I love the way things evolve. (Don’t be scared if you’re feeling fundamentalist; I’m not talking Darwin here). I mean that as standards of civilizations and cultures change, standards of popular arts morph along with the culture. In that way, we can study the values of any era by looking at what was created and celebrated during that time. And, since mysteries have been popular literature since the first “whodunit” was created, we can trace see how some protagonists have changed along with the times. Of all of these “standard” characters, none has changed more than the professional detective. They’ve gone from flat feet to tortured souls. Think of literature’s early detective heroes, Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes. (Okay, so Auguste wasn’t a professional detective, but he’s close). Fans referred to them as human thinking machines because they solved puzzles with rational, deductive thought and neither allowed emotion to clog up their thinking. Which makes them fascinating characters to follow but not someone a reader can identify with. Self- doubt never undermines either man, and although both men have weaknesses, they’re never disabled by them. Let’s face it, these guys are great, but we’re not sure that they’re human. [amazon_link asins=’0679722645′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’theboothafoly-20′…
