When I first started writing mysteries my agent, Don Congdon, wasn't sure I could. "You know," he said. "In mysteries you have to write some people who are not very nice."
"I can do that!" I assured him. But it was harder than I thought. I kept thinking about why the murderer did it, wondering about their miserable childhood etc. I needed to get tough.
Right. The only villain I ever wrote who was totally irredeemable, I found in real life.
Once upon a time, I was doing research in the wilds of Burgundy. I decided to stay the night at a very posh hotel in a small town on the pretext that it had once been a 12th century monastery. It was November and only one other couple were staying there.
This couple sat across the restaurant that night, a man in his 50's and a woman in her 30's. He apparently thought no one spoke English for he was speaking like an MP arguing against a proposal.
He was leaving his wife for his companion and spent the evening reminding her of all he was doing for her and what it would cost him and how grateful she should be. At one point he got all maudlin about his poor little daughter. The woman reponded with the only two words she said all evening.
"She's 28."
I looked at that man and knew I had found the perfect egomaniacal monster. His wife was probably glad to be rid of him and his girlfriend would no doubt be a suicidal alchoholic within a year.
A different take on affairs of the heart but, if you write mysteries, there need to be people who aren't very nice.
A perfect murder victim for sure. Wouldn't it be cool if it were Valentine's Day and the narcissistic cad goes back up to his room and croaks on a slow- acting poison. Yeah, and we all wonder which women killed him. Was it the past wife with the 28 year old, the present wife he was leaving, the companion, or the daughter? Talk about affairs of the heart ...
Posted by: Pat Morin | February 15, 2013 at 11:59 AM
Feel free to kill him any way you like. I actually made him the villain who instigates the murder. He was too nasty to be murdered (in fiction)
Posted by: sharan newman | February 15, 2013 at 01:14 PM
I wonder what the daughter's view of her father was. Did she see him as a cad or just "dear old dad"? Hmmmm.
Posted by: Ann | February 15, 2013 at 05:09 PM
Sounds like that guy had a long list of enemies. But an MP? Military Policeman?
Posted by: Michael A. Black | February 15, 2013 at 06:08 PM
Sorry, Michael, I forgot to mention that the man was British and I assume that the enormous Daimler with right-hand drive in the parking lot was his. (I was driving a Ford Fiesta that greatly resembled a coke can)
I think he might have been a Member of Parliament.
It would be interesting to know what his daughter thought of him.
Posted by: sharan newman | February 16, 2013 at 09:18 AM
Very interesting piece! Many writers seem to find real life models for their villains - and the models usually have no inkling they are being used so! Read my blog Feb. 24 on this topic at www.crimewriters.blogspot.com - we'd love to have you join us that day! Thelma Straw in Manhattan
Posted by: thelma straw | February 17, 2013 at 05:47 AM