The good detective story

I have now had a look at the essay by Chesterton, reference 2, noticed at the end of reference 1.

A slight thing, and I am not qualified to comment on much of it, but the point I take away, a point I very much agree with, is that a detective story should not need big, worldly events to move things along. Things like wars, espionage, spies, international or organised crime. Detective stories should be domestic affairs, with the action taking place in a restricted milieu. A rule that Simenon in his Maigret stories generally sticks to, even if he does not rate as one of the top three 'puzzle plot detective story novelists' mentioned at the top of reference 3.

And I have often noticed, over the years, how television detective series, when their script writers are running out of puff, drift into the sort of story lines disapproved of above. Secret services turning up in Midsomer or Thames Valley are sure signs of serial decadence.

I suppose that the blogger responsible for reference 3 is a fan of Dickson Carr, of whom I had not previously heard. Maybe I will check later this evening. Maybe I will check out some of his stories, to make a change from Simenon and Christie?

PS: I was amused to read that my copy of this essay was dedicated to the greater glory of Jesus and his mother Mary, as per the snap above. The Lord, not to say the church, moves in mysterious ways.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/12/media-studies.html.

Reference 2: The Domesticity of Detectives - G. K. Chesterton - 1921.

Reference 3: https://carrdickson.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-good-detective-story-is-in-its.html.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickson_Carr.