The Killing Month
I've been on a "bender" - a mystery-reading bender. I think I've read a half dozen novels in the past week...all plot-driven, easy reads with death and mayhem somewhere in the book.
Every so often I do this; I just can't get enough of this genre and I've now tracked my yearly mystery reading marathon to October. It must be the Halloween influence - murder is really not a summer thing, nor is it a dead-of-winter thing, certainly not a muddy, crocus-filled spring thing: murder belongs in the fall and especially October.
I mean, picture a homicidal maniac breaking into your home on January 22 when it's 6 degrees outside, warming his hands by rubbing them together, teeth chattering and sinuses throbbing from the cold? It doesn't work. Not scary.
Picture this same homicidal maniac breaking in on a hot summer day, tan, wearing Bermudas and a Hawaiian shirt, -- where would he hide his ax?
Or spring, can you see this guy lumbering through the mud, running between raindrops, just to get inside your house when he could be dry and cozy in his own house?
But in October I can picture this guy wearing a black turtleneck and black pants; dark mornings and dark nights - he can pick either to slither along side of your house, avoiding windows, quietly clipping your phone lines and using his knife to cut the screen and lift the window to gain entry.
Scary!
So when I write my first mystery novel, you can be sure it will take place in October.
Now did I scare you?
I've been on a "bender" - a mystery-reading bender. I think I've read a half dozen novels in the past week...all plot-driven, easy reads with death and mayhem somewhere in the book.
Every so often I do this; I just can't get enough of this genre and I've now tracked my yearly mystery reading marathon to October. It must be the Halloween influence - murder is really not a summer thing, nor is it a dead-of-winter thing, certainly not a muddy, crocus-filled spring thing: murder belongs in the fall and especially October.
I mean, picture a homicidal maniac breaking into your home on January 22 when it's 6 degrees outside, warming his hands by rubbing them together, teeth chattering and sinuses throbbing from the cold? It doesn't work. Not scary.
Picture this same homicidal maniac breaking in on a hot summer day, tan, wearing Bermudas and a Hawaiian shirt, -- where would he hide his ax?
Or spring, can you see this guy lumbering through the mud, running between raindrops, just to get inside your house when he could be dry and cozy in his own house?
But in October I can picture this guy wearing a black turtleneck and black pants; dark mornings and dark nights - he can pick either to slither along side of your house, avoiding windows, quietly clipping your phone lines and using his knife to cut the screen and lift the window to gain entry.
Scary!
So when I write my first mystery novel, you can be sure it will take place in October.
Now did I scare you?
posted by mary bishop | 1:19 PM
8 Comments:
I am so not scared of getting killed whatever month it is.
Any way you cut it its prolly less work than being alive.
I think.
Canopener...I must do an intervention now..Being alive is being...anything else is um...just like the rotting chicken you didn't cook or the plant that shriveled up because you never watered it. (zero)
Being alive is worth fighting for every day of your life and don't forget whether you love "now" or hate "now" it will change.
Once you are dead nothing changes that....so revel in being alive! I do.
Mary - I never thought about a time of year being better or worse for killing. :)
A lot of the books i read take place year round. :) (good series if you haven't read it yet is J.D. robb's "in death" series - starting with naked in death.)
And I just finished another mystery by Victoria Laurie (fluffy but fun)
as for living vs. not - i'm a cynical wench and so i want to live as long as possible b/c I figure things will get better after i'm gone, so who am I to give them THAT satisfaction (Wink)?
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Mary Bishop,
Its not that bad being alive, granted. But I also think its not so bad being dead.
Its the inevitable result. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. I like smelling flowers, hugging my kids and making woopie with my wife as much (Ok prolly more) than the next guy. But Im pretty comfortable with it coming to an end. And if some serial killer does it for me then I dont need to worry about the road to dying of old age. The fact of the matter is I will be dead for a much longer time than I will be alive, I think it shouldnt be something to be dreaded but definately is something you need to prepare yourself for (And I dont mean by buying life insurance).
I dont wanna panic when the time comes. I would much rather gracefully accept my fate, which is to die. Heck one might even argue that is the whole reason I was born.
Dont worry tho, I cant off myself, I think thats against the rules. And I think being aware of my transcendal nature makes that sun on my face feel just that much warmer.
Also I always cook my chicken, and I always water my plants. :^)
Being dead is probably not those things anyway. Its prolly like being nothing. Sheole, the grave. Nothing. Sounds peaceful.
Im a religious sort so I dont think Ill be dead forever. But I also dont think Ill be flying around clouds with a harp and a halo. Because thats just silly. And the god who made the universe I live in certainly has better and more complicated plans than we can imagine.
Hey thanks for worrying about me tho. :^) Have a good days and sorry for the absurd legth of this comment.(I think I fixed my typos.) heh
Ilanna, I have no idea why I wrote this post except I started to picture a murderer in Bermuda shorts and started to laugh and then pictured a guy in a down jacket, puffed up like a pumpkin, trying to make his cold fingers work to break into a house...
Canopener: I like absurd lengths...I like passionate people who care about something or think about something of worth...anyhow, I am also not afraid of death and I have no religion nor any feeling of life after death other than scientific evidence that says matter cannot be destoyed only changed.
But my biggest fear is not living while I'm alive, which is why I eschew negativity, seek positive experiences, people and events. I feed on good vibes and hide from bad ones. Emotional vampires seem to live behind every Pottery Barn curtained window.
I have Joi de vivre and savor life.
I cannot argue with that!
However I think we learn more from negative experiences than we do from positive ones (mostly).
BTW thanks for the tip, Ill avoid all pottery barns from now on!
;^)
C - I agree about negative experiences teaching us more about life than positive experiences...but the happiest people I know are the ones who (negative experiences and all) rise above the negative to the positive. There is never an ill wind that doesn't blow a good breeze, as they say.
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