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Technology and the Mystery Genre

Miss Shelf

Miss Shelf

New Member
Has technology helped or hurt the mystery/thriller/spy genre? Or all genres, for that matter? I'm thinking of cell phones-no longer do people have to find the nearest telephone booth (with a working phone) in order to convey urgent messages; agents tracking spies can now do so via satellite technology-no longer is it necessary to physically catch the spy red-handed, when all it takes is video evidence; laboratory technology can spit out results in a matter of seconds to nab suspects. What would Agatha Christie make of this? Would she have been as successful in modern days as she was in the low-tech 1930s? Would Sherlock Holmes use a BlackBerry? Or are the great mystery writers of the pre-technology age simply that-a phenomenon of their age, just as the creators of today's fictional detectives are adept at using technology to solve their cases?
 
I assume that historical mysteries are so common now in part because many writers and readers just prefer not to have to factor in today's technology. I do think Christie and Conan Doyle could have had their detectives do their stuff in this day and age--just as in their day, Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes would only take on the cases that ordinary police methods had failed to solve;). Technology comes and goes, but the little grey cells are forever. They might be too eccentric to actually Google anything themselves, but their lackeys could do it for them. Hey, maybe Watson would publish Holmes's cases on his blog!

My favorite contemporary mystery writers are pretty ingenious about not letting modern technology take over their plots--especially not the actual solving of the mystery. Even writers who aren't so ingenious have more or less plausible excuses they can fall back on: An amateur detective doesn't have the same resources as the police; the police might have resources, but they don't have the budget to actually use them (or the ever-popular unsympathetic higher-up takes the detective off the case); and of course technology that would normally get the job done is no match for this particular criminal mastermind;).
 
I think the quality of the writer is more important than anything else. After all, in spite of CSI, there are still thousands of murders that go unsolved every year. Bin Laden is still out there, etc.
 
I remember being disappointed when Elvis Cole (of Robert Crais' wonderful P.I. series) broke down and acquired a cell phone. Crais wrote the greatest scenes when Elvis had to stop to use a pay phone. I miss them now.
 
I recently read a mystery taking place in victorian London

and thought how much easier it would be for the detective to find the robber if he'd be able to search a database for fingerprints, but then, what would be the point of writing 250 more pages ? I think all the fun lies in the fact that some people will find the culprit by putting together facts and thoroughly thinking them over.
 
There are lots of ways the gad buys can get around the technology. If there's no body, it's difficult to prove there was a murder. Especially if there's no blood. If you shoot someone from a distance, the only real evidence is ballistic. Guns don't float, so they are pretty easy to dispose of. Stranger murders are always tough to solve. So even if there is forensic evidence, its difficult to find a suspect to match the evidence to.

So a good writer can still tell a good tale.
 
But I could never figure out why the CTU on 24 can track terrorists with satellites, but can't listen in on their cell phone calls.
 
I entertain myself while watching old movies or series featuring old-time detectives like Holmes or Miss Marple by yelling at the TV, "Use a cell phone!", "Wipe your fingerprints off!", etc.

I think the trouble here is technology has no romance. By that I mean, there's a certain atmosphere in a guy in a trench coat hunting for a pay phone, rather than whipping a cell phone out of his jacket and getting someone to triangulate the position of someone on his cell phone. I can't see Sam Spade with a computer and cell phone.
 
Certainly, I think, a writer of sufficient talent could incorporate technology into a story without losing any of the elements which make mysteries fun, but grant that it would be hard to do. I think the key would be to not let the technology take over the story ( as in a Tom Clancy book, for example ).
Besides, mysteries, like any entertainment, call for a certain "suspension of belief". After all, how many villians have been undone by falling into the trap of explaining their dastardly designs rather than just shooting the good guy and being done with it.
But, imagine your resourceful detective, whose cell phone is suddenly dead, or rings at an inopportune moment, having to think of clever ways to deal with such problems.
So, it can be done. I think it will just require some ingenuity and another layer of thought.
 
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