Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

I’d say that most of us would like to believe that we think independently. And yet, history and fiction teach us that people sometimes do have a ‘mob mentality’ and are sometimes all too willing to believe that someone is guilty of a crime. Whether you consider the Salem witch trials, the Dreyfus affair, the Lindy Chamberlain case, or other examples, it’s easy to see how people get caught up in the rhetoric around a case, and believe the loudest voice without thinking for themselves.

That mentality has had tragic consequences in real life, but it can add tension and suspense to a crime story. While there’s not a mob scene in Agatha Christie’s Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, Hercule Poirot has to overcome groupthink that James Bentley has murdered his landlady. There is some evidence against him, and everyone in the village of Broadhinny believes that the police got their man. And yet, Superintendent Albert ‘Bert’ Spence has come to believe that Bentley may be innocent. He’s been put on another case, so he asks Poirot to investigate. When Poiort gets to Broadhinny, he finds that everyone is absolutely convinced that Bentley is a killer. And the real murderer is only too happy about that. It takes some digging into the past and some uncovering of some secrets to change anyone’s mind. You’re right, fans of Five Little Pigs; there’s an example of the same sort of phenomenon in that novel.

In Ellery Queen’s Calamity Town, Queen goes to the small New England town of Wrightsville to get some work done in peace and quiet. What he gets is exactly the opposite. Nora Wright, youngest daughter of social leaders John and Hermione ‘Hermy’ Wright, becomes the subject of gossip when her old flame Jim Haight comes to town. A few years earlier, they’d been engaged when he suddenly left town, jilting her and infuriating just about everyone. Now he’s back and wants to re-kindle their relationship. Against all advice, Nora goes along with it and the two carry out their wedding plans. Then, on New Year’s Eve, Jim’s sister Rosemary dies after drinking a poisoned cocktail. It’s not long before it’s believed that the cocktail was originally intended for Nora, and that Jim has committed murder. As the town prepares for his trial, the prejudice against him grows, until only two people believe in Jim’s innocence: Queen and Nora’s older sister Pat. Now they’ll have to work together to find out what really happened, before a possibly innocent man is convicted.

In one plot thread of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Everyone is very quick to assume Robinson is guilty, especially since he is Black. However, he is entitled to legal representation, and Atticus Finch takes the case since he is a strong believer in the Constitution and the law. At one point, a group of people make their way to the jail where Robinson is being held. Instead of bothering with a trial, they’re planning to lynch him. There are some differences between the book version of that scene and the one in the Robert Mulligan film adaptation. But in both, we see the tension rise and we see what the tragic consequences can be when people make assumptions without thinking for themselves.

The first of Ann Cleeves’ Shetland novels, Raven Black, tells the story of the death of seventeen-year-old Catherine Ross. She and a friend are out on New Year’s Eve and decide to stop at the home of Magnus Tait to wish him a happy new year in the local tradition. They leave after a short time and go their separate ways. The next morning, Catherine is found dead, and Inspector Jimmy Perez investigates. Almost immediately, everyone suspects that Magnus Tait is responsible. He was quite possibly the last to see the victim alive. What’s more, he’s always been a bit odd, and people have no trouble believing he’s a killer. In fact, his name is already linked to that of a young girl who went missing years earlier. There’s no proof he’s responsible in either case, but people assume he is. Perez wants to be fair; he sees how much prejudice there is against Tate. But he also has to go where the evidence takes him. It ends up being a very difficult case, especially as few people are interested in considering that Tait might not be guilty.

Paul Cleave’s The Quiet People features Cameron and Lisa Murdoch, who are parents to seven-year-old Zach. They’re successful New Zealand crime writers, their marriage is stable, and Zach is healthy, so on the surface, everything looks positive. Then one morning, Zach goes missing. At first, his parents think he’s gone off to pout (which is not unusual for him). But the hours go by, and he doesn’t return, so Cameron and Lisa call the police. Detective Inspector (DI) Rebecca Kent takes the case and, as you can imagine, begins her investigation with a close look at the Murdochs. They claim not to know what has happened to the boy, but they do admit that Zach can be difficult at times. They also admit that Cameron’s temper can get the best of him. Soon enough, the media gets wind of the case, and immediately, people start to blame the Murdochs. It starts with reporters showing up at the house, but soon escalates into mobs of people, some of whom give lurid reports to the tabloids. Before long, Kent and her team begin to have a hard time trying to get to the truth about the case. There’s so much vitriol against the Murdochs, and there is the possibility that the Murdochs are responsible. It’s a striking example of how difficult it is to find out the truth when there’s a ‘mob mentality’ at work.

That sort of groupthink can have disastrous consequences, but people do sometimes fall prey to it. And in crime fiction, it can add a level of tension to a novel.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Richard Marx’s Hazard.