The Chameleon Killer Mystery by Gina Cheyne
Guest Post:
Most people leaving a reviews of my books tend to be
straightforward: ‘good plot’ ‘too complicated’ ‘love the characters’ ‘did like
this, didn’t like that’ etc but one reviewer described my writing as
‘flux-of-conscience’. Although that was a review on my first book in the
series, The Mystery of the Lost Husbands,
and I am now on the fourth, The Chameleon
Killer Mystery, it continues to fascinate me as I still have no idea what
she meant.
Possibly, she meant stream of consciousness, so, I looked at
two of my favourite authors, P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler, to see if I
could make sense of what she meant by comparing their streams (as it were!)
with mine.
Both Chandler and Wodehouse were at Dulwich College in
London, both had Arthur Herman Gikes as an inspiration teacher and both
excelled at Latin. Possibly it was this that influenced their unique styles. To
paraphrase:
Chandler:
‘I walked in and the Blond looked up, the other man stayed
silent, mostly because he was dead but he was that type of man, when I knew
him, he never said a word…’
P.G. Wodehouse:
‘As I entered, a beautiful girl at the desk was trilling a
soothing song about roses blossoming in the sky and sky larks roosting in the
trees. She looked up and gave me a smile that would have doubled the roses’
bloom and caused the sky larks to start rollicking in the sunset like young men
after a swift half in the Drones Club…’
Me:
‘When I entered the room the person at the desk looked up,
he/she/they watched me silently. There was a dead person on the floor. I
stepped over him/her/them, careful not to disturb any evidence for I was not a
qualified police person only a volunteer and had no relevant papers to show
should I make a mistake.’
However, I could be wrong. Her comment about the
flux-of-conscience might have meant precisely that; that I included social
commentary hidden in my writing. If so then again Chandler and Wodehouse are
good companions.
Chandler was a tormented soul. Morose and prone to terrible
depression (particularly after the death of his wife) he drifted through the
night-time underworld, spending time in bars, drunk and lonely, furious with a
world, including his family, that had rejected him. His books speak loudly of
the conditions of the time, but he doesn’t judge them, just shows them as they
were.
P.G Wodehouse is in some ways a more complicated character,
his early works are light-hearted comedies that create their own world and seem
more like fantasy than reality. However, although his style always remained the
same, his content changed enormously after the Second World War.
Wodehouse and his wife were living in Le Touquet when the
Germans invaded France and were captured. His wife was sent home but Wodehouse
was kept as a useful prisoner. Unfortunately, Wodehouse was a naïve man (as
perhaps his early writing shows) and he agreed to give broadcasts for the Germans.
In these he commented on how well he was looked after in prison, and that he
was perfectly happy. These comments were very badly received by the Allies and
in particular by the British, who declared him a traitor and refused to let him
return home after the war. In consequence Wodehouse emigrated to the USA.
There, partly because of his prison experience and partly
because he was looking at his new country with an outsider’s eye, he became
much more aware of social issues. In his later works, such as A Gentleman of
Leisure and the Psmith Series, he continued with the same light, comedic style
but his books had a much deeper underlying message such as police corruption
and abuse of tenants within the housing sector.
I too have an underlying comment about our world with its
often biased officials and unfair justice and social systems. I don’t write
about these things, but they are there as a sub context.
For me, the best books are those that while having a lighter
front – romance, cosy crime, fantasy – do have a message about the way we live,
something deeper to consider. So, if that was what her review meant she is
absolutely spot on, and I hope she continues to review my books and others, I
shall be looking out for her opinions with great interest.
About The Chameleon Killer Mystery:
Who is the Chameleon
Killer?
When you are having a really bad day, drink yourself
legless, abuse everyone around you, pass out and try again tomorrow.
Trouble is; every day is bad in Rupert Fletcher’s world. He
threatens his ex-wife, mocks his girlfriend, abuses his neighbours, and gets
into a fight in the pub.
Next day, he is found dead.
Who’d want to kill him? Well, almost everybody, but it looks
like only one person did. The police arrest his ex-wife’s therapist, Anthony.
Anthony’s family claim he is innocent and employ the SeeMs
Detective Agency to find the real killer.
Cat, Miranda, and Stevie uncover clues that point them back
to an intricate web of family injuries and an unexpected connection between the
victim and his killer.
Could Rupert’s murderer be The Chameleon Killer, who has
already killed before and is bent on revenge? They need to act fast before the
killer strikes again.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chameleon-Killer-Mystery-Detective-Agency-ebook/dp/B0CNZL4TG4
https://www.amazon.com/Chameleon-Killer-Mystery-Detective-Agency-ebook/dp/B0CNZL4TG4
About the Author:
Gina has worked as a pilot, physiotherapist, freelance writer and dog breeder. As a child, Gina's parents hated travelling and never went further than Jersey. As a result she became travel-addicted and spent years bumming around SE Asia, China and Australia, where she worked in a racing stables in Pinjarra, South of Perth. She then lived and worked in various places in Spain, the USA and London before settling in West Sussex with her husband and dogs. This is her fourth crime novel in the SeeMs Detective Agency series. This book is set between Sussex and London.
Keep in touch on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/ginacheynewriter/
https://www.facebook.com/gina.cheyne.books
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