Crimespotting

Crimespotting is a new collection of short crime stories and is the third publication to support the Edinburgh OneCity Trust. It brings together stories from ten accomplished authors that are set in and around Edinburgh. Although the collection is centred around crime stories, each author has approached the brief very differently. It is clear that different concepts, definitions and attributes of crime are being explored by the ten authors. Out of the ten stories there are perhaps two or three that follow the more recognisable form of crime stories, but even these contain their own surprises. The other stories all have equally different approaches to the subject of crime, ranging from the comic to the morally questioning.

I was pleasantly surprised by the inventive variety of the stories as crime fiction is not something I particularly enjoy. However, the few stories that are closer to the norm of crime fiction did slightly disappoint me. Compared with the other stories in the collection they came across as unimaginative and lacked the creativity to intrigue someone with my tastes. The other problem with these stories is that they didn’t involve too much mystery. One of the only hooks that crime stories can successfully catch me with is the mystery that they should involve. If I can guess the outcome of the story at the halfway point then it isn’t going to keep me turning the pages in anticipation. I didn’t get everything spot on in these stories, but in the opening ‘Affairs of the Heart’, ‘Carlo Blue’ and ‘Recompense’ I could see what was coming quite early on, and I’m not usually very good at mystery solving. They are not badly written and do contain the odd twist and bits of interest, but for me they were slightly too cliché. Obviously if you are a fan of the crime genre then these attributes will not be such a problem.

The rest of the stories are much more interesting. The other authors provide a mix of fresh approaches to standard crime writing, and stories that completely change the idea of what crime fiction can include. ‘Pretend Blood’ is a brilliantly comic look at internet chat rooms and the different crimes that they can occasionally lead to. In contrast to this the sinister ‘Driven’ forces the reader to confront a difficult moral dilemma. ‘Chris Takes the Bus’ is a short, tense and sad tale about a current social problem. The closing ‘As God Made Us’ is also concerned with social injustice and is abstract, challenging, but highly interesting. The real triumph of these stories, and the ones that I haven’t mentioned, is that they maintain the sense of mystery that should be present in crime fiction. It is the stories that deviate from the common crime format that are harder to figure out. So they should please crime literature fans and people with other tastes.

There is one story that must be paid special attention to. Unfortunately it is not for positive reasons; Brookmyre’s ‘place b’ should not have been included in this collection. It is the story of his journalist Jack Parlabane attempting to reveal the homeopathy industry as fakers/criminals. The real problem with it is that it isn’t really a story. Brookmyre has used this opportunity to have a massive rant about the fact that he doesn’t like homeopathy. It begins with the scene being set and then launches into an attack on the industry. At about halfway the story is revived briefly and the ending does also hint to the reader that they have read a story. It does have its witty moments and the way in which Parlabane carries out his plan is clever, but that’s about it. Brookmyre is entitled to have his opinions and work them into his stories, but ‘place b’ is an attempt to fit a story around his opinions. I don’t know what research Brookmyre conducted, but if he has the research to back up his attack he should have written his own newspaper article and if he hasn’t then I fail to see any point in the story whatsoever. In a collection of very well written stories ‘place b’ is a huge disappointment. Brookmyre has decided that his opinions are more important than taking the time to work at his craft properly.

Despite this blemish the collection is a great success. Although I have criticised the more straightforward crime stories they are still a good read and have their qualities. As I have mentioned, the other stories, apart from one, are excellently written and for their own different reasons a joy to read. One aspect of crime fiction that I do appreciate is its ability to comment on contemporary society whilst not ignoring entertainment. These stories are no exception, they all have something to say about the way we live our lives, but at no point, apart from one, are we bashed over the head with it. The authors, apart from one, manage to subtly force us to confront important issues at the same time as keeping us entertained in a number of ways.

Whilst the variety in this collection will inevitably mean that everything isn’t for everyone it also ensures there should be something for everyone. It’s for a great cause and most literary palates will be satisfied at some point, I’d recommend giving it a go.

Tim B-G