It's a mystery to me

This week's column is by Editor-in-Chief Inez Sharp.

You're going to love our great crime mystery, "Missing in March". It's a wonderful tale of murder and flowers — yes, flowers — written exclusively for Spotlight by Vanessa Clark. You'll find it in the 24-page booklet that comes free with the March magazine.

As regular readers know, the topics of our free booklets often have to do with language. The last two have been about business English and punctuation, for example. This time, we decided to do something different. I suggested a short detective story.

Now, long-time friends and colleagues were surprised. The crime genre, they knew, was a mystery to me. I just didn't get murder stories.

Who is the killer? How the hell should I know? What did they find at the
scene of the murder? Well, lots of stuff, obviously. And the chances that this stuff will help solve the crime? Oh, I'm sure the criminal will be good enough to leave a speck of something behind, so that the detectives can be sure to catch him or her.

Recently, though, I have developed an interest in crime stories. Slowly but surely, it's even become a passion.

A neighbour of mine loves to watch CSI: Miami and Cold Case and all the other US crime series. As my neighbour's TV is always on and I'm often there drinking tea, a slow addiction began to develop. Tired and defenceless after a day at work, I'd watch Kathryn Morris elegantly solve another grisly death, and before I knew it, I was Morris. I began putting my hair up and wearing crisp, white shirts. Much more importantly, I began guessing who the suspects were and was getting it right!

Then I was lent a crime story, Still Life by Canadian author Louise Penny, and I loved it. For the whole 293 pages of the story set in a quiet Canadian town, I was trying to discover the killer and enjoying every moment of it.

Writer J. B. Priestley loved crime stories, too — and wrote a few mean ones himself. It was about what he called a "stylized" and "well-ordered microcosm" in which there is a delightful puzzle. Our story "Missing in March" is just that. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

*It's no mystery that Spotlight is full of surprises! Get two issues for only €9 (Sfr. 16.40). Students save €10 (20 francs) on a year's subscription. Details here. Order now!