Spoiler Alert!

By Shari Randall

Spoiler alert. Those warnings are ubiquitous nowadays. We just wrapped up the Olympics, where the difference in time zones made watching television or reading the news a minefield for anyone who wanted to be surprised by the outcome of an athletic event.

 

I even heard “spoiler alert” at a recent book club meeting. Half the group had finished the book —a bestselling literary novel— and the other half hadn’t. The group voted to not talk about the ending in order to avoid spoiling it for those who hadn’t read to the end. I was the only dissenter. (full disclosure – it was a very book clubby book, by which I mean it wouldn’t have been so popular if the main character hadn’t survived, nay, triumphed, against the odds and lived to fight for justice another day. I was correct and I admit, I wasn’t a fan of the ending. It would’ve been much more realistic and enjoyable to me if the author had killed off the protagonist. Sorry, I digress.)

 

In general, I don’t mind knowing how a novel ends. As a reader —and a writer— I find it enjoyable to see how the author weaves the story line into a satisfying conclusion.

 

But if the club’s choice had been a whodunit or work known for a big twist…I definitely wouldn’t have wanted the ending spoiled. Imagine the ire heaped on any book club member who spoiled the twist of Gone Girl or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? What would your friends say if you spoiled the ending of The Sixth Sense or The Prestige or Murder on the Orient Express?

There was an article about spoilers in Psychology Today by a professor who studies decision making. You can read it here.

 

A group was given short stories to read. Some were given the story plus the ending. Then researchers asked if having the ending ruined their pleasure in the story. The outcome? Most of the study’s subjects said it didn’t.

 

My fellow mystery reading fans will immediately see the flaw in the construction of this study.

How many of the study’s subjects were mystery readers?

 

The team ran the experiment again, with a different group of subjects. This time the results were different. Ha! We know why. The group must have included mystery readers who read for the pleasure of puzzling out the clues to how-, why-, or whodunit. The study’s organizers posit there is a group with a higher “need for cognition” who like to figure out the story for themselves. (read: mystery fans)

 

The mystery reader reads because – what were Sherlock Holmes words? — “My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.”

 

What do you think about spoilers? Do spoilers bother you or do they heighten your pleasure in a story?

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery Series. Her debut, Curses, Boiled Again, won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Writing as Meri Allen, Shari has debuted a new series, the Ice Cream Shop mysteries. Yes, she enjoyed every bit of delicious research for these books.

 

 

The Sherlock Holmes Book: A Review and a Warning

by Shari Randall

The Sherlock Holmes Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained series)

David Stuart Davies and Barry Forshaw, Consultant Editors

I was browsing the New Books shelves at the library when the spine of a book caught my eye. Gold letters on a Harris Tweed background proclaimed THE SHERLOCK HOLMES BOOK. A bold invitation from Dorling Kindersley Publishers, known for their fact stuffed books for kids. I pulled it from the shelf, intending a quick flip through. Before I knew it, twenty minutes had passed. This book, while certainly appealing to younger readers, is a feast for all fans of the great detective.

The Sherlock Holmes Book is part of DK’s Big Ideas Simply Explained series, which also includes books on Shakespeare, Philosophy, Economics, and Politics. The book is chock full of historical, social, and scientific background for the Holmes stories.

It's also full of spoilers.

The book begins with a short biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and then continues with biographies of Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, and Lestrade.

The next section, the main part of the book, moves on to the tales themselves, all four novels and 56 short stories, devoting a few very readable pages to each. This section is delightful — but dangerous.

Delightful because of the broad ranging facts and intriguing historical tidbits that the editors share. Dangerous because these sections are rife with spoilers. The introduction states that this book is an “introduction” to Sherlock Holmes. But this book should only be read by those who have already enjoyed the tales. It’s stuffed with info graphics and information, but also spoilers galore.

For those who have read the stories, and especially for writers, the way the stories are broken down to their essentials, practically to their outlines, is intriguing and illuminating. In many sections, we see each clue and follow Holmes' fascinating trail of deduction. But if you plan to give this to someone new to the Sherlock stories, be sure to give them a book of the tales, also. As any reader knows, part of the fun is trying to solve the mystery yourself.

Among the fascinating facts you’ll find in the book:

In Victorian London, there was a notorious all female gang called the Forty Elephants. The gang was headed by a “queen” and led a successful shoplifting operation up until the 1950s.

At one time laudanum use was so widespread that it has been called “the aspirin of the 19^th century.”

Conan Doyle never specified exactly what type of hat Holmes wore, but Sidney Paget, the illustrator of so many Holmes tales, provided the deerstalker since it was his own favorite headgear.

At a dinner party hosted by the publisher of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde were both asked to write a mystery for an upcoming edition. Wilde wrote “The Picture of Dorian Gray" and Conan Doyle wrote “The Sign of Four.” That publisher had a nose for talent.

Each chapter begins with a quote. Is there a character more quotable than Sherlock Holmes?

“You see, but you do not observe.”

“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”

“You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.”

“Danger is part of my trade.”

The book is rounded out by sections about the Holmes films and television shows, Holmes pastiches, and Conan Doyle’s other works.

A highlight of the book is the introduction by Leslie S. Klinger. In a book filled with graphics, snippets, flow charts, timelines, maps, facts, and factoids (no matter how fascinating), Klinger’s graceful foreword puts Holmes, Conan Doyle, and the entire Sherlock Holmes phenomena into context, fulfilling the “big idea” promise of the subtitle.

Recommendation: A fun addition to the library of those who can’t get enough Sherlock and have already read the stories. I just wish the publisher would put a SPOILER ALERT sticker on the cover.