Talking About Novels In My Novels by Marilyn Levinson

I enjoy having my characters discuss books in many of my novels. It must be the old teacher in me rearing its head. I was a high school Spanish teacher in another life, and what I loved most was conducting literary discussions in Spanish with my more advanced students about whatever novel or
stories they were reading. I’ve also led many book club discussions and enjoy raising provocative questions regarding the book we've all read to see how the members react.

The first time I did this was in my second published book, a YA called A Place To Start. My protagonist's English teacher leads a class discussion of "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut." Then he and a girl he doesn't like are forced to work together on a report of Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery." What fun it was to write their reactions to this very powerful story that first appeared in The New Yorker.

Gabbie Meyerson, the sleuth in my mystery, Giving Up the Ghost, has taken over an English teacher's classes midyear in the sleepy village of Chrissom Harbor on Long Island. Her students are reading The Great Gatsby, which takes place on Long Island. Though she hasn't taught in many years, Gabbie is determined to make reading this book an adventure for her students. After they read a scene about one of Jay Gatsby's famous parties, she has them compare it to parties in the Hamptons they've read about. 

Through questions and prodding, she helps them to understand the various characters in the novel, and to see how their interactions bring about tragedy, that Gatsby's death is a result of cause and effect. Now motivated, the students are eager to do their written assignments. As for Daisy, one student wonders if Jay Gatsby really loved her, or if she was an illusion he created based on her beauty and wealth.

Book discussions play an important role in Murder a la Christie and Murder the Tey Way, the two books in my Golden Age of Mystery Book Club mysteries. This series is my tribute to authors of the Golden Age of Mystery, which took place roughly between the two World Wars. Book clubs exist for the purpose of group discussions--about the book and whatever topics the book inspires. In Murder a la Christie, Professor Lexie Driscoll is conducting the book club's first meeting in her friend's elegant mansion. She gives the group a brief bio of Agatha Christie and has begun talking about Dame Agatha's The Mysterious Affair at Styles when another friend becomes ill and dies. A heart attack is the general consensus, though Lexie suspects poison.

Lexie continues to investigate and to lead discussions of Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, The A.B.C Murders, and A Murder Is Announced. As more club members are murdered, parallels are drawn between them and the murders in Christie's novels. At the end of Murder a la Christie,  Lexie gathers the members in a circle a la Christie and exposes the murderer just as Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot might do.

In Murder the Tey Way, murders and mysteries abound as Lexie and her book club analyze some of Josephine Tey's novels: The Daughter of Time, Brat Farrar, Miss Pym Disposes and To Love and Be Wise. At one point, Lexie tries to determine someone's guilt by employing Tey's fondness for the psychology of facial expressions that was popular in her day. The subject of gender bending arises in To Love And Be Wise, bringing about an interesting exchange among the club members. The subject leads Lexie and her friend to speculate about male-female roles, which may have relevance to the murders they are investigating.

Note: Both Murder a la Christie and Murder the Tey Way have been republished this year by Rowan Prose Publishing. Giving Up the Ghost will be republished by them in 2025.