Dog Days

Yesterday I read “The Oracle of the Dog”, a short “locked room” mystery by G.K. Chesterton featuring his clerical sleuth, Father Brown. Today, I sent my second book, “Murder Intelligently Designed” to an editor. The two stories have some features in common: a murder committed in a room with limited access, several characters who are observed in or about said room before or after the crime, and an unusual weapon.

But frankly, I like my story better. Chesterton’s story is so crammed with “clues” that I would sooner solve an algebraic equation than sort out the various motives, means and accesses. The story is told by various witnesses after the fact, and Father Brown never leaves his study.

In my book on the other hand, the clues are part of the action and only discerned as such when the murderer is revealed. To throw Chesterton a bone, his “Oracle of the Dog” is a short story which must put much information in few words while my story is book length.

G. K. and I write in the same genre, clerical crime. Father Brown is a Catholic priest; Grit Griffin and Grace Willis are lay ministers for a progressive but conservative Christian fellowship.

In “Murder Intelligently Designed” Grace’s atheistic biology teacher is found crushed by a bust of Nietzsche. The book will have an introduction by Jonathan Witt, coauthor with William Dempsey, of “Intelligent Design Uncensored.”