A Proper Mystery

I love a proper mystery. I’m talking about films like ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’ that keep you on the edge of your seat for its duration.

Easy To Follow

The thing I love about the older mystery films is they’re easy to follow. None of this needing a PhD in social skullduggery to understand what’s going on. Perhaps, though, it’s me getting older and finding the modern day thrillers just too difficult to keep up with. There has been a spate of T.V. thrillers shown here in the U.K. recently. I cannot recall the titles, but needless to say, I got totally confused and lost interest.

A Recent Mystery

However, one of my recent viewings was made worse by events that were beyond my control. A mystery all of its own, unfolding while I was watching T.V. Let me explain in the hope that you can see what was happening. It must have been about the third episode of a missing/murder mystery series, set in a coastal town up north. The main character was a policewoman who had been involved ‘romantically’ with the main suspect. I say romantically with tongue in cheek. It was more of a fling around the back of the local kebab house on a Saturday night.

I Was Struggling

I was struggling to keep up with who did what to who and why. Then the call of nature interrupted my viewing. Usually, I’d pause the viewing until I got back. However, because I was struggling, I thought I wouldn’t miss too much so I let it run. When I got back to the comfort of my armchair I realised that I must have missed a huge chunk of the story! The rampant policewoman was nowhere to be seen and I didn’t recognise any of the suspects. Indeed, the whole scenario had changed and I was now trying to comprehend why the murder suspect had suddenly aged about 30 years! Also, why would they move the crime scene from a northern seaside town to a major city?

Oh My

I persevered with it, trying to fit it all together. It was no good, I just didn’t get it. I turned to my wife and said that none of this mystery was making any sense to me. The main character was missing, there seemed a different suspect and the whole scene had confusingly moved to another city. Then my wife dropped the bombshell!! While I was answering my call of nature, she changed channels on the T.V.! Why didn’t she say anything to me? No wonder I am confused. Oh well, at least I sorted out my own mystery.

Agatha Christie possibly the worlds greatest mystery writer.