author is sleuth perspective in this. Golden Age author Dorothy L. Sayers published one book in 1930 that doesn't include her sleuth, ah Peter Whimsy, but is told in a series of letters titled Documents in the Case.
00:03:53
Speaker
I recently started reading it. Like I said earlier, like it's really interesting to just read something that is intended for someone else. So Brooke, have you, in addition to reading The Christmas Appeal, have you read anything like this?
Challenges and Preferences in Non-Traditional Formats
00:04:11
Speaker
ah Yeah, and I love epistolary novels ever since being a a lit major a long long time ago I just I love them and for the same reason that you say Sarah it feels like you are in Someone else's business like you're somewhere and you're getting the goods that you that you're not supposed to be there. It's that voyeurism feeling um But one book that I can think of that I recently read that utilizes an unusual format uh is Ink Black Heart and this is I think the fifth book in the Robert Galbraith series it came out in 2022 and this one is uh the entire book isn't told this way but so it has elements of this unusual format where sections are
00:05:01
Speaker
the online conversations between suspects in ah like a gaming atmosphere. And so the detectives are like, you're reading over their shoulder because they're trying to see what's going on in the case by following these gamers. so I have to admit it was hard for a while. I think as somebody who, you know, you we get used to that traditional story that you described in the intro And it it it can be kind of jarring for a minute. But once you get into it, then you realize what's going on. And um and it can be a lot of fun because then you start to have that feeling like you're you're reading someone's inside information.
00:05:38
Speaker
Well, and and that kind of sense of not really knowing what's going on or or um being surprised. I listened to The Appeal by Janice Hallett without realizing that it was going to be a series of um emails and text messages between the characters in in how the story was told. um And yeah, it took me a while to figure out, okay, this is this is how the story is is going to be told.
00:06:09
Speaker
um But as you say, once once you figure that out, it then becomes just so enthralling, right? That you're you're reading someone else's private communication.
00:06:21
Speaker
But I have to say, I think I prefer ah books that are in the format that you described, um Ink Black Heart, where there is some of that traditional narrative that you are familiar with that is supplemented with these extra snippets, whether it's, as in that example, that um the game or forum conversations. I'm reading a book right now called um The Block Party.
00:06:52
Speaker
And ah it's largely in kind of that traditional format that we would expect. But every now and again, there are um excerpts from I'm assuming it's a neighborhood Facebook group, um, or maybe it's a neighborhood WhatsApp, uh, conversation, but you know, you get these, um, different voices a in these snippets of of conversations. And I really am impressed with how authors can, in a very short amount of text, really convey the different voices of characters. Mm-hmm.
00:07:32
Speaker
I agree. I think that for character revelation, I guess is the word. This works so well. I've really felt that in the Janice Hallett book, The Christmas Appeal, because their emails and their texts back and forth, depending on who they were talking to, they would have, you know, they a Sally, the dinner was wonderful. And then they're talking to Bob and they're like, can you believe they served that? And so you get the feeling of the relationships and the characterization just like really clearly, really quickly. So it's fun.
Audiobooks vs. Physical Books
00:08:07
Speaker
So I mentioned A Good Girl's Guide to Murder in in the introduction, and that's a YA novel. It's the first in a series of, I think, three, um where the main character um decides that she's going to do a podcast, a true crime podcast investigating the death of, I think it was a classmate a couple of years ago, and maybe the older sister of a classmate. I can't remember.
00:08:35
Speaker
Anyway, um I listened to that book and I really appreciated that they, for the podcast episode pieces, um brought in voices of other characters so that it sounded like it was a podcast, right? So she's you know doing an interview with a friend or you know brother of the accused killer.
00:09:00
Speaker
And so then it's a different voice. It's not just her voice. And I think that's something that an audiobook, when you listen to something, you can get that richer experience.
00:09:12
Speaker
Mm-hmm and I wonder because I know that you also listened to the appeal on audio and you shared with me earlier um when you were reading it that at first you're struggling to figure out what was going on and I wonder if that book had been produced with different narrators if that would have been easier and quicker.
00:09:33
Speaker
I think it was, Brooke, it was a while ago that i that I listened to it. Because it opens with that email that comes from the supervising lawyer for the for the case, right? And it it's sent to the two associates who are reviewing all of these documents. And then every now and again, you get a little exchange between the associates about whatever it is that they've that they've been working on. And I think it was because I just didn't have that visual context.
00:10:03
Speaker
that this is an email that I'm listening to, right? And and i think it like I think they read the metadata so that, you know you know, this is sent on Tuesday, ah September 16th at 8.45 AM or whatever. um But I don't know, maybe it's because i was I was cleaning while I was listening to it or something. And, you know, sometimes Sometimes I don't have my full attention, which is a terrible thing to admit, but um i I did have to go back and restart it and and say like, okay, this is important information and you really need to to um to listen to it.
00:10:44
Speaker
So that's a good point for these unusual formats. When we have epistolary elements, there are some benefits to listening to an audio book and there are other benefits to actually having the physical book or an ebook. And the experience is um maybe a little different depending on the format that you are enjoying the story through.
00:11:08
Speaker
I learned of a ah book that I have not read, but it seems very interesting when researching this and it's called Security by Gina Walsdorf from 2016. So a few years back.
00:11:20
Speaker
and um This one is scenes, ah it seems to be like you say that there's some ah traditional narrative, but then the unusual format component is scenes from various security cameras that are in this resort. So you get verbal description of what's happening on security cameras you know at that moment. So at that time of day, what's happening on each camera.
00:11:50
Speaker
I find the idea of it a little jarring. like I'm you know speaking of trying to incorporate the idea of reading a series of
Innovative Storytelling Techniques
00:11:59
Speaker
emails or texts. like This is visual description, but I did see that a few reviewers basically said what you and I did, which was it was a little hard to get into, but once I did, that they really got that sensation of voyeurism in this particular novel.
00:12:16
Speaker
Oh, that sounds really interesting. And so my hold didn't come through from the library in time for me to read Kara Hunter's Murder in the Family, which was released last year. But apparently it uses television transcripts and other media excerpts um to tell the story. And it sounds you know similar to what you were just describing. And i honestly, I can't wait to read it. Like, I think it'll be a really, I hope it is a really interesting read.
00:12:45
Speaker
Another unusual format that I read, I think this was last year, was um tell me what really happened. And again, this is YA and it is a series of police interviews with a group of kids who I think one of them has gone missing. And so they're trying to figure out what's happened. They went on a camping trip and one of them didn't come home. Um, and, uh, you know, so it's, it's because the characters are all teenagers, you get that kind of teenage voice, um, that
00:13:29
Speaker
seems a little bit more pronounced because it's supposed to be what they're saying or what they've said rather than, um, you know, when we're reading a book featuring, um, uh, teen characters, you know, they're, uh, the descriptions of, of what they're doing isn't written as, um, as a teenager would speak.
00:13:53
Speaker
I think that these unusual formats lend themselves really nicely to um the idea of unreliable narrators because you're getting the words straight from them.
Unreliable Narrators and Format Experiments
00:14:06
Speaker
It actually reminds me a lot of the idea of Gone Girl because we're seeing her words in her alleged journal um and then we later find out that it was a lie and so I guess you know earlier I'm i'm almost saying the opposite of what I've said earlier it's just where we really learn a lot about the characters but
00:14:29
Speaker
In this sense, the characters, we can get a really good, unreliable narrator twist later because we think we're seeing their honest true thoughts, there their honest statement to the police officer, and then later discover that we've been had.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that's a really good point, Brooke, because it it probably depends on the format of how their thoughts are being conveyed to us, right? So in those group chats, someone's true colors.
00:15:03
Speaker
are more likely to come through than, as you say, if they're writing something that they're expecting someone else to read, right? So their diary or even if it's a letter to to someone or or an email to someone, you know, I don't know if people are more cautious in email because there's always a risk that it could, you know, once you've sent it off, it could be forwarded to anybody, right? Um, which is far less likely to happen if you're handwriting a letter, for example.
00:15:43
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah, it's such a creative opportunity for authors who are willing to take on this this challenge. You know, thinking about Janice Hallett, she really seems to have done exactly that, right? I think all of the books that she's published have played with format. So um the Appeal and the Christmas Appeal are these transcripts of emails and text messages that the legal team is reviewing.
00:16:09
Speaker
Her second book, The Twyford Code, is audio transcripts. And her third book, The Mysterious Case of the Appleton Angels, I haven't read that yet, so I don't know what that format is, but she really seems to be leaning into that. And I read ah another book after I read um Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Jillian McAllister. I read another book by hers, and it was a much more traditional ah format in terms of the way that the book was told. And obviously, like once you've done a a story in reverse, you're probably not going to tell all of your stories like that. um But hats off to Janice Hallett for like really playing with that um with that format.
00:16:56
Speaker
Absolutely. you know You mentioned the book within a book format, and I hadn't thought of this, but many of Robert Goddard's books, and we spoke about him in our recent Winter TBR lists, are similar to that because you're oftentimes getting large portions of a character's journal because many times he does like a a past tense and a present tense you know way to tell a story, which I suppose is an unusual format in and of itself.
Non-linear Storytelling in Books and Media
00:17:29
Speaker
You go to the past and hear part of the story and then you come back to the future. But a lot of times that's done in someone's journal. um and And I love that as well. I love that idea of books within books or ah or or getting inside someone's journal.
00:17:47
Speaker
As far as, um, film and TV goes probably the only way to do much of unusual formats because we are talking about visual is probably the first example that you talked about those nonlinear or time shift kind of stories. And we do see that an awful lot where the first scene you see in the mystery show or movie is maybe the crime, or maybe you see the villain, but you don't know who it is. And then we go back to the beginning and tell the rest of the story. That's that's a pretty common um way to tell a story visually. But I will say that you know we are looking at a non-linear story then.
00:18:38
Speaker
ahha that's ah That's a good point. And in wrong place, wrong time, she relives days in sequence, right? So like she goes back one day and then she goes back two days and then she goes back five days. Like, you know, so she's seeing, she realizes she's reliving um significant moments. And it's kind of that you know, if I could have made a different choice, what would have happened, right? She's she's kind of playing with that um in in the book. And um I mean, we've seen that in um in movies. I mean, it wasn't a mystery, but sliding doors, right?
00:19:20
Speaker
Yeah. And even, you know, glass onion has a nonlinear element because we're getting the story told to us. And then about at the halfway point, if I'm remembering correctly, we discover that actually the at one character is a twin. And so we go back to the beginning and we retrace the footsteps and we go back and we find out what actually happened. So there's some non-linear storytelling going on in that movie as well.
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
00:19:52
Speaker
Well, Sarah, this was so much fun. I love thinking about all the different ways to tell a mystery story. Yeah. So it was a great conversation Brooke and thank you for having it with me today.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, it was great. And thank you everyone for listening today to Clued in Mystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery. Clued In Mystery is written and produced by Brooke Peterson and Sarah M. Stephen. Music is by Shane Ivers. If you liked what you heard, please consider telling a friend, leaving a ri review, or subscribing with your favorite podcast listening app. Visit our website at cluedinmystery.com to sign up for our newsletter, The Clued In Chronicle, or to join our paid membership, The Clued In Cartel. We're on social media at Clued In Mystery.