Dec. 2: Murder mysteries

My dad likes to tell the story about the time he went to see the movie, Murder by Death, sometime in 1976. He was on a business trip somewhere and decided to take advantage of a night off by going to the movies. "I had no idea what the movie was about," Dad told me. "But it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen."

Still today, I can count on my dad to laugh whenever he watches Murder by Death, particular the first act before all five of the detectives reach the house. When he watched it for the first time in 1976, he was screaming with laughter. He laughed so hard that he cried. Even funnier to me is his description of the other people in the movie house with him.

"A bunch of old ladies," he says. "None of them found it remotely funny. I was the only one laughing."

It's great when that happens. You have decide if Group A is at fault for being so easily amused or if Group B is at fault for being bereft of a sense of humour.

-

To the uninitiated, Murder by Death is a send up of the country house whodunit, so endearing to the fans of Agatha Christie. In fact, Christie's two most famous detectives - Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot - are satirized in Murder by Death as are Charlie Chan, Nick and Nora Charles, and Sam Spade.

 Sir Alec Guinness played a blind butler in Murder by Death. While working on this film, he received the script for Star Wars, in which he played Obi Wan Kenobi.

-

It is my opinion that the best murder mystery of all time is Murder on the Orient Express and it is surely the greatest cinema-related tragedy of my life that I knew the twist the first time I watched it (I blame Mad Magazine for that.) There are at least four filmed versions of the story, but I have only seen three of them, the ones where Hercule Poirot was portrayed by either Albert Finney, Kenneth Branagh, and David Suchet. Another version exists with Alfred Molina in the title role, but as of this writing it remains unwatched by me. The Finney version is my favourite. I would like to play Poirot onstage, actually. I am of the age, but I would have to grow a suitable mustache.

-

Here is a collection of murder mysteries written by the Canadian crime novelist, Michael Slade:

 My friend, Cade, turned me on to Michael Slade when I was in high school. I have read every book shown above; the first six are the best. I read the first one, Headhunter, at Bible college. Headhunter is about a serial killer who decapitates women. In the Bible, a lady named Jael drives a spike through an evil king's head. Hooray for Jael.

-

And I suppose I should take some time to, once again, mention my favourite television show of all time, which is Columbo.

Technically, Columbo isn't a murder mystery because the audience sees the murder committed at the start of (almost)* every episode. The joy comes in watching how Columbo unravels the mystery. The joy also comes in watching the working class Lieutenant Columbo nail the murderer, who is always a well-to-do white person.

-

Here is another great murder mystery:

 For Christmas of 1984**, I received 15 Choose Your Own Adventure books from my mother, who said "You'll have a ball with those" when I first opened them. Briefly, the Choose Your Own Adventure books were early examples of gamebooks (likely made obsolete now thanks to the proliferation of video games.) The stories were told in the second person point of view. The plot was nonlinear - you had to make choices as the story progressed. It would ultimately end with success or disaster.

Most of the books in the Choose Your Own Adventure series dealt with fantasy (Cave of Time, Forbidden Castle) or science fiction (Journey Under the Sea, Space Patrol.) But the ones grounded in reality - like Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey - were my favourite. Even 40 years later, I can tell you who killed Harlowe Thrombey. I won't though. You can figure that out for yourself.

To this day, I have never met anyone named Harlowe.

-

* Almost because sometimes the writers messed with the formula as in the episodes No Time to Die and Undercover, may their dinks rot off.

** I also received the soundtrack to Purple Rain that Christmas. Thanks, Grandma Warburton, for introducing me to Darling Nikki.