The 2015 Petrona Award: a minority opinion

A luxury yacht arrives in Reykjavik harbour with nobody on board. What has happened to the crew, and to the family who were on board when it left Lisbon?

Thora Gudmundsdottir is hired by the young father’s parents to investigate, and is soon drawn deeper into the mystery. What should she make of the rumours saying that the vessel was cursed, especially given that when she boards the yacht she thinks she sees one of the missing twins? Where is Karitas, the glamorous young wife of the yacht’s former owner? And whose is the body that has washed up further along the shore? [taken from the Amazon introduction]

Kathy commented on the 20 May:

I’d like to read an explanation of why this book [The Silence of the Sea by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir] was chosen. I say this as a fan of Yrsa’s series.
But you gave a compelling argument for The Hummingbird and another blogger preferred Hunting Dogs. So I’d like to see why this book was chosen, in particular, i.e. atmosphere, plot, characters, etc.

I finished reading The Silence of the Sea yesterday, and I would like to ask the judges that same question.

 

The story is told in two timeframes with Thora’s investigation trying to prove that the family on the yacht are dead so that the parents and surviving daughter can claim the very large life insurance policies, interspersed with lengthy flashbacks to the voyage from Lisbon to Icelandic waters. It is perhaps a measure of the success of the story that the author drew me into her world so much that I was shocked, and very upset by the ending. I did not enjoy reading the book, but then I don’t think it was a story the reader was supposed to enjoy.

As I read I had hoped that we were not heading for one of those dark Nordic conclusions that leaves me emotionally drained, and searching for a Reginald Hill, or even a Massimo Carlotto for light relief. 

The ending perhaps even crossed the line from horror to horrid. Maybe that says more about my fragile emotional state than it does about the book. Also I cannot believe that any police force in the world would treat a yacht arriving in port, without the seven people meant to be on board, in such a lax manner. Perhaps in the numerous lengthy flashbacks to life on the voyage I found the actions of Aegir, the father, unbelievably stupid. Perhaps I am just an old curmudgeon, who can’t cope with miserable endings. 

In the books I read I am looking for the following features; a good plot, teasing subplots, believable interesting characters, an easy to read style, originality, a few red herrings, new locations, telling social commentary, even a little humour, and some empathy with the reader.

In the case of the Petrona Award winner I feel it should also be a book that the late Maxine Clarke would have enjoyed, a difficult judgement to make unless you knew her very well.

I am going to quote one of the judges, in her own review of the book.

“I found the book to be both compelling and shocking and was, ultimately, glad to reach the end.”

I totally agree. Frankly, even if you loved the rest of the book the ending was so shocking, that it would have disqualified it in my mind from receiving the award. 

There were at least three much more readable books suitable for the general reader on the shortlist than The Silence of the Sea, and my choice would have been The Hummingbird by Kati Hiekkapelto.      

Petrona Award winner 2015

THE SILENCE OF THE SEA by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton; Iceland)

 

The winner was announced tonight at the annual international crime fiction event CrimeFest, held in Bristol. The award was presented by the Godmother of modern Scandinavian crime fiction, Maj Sjöwall, co-author with Per Wahlöö of the Martin Beck series. 

I haven’t read this one yet, but it must be a very good novel to beat out the four novels that I did read from a strong shortlist. 

 

The CWA International Dagger Shortlist 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arnaldur Indridason- Strange Shores translator Victoria Cribb

Pierre Lemaitre – Irene translator Frank Wynne

Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Siege translator Frank Wynne 

Olivier Truc – Forty Days without Shadow translator Louise Rogers LaLaurie

Simon Urban – Plan D translator Katy Derbyshire

Fred Vargas- Dog Will Have His Day translator Sian Reynolds

I have only read one of the books on this shortlist and will probably only read one more before the award is made on 30 June. Although this should mean I am not qualified to comment I have never let lack of qualifications discourage me in the past. This is the first time in the history of the International Dagger, which admittedly only goes back to 2006, that there is no Swedish book shortlisted. I wonder if this is because of the existence of the Petrona Award. The Swedish novel Linda, As In The Linda Murder by Leif G.W.Persson won this award defeating among others the International Dagger shortlisted Strange Shores by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason. Of course Olivier Truc’s highly acclaimed Forty Days without Shadow, although originally written in French, is set in Lapland so there is still a Scandinavian connection.

The International Dagger has been dominated by French and Swedish books; of the 54 books nominated from 2006 to 2014 French books make up 14 and Swedish 12, with the Italians coming in third with nine. The French have won the dagger five times, the Swedes twice and Andrea Camilleri won in 2012.

Why have I read so few of this year’s list? In the past I have read them all or almost all the shortlist. 

Arnaldur Indridason’s Strange Shores I have read and I thought it was a dull depressing read, and below the very high standards set by the earlier books in the series.   

Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas. I may get round to reading this, but I did not enjoy The Three Evangelists [a past winner of the Dagger] as much as the Adamsberg series, which is one of my top favourite detective series.

Pierre Lemaitre’s Irene is the first book in the Camille Verhoeven series. The second book Alex was translated into English last year and deservedly, despite the violent content, won a share of the International Dagger. Why these books were published out of order is beyond my comprehension? Jo Nesbo’s Oslo Trilogy suffered a similar fate with The Devil’s Star number 3 in the trilogy was published in English first! 

I am surprised that I haven’t read any of Arturo Perez-Reverte’s books as some of them feature chess and the works of Alexandre Dumas, two of the few subjects I know something about. But The Siege is a formidable 672 pages long, and I wonder if  historical crime fiction might be out of place in the International Dagger field. 

Simon Urban’s Plan D set in a world where the Berlin Wall never fell has been compared to Fatherland by Robert Harris. But the translator Katy Derbyshire has said it is more literary with “long sentences running on for whole paragraphs”. Certainly the 528 page book’s first sentence gives the reader no inkling that they are beginning a book  of great literary merit. If it wins I will read it otherwise not for me.

Forty Days Without Shadow by Olivier Truc set in Lapland has won seventeen international awards, and I will definitely read this one and hopefully write a review before the winner is announced.    

The Judges Official 2014 Petrona Award Shortlist

  These are the Official Petrona Award shortlist nominees and only one of these books, Linda, As In The Linda Murder by Leif G.W.Persson, appeared in my own opinionated shortlist. I have read four of the six books and here are links to my reviews. 

CLOSED FOR WINTER by Jørn Lier Horst tr. Anne Bruce (Sandstone Press)

STRANGE SHORES by Arnaldur Indriðason tr. Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker)

THE WEEPING GIRL by Håkan Nesser tr. Laurie Thompson (Mantle)

LINDA, AS IN THE LINDA MURDER by Leif G W Persson tr. Neil Smith (Doubleday)

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir tr. Philip Roughton (Hodder & Stoughton)

LIGHT IN A DARK HOUSE by Jan Costin Wagner tr. Anthea Bell (Harvill Secker)

My own shortlist was based on my personal opinion of what I felt Maxine [to whom this award is dedicated] would have chosen; a Don Bartlett translation and an Annika Bengtzon novel by Liza Marklund.

The Weeping Girl by Hakan Nesser is definitely a worthy contender for the award, but I chose the next book in the series, The Strangler’s Honeymoon, simply because it featured more of Van Veeteren, and concentrated a fraction more on society’s problems. The first Scandinavian crime fiction I read way back in the 1970s was the Martin Beck series by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo which is why I prefer a little humour with my murders; even if it is the dark satire of Leif G.W.Persson. There is very little humour in Closed for Winter or Strange Shores and that is why I did not enjoy them very much, annoying in the case of the very depressing and predictable Strange Shores because Arnaldur Indridason is one of my favourites. 

Will I read the remaining two books before the winner is announced?

Someone to Watch Over Me concerns a young man with Down’s syndrome accused of arson and murder. Author Yrsa Sigurdardottir is a charming lady, but I would probably find she had inadvertently put something in the book that clashes with my own knowledge about people with Down’s syndrome, therefore I will give it a miss. 

If I have the time I hope to give the Jan Costin Wagner novel Light In A Dark House a try despite the fact that my TBR mountain never seems to get any smaller. I look forward to the judges decision on the Petrona- my pick the Hakan Nesser or Leif G.W.Persson?  

The Bridge II: brilliant but depressing

Scandinavia is not all crayfish parties, Abba, beautiful forests, Volvo, fjords, Carlsberg, efficiency and good design, extended paternity leave, and beautiful blondes. It is now a place of difficult relationships and a social model that is breaking down under the strain. Of course it was never the social democratic utopia repeatedly painted in the media, and as long ago as the 1960s and 1970s Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo were telling a very different tale.

The so called Welfare State abounds with sick, poor, lonely people living at best on dog food. The Locked Room: Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo 1973

The Bridge II finished a gruelling ten episode run last weekend. The actual bridge featured in the TV series connects Copenhagen and Malmo, a city that in recent years has gained a somewhat unpleasant reputation. Especially sad in the light of the great deeds that were done across the Oresund Strait in October 1943. Sometimes well meaning liberal ideals clash with the harsh reality of our modern world. The Bridge II was a very dark series involving some very unhappy wealthy people and a group of environmental activists, who thought they could  save the world by killing people. The complexities of the plot and the way the crimes are apparently solved, closed and then reopened with yet another plot twist reminded me of the earlier novels of Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo. He would have Harry Hole solve a case with about 200 pages to go and then produce plot twist after plot twist for the reader’s pleasure.

Only one western country Sweden has had two leading politicians assassinated in recent years, the Prime Minister Olof Palme in1986, and Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in 2003. They have also had the targeted shootings of immigrants by John Ausonius [the Laserman] in 1991-1992, and a Malmo copycat “Laserman 2″in 2010. Norway had the tragedy on Utoya Island, a mass murder perpetrated by right wing fanatic Anders Brevik. Perhaps the days have gone when people said there were more murders in Henning Mankell or Karin Fossum novel than in real life Sweden or Norway.

The Bridge II featured two main protagonists Saga Noren, Malmo County Police…. the police designation almost became part of her name and Martin Rohde of Copenhagen Police. The part of the blunt frighteningly honest Asperger syndrome like Saga, was played brilliantly by Sofia Helin, and Martin by Kim Bodnia, an actor with the sort of lived in face that is very expressive when things go wrong. And in The Bridge things go wrong, very wrong. The series also gave viewers a helping of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, lesbianism, homosexuality, masturbation and incestuous love. Agatha Christie’s Poirot it wasn’t. And it also provided the viewer after the tragic ending of series one with yet another depressingly miserable finale worthy of the darkest moments in the works of Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman, and Arnaldur Indridason’s Jar City.

I wondered if the character of the socially inept Saga Noren, Malmo County Police is another version of Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking, Karin Alvtegen’s Sibylla Forsentrom, or Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander? Derivative or not, Saga was a marvellous creation and ironically her blunt behaviour sometimes introduced a rare touch of humour into a very dark and bleak story. It was her very lack of social graces that probably made her a good detective.

on suicide: Sweden lead the world by a margin that seemed to grow larger from one report to the next. Cop Killer: Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo 1974

But the misery filled finale reminded me of those books by Scandinavian crime fiction authors that are not content to leave the reader shattered by the characters going through hell; they are not satisfied until they pile on yet another final tragedy to rip the heart and soul out of the reader. A happy ending is out of the question. It must be the result of those long dark Nordic winters. 

The Bridge was superb dramatic television but I am not sure I could suffer like that every week. Some Scandinavian authors such as Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Leif G.W.Persson and Hakan Nesser balance their bleak analysis of the Swedish social democratic experiment with some humour and satire; but others take the dark melancholic path.  I prefer the lighter approach, but would readily watch a third instalment of Saga Noren, Malmo County Police.  

 

STRANGE SHORES: ARNALDUR INDRIDASON trans VICTORIA CRIBB

Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli have been the lead protagonists in the last two books in this series, Outrage and Black Skies, while Erlendur has been on a walking holiday in Eastern Iceland. 

But the introspective Reyjavik detective has been sleeping rough in his parents old ruined farmhouse, wandering through the wilderness and reminiscing about the tragic loss in a storm of his younger brother, Bergur “Beggi”. Erlendur hears about a similar case  in which according to Jakob, now long dead, his wife Matthildur went to hike over to Reydarfjordur in a terrible storm and was never seen again. He begins a private investigation of this 60 year old disappearance and by questioning the Matthildur’s elderly friends and relatives he uncovers a sad story of jealousy, lust, revenge and guilt. The later resonates with his feelings about the loss of Beggi in a similar storm.

It is disappointing when a fine series ends with a fairly weak story, and one that is so depressing. I did find it very difficult to read a tale that features personal loss as such a key element. But frankly the main problem was that although the writing was atmospheric, and had some social commentary about industrial development altering the landscape and the lives of the locals, the narrative was a bit boring, with Erlendur very slowly teasing bits of the story from various elderly grumpy Icelanders.

It seems some old crime series, like old soldiers,  don’t die they simply just fade away. [with apologies to General Douglas MacArthur]

‘But then I start wondering: what about all the others?’

‘Others?’

‘The ones left behind.’ 

‘What about them?’ ‘The people I pity are the ones left to cope with the fallout. Who have to endure sadness for the rest of their lives.’ 

BLACK SKIES: ARNALDUR INDRIDASON trans VICTORIA CRIBB

Black Skies is another superb crime novel by Arnaldur Indridason, and this one moves Sigurdur Oli, in the spotlight. That is because the  previous main protagonist in the series, Erlendur is still travelling out east, and the second member of the triumvirate Elinborg is dealing with the case described in Outrage, the last novel in this series.

So the reader gets Sigurdur Oli’s slightly different perspective of Icelandic society, and a case about money, greed, child abuse, revenge and financial deceit.

Sigurdur Oli attends a school reunion where feeling low because his relationship with Bergthora is on the rocks, and he has just suffered a rejection from an attractive blonde, he is asked by his best friend, Patrekur, to help with a problem. Patrekur’s brother -in-law Hermann and his wife got involved in a trendy wife swapping group, and now a couple Lina and Ebbi are attempting to blackmail them with photographs. Hermann’s wife is vulnerable because she is trying to get ahead in politics. Sigurdur Oli goes round to apply some pressure to the couple, but on arrival finds Lina in the process of being attacked by a thug with a baseball bat. The attacker escapes and Sigurdur Oli not wanting to involve his friends has difficulty explaining why he was present at the time. The investigation is complicated when it is learned that Lina’s husband Ebbi organises trip to the glaciers for wealthy bankers, and the promiscuous Lina had been on the trip.

Indridason gives us a portrait of Icelandic society before the financial debacle. The bankers and financiers are buying luxurious houses with smart wooden floors, purchasing plush SUV cars, going on exotic holidays, and hiring chamber orchestras for parties; all on credit. A smug self satisfied Iceland appears proud that its financiers are buying up British high street stores and football clubs; all on credit. But alongside that is a desperate underclass of the abused,the alcoholics, and the drug addicted living in abject squalor. One of these desperate people, Andres, tries to contact Sigurdur Oli and his story is told alongside the main investigation into the attack on Lina.

Sigurdur Oli, who is missing out on the financial bonanza provided by the New Vikings, appears at first to be a less sympathetic character than Erlendur, or Elinborg, but as the novel proceeds and we learn about his interest in American sport, his relationship with Bergthora, and his incompatible divorced parents I warmed to the man. There is a particularly poignant passage where Sigurdur Oli phones Bergthora late at night hoping to repair the damage, and finds she has a new man in her life. 

Indridason also gives us some witty humour, and cutting social commentary.

He could not bear the smell of the waiting rooms and surgeries, the waiting, and worst of all meeting the doctors- though dentists were top of the list. He could think of nothing worse than lying in a chair, gaping up at one of those millionaires, while he or she grumbled about the cost of living. 

Iceland’s economic miracle may have been a mirage but this series continues to provide interesting plots, interesting social commentary  and above all great character studies. While I was reading I couldn’t help thinking about the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond and his quote that ‘ an independent Scotland would join fellow small, independent nations Iceland and Ireland in an “arc of prosperity”.’ 

The reality:

‘We’re up shit creek,’ he confessed. ‘This house, the car. Everything’s on a hundred per cent loan; we’re mortgaged to the hilt. We owe money everywhere.’ 

More proof if we needed it that good crime writing is based on facts, and political rhetoric is inevitably based on fiction.

Black Skies may start slowly, but it is a clever book that grows on you, and it maintains the high standards set in this series.  

International Dagger Shortlist: some guesswork

Some years I have already read most of the CWA International Dagger shortlist before the announcement is made. This year it will be announced at Crimefest on 25 May in Bristol, and unfortunately my limited reading numbers, and the absence of any Liza Marklund’s books on the eligibility list, may mean that I won’t get round to reading all six. But never mind here is my unofficial shortlist from the books I have read, it may be totally out of kilter with the official choices, but at least has a nice geographic spread, with contenders from Argentina, Iceland, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden and Italy .

Sweet Money: Ernesto Mallo translator Katherine Silver

Outrage: Arnaldur Indridason translator Anna Yates

Trackers: Deon Meyer translator K.L.Seegers

The Boy in the Suitcase: Lene Kaaberbol [also translator] & Agnete Friis 

Another Time, Another Life: Leif G.W. Persson translator Paul Norlen

The Potter’s Field: Andrea Camilleri translator Stephen Sartarelli

The cover photo might give you a clue as to which one would be my winner. 

 

Getting a flavour of Scandinavian/Nordic Crime Fiction

 Two of the most knowledgeable experts on Nordic Crime Fiction, Ali Karim and Barry Forshaw, recently came together on The Rap Sheet to discuss Barry’s new book Death in a Cold Climate. At the end of  an interesting interview Ali Karim put Barry Forshaw on the spot asking  “For readers who want to get a flavor of Scandinavian/Nordic crime fiction, but don’t have a lot of extra time, which five or so works would you recommend their reading?”

His choices were: Smilla’s Sense of Snow [1992] Peter Hoeg, The Laughing Policeman [1968] Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo, The Redbreast [2000] Jo Nesbo, Firewall [1998] Henning Mankell, Woman with Birthmark [1996] Hakan Nesser, Jar City [200] Arnaldur Indridason. 

These lists are always a minefield for the creator, and it would be very difficult to argue against the inclusion of any of these authors. Apart from Sjowall and Wahloo who were writing before it was first awarded all the others have won the Nordic Glass Key  [Hoeg 1993, Nesbo 1998, Mankell 1992, Nesser 2000, Indridason 2002 and 2003] a pretty good judgement on their standard of excellence.

I am not sure I agree with all the specific book selections, particularly with those books chosen for Henning Mankell, and Hakan Nesser, but my main quibble is with the lack of women authors. [Five and a half men to half a woman!]

Also as you can see from the dates there is not much new blood on that list. I think potential readers should be offered a wider choice of books, so here is my long list. Some are my favourites and some are not, but they are a cross section of the very different types of Scandinavian crime fiction on offer:

The Inspector and Silence: Hakan Nesser – Deadpan humour, introspection and terrible crimes blended together by one of my favourite Swedish authors.

The Locked Room: Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo- More humour and a new twist on the locked room mystery in one of my personal favourites from the series.

Missing: Karin Alvtegen- Astrid Lindgren’s great niece writes a superb thriller about Sibylla Forsenstrom, an outsider on the run, five years before Stieg Larsson created Lisbeth Salander.  

The Gallows Bird: Camilla Lackberg- If you are trying to get a flavour of Nordic Crime Fiction you can’t ignore a writer who sells such huge numbers of books. Domesticity mixed with crime is popular. 

Sidetracked: Henning Mankell- I read this a long time ago but still remember it as one of the best Mankells I have read. It won the CWA Gold Dagger in 2001.

Echoes of the Dead: Johan Theorin, a stunning prize winning debut with an octogenarian investigator. An almost perfect blending of a back story with the present day, and a twist in the tale.

The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil’s Star: Jo Nesbo- the brilliant Oslo trilogy that introduced readers to Harry Hole, and Norway’s problems with right wing extremists. Sadly prophetic.

Exposed: Liza Marklund- a recent read for me, but with so many interesting and relevant themes to today’s situation,  from journalistic ethics to political chicanery, it is surprising it was written in 1999. 

The Water’s Edge: Karin Fossum- A writer who respects her readers and whose psychological crime books are more interested in the effect of crime on complex human relationships.

The Draining Lake: Arnaldur Indridason- Another superb book with a clever back story, with Erlendur unravelling the past, while dealing with present day problems. 

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest: Stieg Larsson-  By the time he wrote book three Stieg was avoiding some of the 150 page digressions of  his previous two books. This book promised so much …………

Mercy: Jussi-Adler Olsen- an inventive beginning for a series that has two fascinating and contrasting protagonists. 

Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End: Leif G.W.Persson- Not the easiest read, but the professor wins prizes, and this convoluted book is an example of the Olof Palme conspiracy sub genre of Swedish crime fiction. 

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A baker’s dozen of authors, a very varied collection of books, and four and a half women authors. Simples. 

Reading a Crime Fiction Series

Reading a crime fiction series can be a bit tricky at times because:

1] The author has written the series out of chronological order.

James Lawton’s Troy series and Liza Marklund’s Annika Bengtzon books are two examples of this particular quirkiness. At the moment I am reading Exposed by Liza Marklund, the first chronologically of the five books published in English, and the young inexperienced Annika is feisty but obviously immature in comparison with the Annika of Red Wolf [number 5]. This is the fourth of the Bengtzon series I have read and I have tackled them in the order 4, 2, 5, 1 -reading The Bomber [4]  some years ago before I began blogging. New readers to Liza Marklund will be able to read the series in the correct order, and not become confused. 

2] The publisher has had the series translated in the wrong order.

The worst example of this foible was the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo, where book 5 [The Devil’s Star] in the Oslo trilogy of connected stories was translated before book 3 [The Redbreast] and book 4 [Nemesis]. 

This happens fairly frequently, or the publisher dives into book 11 of a 15 book series for some unknown reason. So for once it is a pleasure to read a long running series in order such as the Montalbano books by Andrea Camilleri.

3] The author switches perspectives between characters

The multi award winning S.J Rozan writes each book in her series alternately from the different perspective of her two protagonists Lydia Chin and Bill Smith. When you are not expecting it such as in Outrage by Arnaldur Indridason, where his usual lead character Erlendur does not appear and Elinborg takes over it can be a pleasant surprise, and give a new lease of life to the series. Hakan Nesser even had his Inspector Van Veeteren retire to run an antiquarian bookshop, but still have his advice sought by his former subordinates. When you have a team of investigators as in the Martin Beck series [Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo] or a cast of quirky characters as in the Adamsberg books by Fred Vargas the author can alter the emphasis from book to book, or within each book. This must make it much more interesting for the writer and ensures a better experience for the reader.

I particularly like this method of continuing to keep a series fresh.

4] The reader comes to a series late.

Some series have been running for so long that if one comes to them late and decide to catch up you face a marathon reading session, and have to absorb a lot of back story about the character. Diamond Dagger winner Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone alphabet series started with A for Alibi in 1982, and has reached V for Vengeance in 2011. But Sue Grafton is a beginner when it comes to keeping a protagonist going on and on for years. 

Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, began her Chief Inspector Wexford series back in 1964 with From Doon with Death and last year the 22nd Wexford, The Monster in the Box was published. In the new Wexford The Vault the former Chief Inspector is enjoying his retirement. Ruth Rendell could be almost considered the first Scandinavian crime writer to make it big in the UK as her mother was born in Sweden, and brought up in Denmark. 

5] The characters do not age in real time

Some characters age for example Ian Rankin’s Rebus in the 17 book series which ran from Knots and Crosses [1987] to Exit Music [2007]. This series did not really take off until the 8th book Black and blue which won the CWA Gold Dagger, and Exit Music is set during the period before Rebus is due to retire. 

Hercule Poirot, probably the best known Belgian in the world, was imagined by his creator Agatha Christie as an old man in her first book The Mysterious Affair at Styles published in 1920. He had been a policeman in Belgium for many years, retired and a refugee in the Great War. 

‘That is not true,’ said Poirot. ‘I had a bad failure in Belgium in 1893.’  [Peril at End House]

Elephants can Remember was published in 1972, and Curtain: Poirot’s Last case was published in 1975, although that was written in the 1940’s and locked away to be published after Miss Christie’s death. A disconcertingly long  career for the great detective, but hours of pleasant reading for crime fiction fans. 

A crime fiction series can raise a lot of questions for readers.

Do you continue to read them even when they have lost their early promise? Should authors take their characters to the Reichenbach Falls, or allow their protagonist to quietly retire to tend their vegetable garden, or run a bookshop? Do authors run out of plots and just rely on their idiosyncratic characters to carry a book? Do authors eventually get bored, or even begin to hate their creations? When authors who are best known for a series write a one off  will a fan of the series buy that one off, or wait for the next book in the series? What is the ideal length for a series? What part has television played in the popularity of crime fiction series? ……………