Jan Murphy (1:161/84) wrote to Steven Horn at 09:43 on 01 Nov 1997:
 JM> I agree, except that I would express the problem in a slightly
 JM> different way.  
 JM> The problem is not *only* that the characters don't develop.  There
 JM> are other writers whose series characters go on making the same
 JM> blunders in their personal lives over and over, but the rest of the
 JM> story is engaging enough that the reader doesn't really care.  If
 JM> the books were solid in other ways, it wouldn't matter so much.
I'm not so sure about that.  One would hope to see some growth and change. 
 
 JM> No, the real problem, IMHO, is that Perry has set up an expectation
 JM> that the characters *will* develop.  We both want and expect Monk
 JM> to regain his memory; in every book Perry toys with our curiosity
 JM> about what he was like before his accident.  And lord knows she
 JM> hints enough about the painful three-way relationship between Monk,
 JM> Hester Latterly, and Oliver Rathbone.  There are enough hints
 JM> throughout that we expect something to develop.
    
 JM> And things do happen -- but at a glacial pace.  Maybe Monk will get
 JM> one new scrap of memory in the course of a 600-page book.  Or we'll
 JM> get one measly Incident between Monk and Hester, or Hester and
 JM> Oliver. The rest of the time, we just get the same carbon-copy
 JM> churning and angst that doesn't go anywhere.
I'm not a great mystery fan in that I often don't care about who killed whom 
and how it was done.  Instead, I like seeing character development and 
character interplay as in the Sharyn McCrumb "appalachia" novels or Colin 
Dexter's books about Inspector Morse.  L. R. Wright (a Canadian) is another 
favorite of mine.
The Monk novels are rather wooden by comparison but someone must like their 
puzzles as Anne Perry certainly sells.
   
 JM> Contrast this with the development of the relationship between Lord
 JM> Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane over the four HV books by Dorothy
 JM> Sayers and the difference becomes very clear.  And sure, if you
 JM> compare Perry and Sayers, then it's quite fair to say that there is
 JM> no development in Perry.
I've always thought that what happens between Lord Peter and Harriet happens 
rather quickly but there's certainly character development.  And I do re-read 
those four again and again.
  
 JM> I wonder how many books Perry expects us to wade through before
 JM> Something Really Happens?  If the length of the Pitt series is any
 JM> clue, we'll have a long wait. 
What do you mean, "we .....?" :-)
Take care,
Steven Horn (shorn@yknet.yk.ca)
Moderator CAN_SYSLAW 
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