Detectives I have Known

by Larry Winebrenner Writer "Write about what you know" is in almost every writing course I've ever seen.

The problem with that advice is that most wannabe writers don't know what they "know." Is it locale? Is it subject? Is it experience? "Just what do I know?" might be the plaintive cry of that individual.

Well, I know what I know. I know detectives.

As a child I thrilled at Tom Sawyer, detective and Sherlock Holmes. I loved Mis Marple. I fell in love with irascible Nero Wolfe and nearly wept when I had read all his adventures and had none left to enjoy.

But knowing detectives didn't mean I had to write about them. Rather, elements of detective fiction crept into everything I wrote. Time and Tide originally conceived as a minister working with misled urban youth became a double-murder mystery. Timaeus the Tracker, an adventurer in bible times became a proto-sleuth.

Then I conceived my most remarkable detective---Henri Derringer. Henri is actually Henrietta Derringer, a spunky 92-year-old wheelchair-bound woman, living in a South Florida retirement community, who uses telephone, computer, and wit to solve crimes. The Case of the Locked Drawer was first, followed by The Case of the Locked Apartment, a classic locked room mystery. Even now, a third in the series is underway---The Case of the Locked Nursery Rhyme.

The point is not what I did. The point is what you can do. Subject matter differed in the various titles mentioned, but all dealt with what I know---detectives.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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