As a writer I think a lot about setting. This includes more
than location. It includes weather and anything else that can affect how the
sleuth and other characters go about their day. The sleuth is investigating and
the suspects are eluding. A writer might use rain to compound the sleuth's
misery, or a heat wave to complicate the collection and care of evidence. But
the blizzards we have endured in the Northeast this past week has reminded me
that there are some weather events that I have avoided as a writer.
A blizzard is used to good effect in Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. In a less well known mystery, P.M. Hubbard turns a river in the countryside into a formidable character, in The Quiet River. In
both stories the weather has to be acknowledged and dealt with.
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In For the Love of Parvati, the third Anita
Ray mystery, Anita and her Auntie Meena are isolated in a rural estate during
the monsoon. Anita is greatly relieved when the rain stops and she can get out
for a walk.
The problem with real wintry weather, as opposed to a heat
wave or monsoon, is that it brings the usual daily life to a halt. At midnight in
our area neighbors are out shoveling or snow-blowing, the light from street
lamps amplified by the white snowfall. In the morning, neighbors fill side
streets shoveling and cleaning up, stopping to chat with folks they rarely have
time to visit with.
Throughout this time, we have no sidewalks, no parking, and
struggling public transportation. Fortunately, we didn't lose power in our
area. This is the perfect setting for a country house murder, but nearly
impossible for the kind of investigation that requires the sleuth to be out and
about, visiting offices to gather information, contriving to run into people in
a bar or at a party, or following a suspect to work or lunch. In extreme
weather, surveillance can be impossible, and most sleuths take the day off,
along with their creators.
As I look out the window at the snowdrifts rising to the
windowsill I turn my thoughts to the Anita Ray mystery I'm composing. I've
written eight thousands words this week, an average amount, and have said
little about the weather. But that will change. It's time to feel the heat.
