By Thomas Kies
I wouldn’t come back again to talk about Bouchercon
except I just paid off my credit card for the expenses I incurred while at the
conference. It was amazing how fast
things added up while I was in San Diego.
Or how expensive things were. $17
for a glass of wine…yikes.
But that’s not what this column is about.
It’s about the subject matter discussed at a number of
panels that weekend. Secrets.
Isn’t that what’s at the core of a mystery? Whodunit? Why? How?
We’re always writing about secrets. Humans are much
like puppies. We’re curious animals. We
want to know the answer to secrets. That’s what makes
us read to the last page of a novel. We
want to know what happens.
We have an internal drive to uncover secrets because
of that curiosity. Secrets can be exciting, exotic, and mysterious and the very
process of uncovering secrets can be thrilling.
When it comes to crime novels, uncovering secrets is
motivated by a sense of justice or a desire to expose wrongdoing. Our fascination with secrets is a fundamental
part of human nature.
Sometimes, however, we want to uncover secrets for
their salaciousness. In my Geneva Chase mysteries, I’ve written about sex
clubs, swinging, and BDSM dungeons. When
I’ve been at book events, inevitably someone in the audience will ask, “How do
you know about these things?”
I’d love to just smile at them coyly, wink, and remain silent. Let them think what they
might. Keep it a secret.
But instead, I tell them the truth. I used to work for newspapers and magazines
and through my job, I’ve seen many things and been in some very “interesting”
places.
Speaking of the news…that business is all about uncovering
secrets. Take a look at the news if you
want to see some secrets exposed and some secrets that have been hinted at but
not yet told.
Here’s a headline from a
recent edition of the Washington Post.
Va. Dem. House candidate performed sex online with
husband for tips. C’mon, there’s a novel here. We
both know it.
I’m not sure this could be classified as a secret
because the woman and her husband livestreamed the sex acts. Will it have any effect on her campaign? Well, they say any publicity is good
publicity.
Here’s a headline from a recent edition of the New
York Post: SD Gov. Kristi Noem having ‘absurdly blatant and public’ affair with
‘handsy’ Trump aide Corey Lewandowski, sources say. What makes this
more fun is that Kristi Noem is married and has repeated preached the gospel of
“family values” and scoffed at anything other than “traditional marriages”. Is
there a novel in this one? I’m not so sure. Corey Lewandowski had extramarital affairs
before that have made the news. But
until recently, this one with the governor had been kept a secret. Shhhhhh.
And lastly, here’s a non-sexual headline from
Fox News: NASA detects molecule on another
planet that can only be produced by life. The planet, K2-18b, is
about 120 light years from Earth and it’ there that the Webb Telescope detected
evidence of dimethyl sulfide.
Wow…the big secret.
Is there life on other planets?
Or, the bigger secret…is there life after death?
The one I’m most concerned about…who took the last piece
of chocolate out of the candy dish in the kitchen?
And my writing tip of the day is when revealing secrets,
do it slowly, lovingly. Tease the
reader.
Now where the hell did that last piece of chocolate go?
