GOF as Mystery Novel

[Charmian]

No: HPFGUIDX 9408

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Amy " <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Victoria McLure" <vmclure at h...> 
> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Jim Flanagan" <jamesf at a...> 
> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > > Unfortunately, the information provided by the author of GOF is 
> not 
> > > nearly enough for an intelligent reader to figure 
> out "whodoneit."  
<snip>

> One critic once said that Agatha Christie appeared to have made a 
> list of all the rules about who can and cannot be the criminal in 
> mysteries and systematically violated them all.  I agree and 
although 
> I don't have a very high opinion of her as a writer (lousy 
> characterization, e.g.) she was the best plotter I've ever read.  I 
> don't think any plot point she wrote was unfair play.
> 

I think I started a thread a long while back on this topic 
called "mystery parallels." You guys might want to go to the egroups 
site and search back. I think we concluded that only the first book 
really comes anywhere near to being a "fair play" novel, in the sense 
that it's possible to figure out logically (in a fairly certain way, 
not just plausibly) who the crook is. 

Charmian