Is Heavy Rain in The Forecast?

Abstract

f "1 k j? International v^rime 6l Mystery J. MADISON DAVIS is Heavy rain IN THE FORECAST? Writers everywhere in every genre can't help but wonder what the future holds in publishing. Will there be paper books? Will all books be electronic? Or will the nature of the electronic "book" alter the current forms of storytelling in the book form beyond all recognition, changing what is written and why? The mystery has proved itself to be a very flexible form that has adapt ed itself to a variety of changes in media and culture over the last cen tury and a half, but can it survive the next fifty years? Some commentators have argued that even the crime drama as it is presented in motion pictures and television is losing trac tion with younger viewers, in fact that all television is losing its impact, because a young person is more likely to spend time on Facebook or Twitter than passively viewing cops chasing robbers. Drama is also more expensive to create than reality and talk shows. NBC's recent attempt to lighten their weeknight lineup of Law and Order: SVU and other dra mas and replace them with Jay Leno may have failed for the moment, but it might be a harbinger of what will be available on networks in the future. The only thing anyone can be sure of is that we won't know what the future holds until it gets here. The western and the variety show used to be staples of television. Now they are essentially gone. Perhaps there is an approach to these forms that will revitalize one or both, but in the meantime their fans are left with reruns on cable channels like TV Land and Encore Western. It seems unlikely the paper book will disappear entirely, and most crime writers I know assume it will last long enough to keep them plotting murders for some time. We still have playwrights, though the public at large only occasionally goes to plays. Maybe young mystery writers ought to learn something about screenwrit ing to hedge their bets, and, strange ly enough, maybe they should trunk about games. July-August 2010 i 9 Crime & Mystery When we think of games revolving around crime themes, the classic board game Clue comes immediately to mind. Invented by Anthony E. Pratt, an Englishman and a solicitor's clerk, appropriately enough, it received a patent in 1947. He called his game Cluedo, and it was brought to the United States in 1949 by Parker Brothers, who renamed it for the American mar ket. As the iconic mystery game, it inspired many variations in pre sentation, including one based on The Simpsons, a version using video tape, and an odd espionage version. Clue also inspired a particularly bad movie in 1985, an alleged comedy whose only attraction was a trifecta of alternate endings, and a television series in the United Kingdom. The characters in the game were derived from the stereotypes of traditional British mysteries, clich?s that are the essence of the style. We might not remember the name of the character played by Sean Connery in director Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Ori ent Express, but we never forget that Connery is the "Colonel Mustard" of the plot, as there is a "Miss Scarlet" and other Clue avatars. The "state ly manor" is evoked by the game board rooms: the Conservatory, the Ballroom, etc. Evidently Mr. Boddy (the enigmatic victim) is never mur dered in the loo. As with Sherlock Holmes's flat, which also seems to lack such a room, plumbing is not of consequence in this fantasy world. The game is basically a simple pro cess of elimination (ahem!). Howev er, the simplicity of Clue was not just one of its attractions (easy to learn and play), but also meant it was easy to program for the early home computer market. It showed up in several computer versions for the Commodore 64, Sega Genesis, and other now-so-suddenly-antiquated game systems. Yet, as a video game, there is little that cannot be done with Clue that will improve it. Better graph ics is...