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A detachable fork tine proves fatal, in one of seven golden age-style mysteries that are nested within this metafictional debut novel
No other genre of literature has been subject to as many strict rules as detective fiction in its “golden age” of the 1920s and 30s. Crime author Ronald Knox established 10 commandments for its mechanics and insisted that it should present “a mystery whose elements are clearly presented at an early stage in the proceedings”. Jorge Luis Borges and WH Auden came up with their own formulae, the latter with an elaborate Aristotelian analysis in his essay The Guilty Vicarage.
The world of the classical whodunnit is one of order, repression and good manners, which is why it was so successful among the English middle classes as a place to explore shocking subconscious desires. And there is plenty épater les bourgeois in Alex Pavesi’s first novel Eight Detectives. A set of seven golden age-style mysteries with an abundance of brutal slayings in genteel surroundings are rendered in a heightened pastiche of the form. These are nested within a greater narrative where their fictional author, Grant McAllister, discusses his own set of rules for the detective story with an editor, which leads to an eighth murder mystery. Continue reading...