One of the pleasures I have discovered in
that last two summers at the cottage in PEI is the mystery novel. I have never been a fan of this genre — at
least in print form having enjoyed the TV adaptations — particularly of the
British variety such as Midsomer Murders or Inspector Morse. Of course there is the original fictional
detective Sherlock Holmes in his many incarnations.
In the past two summers (or should I say Midsomers)
I have found the detective mystery to be the perfect light reading to complement
my more serious exploration of Spiritual Direction books, books on dream
interpretation, alchemy, and Jungian psychology liberally (small l) mixed with
the bible.
One of the series I have discovered is by
Sue Grafton who has written a alphabetical series (A is for Alibi, B is for
Burglar down to W is for Wasted) dealing with the exploits of her female
Private Eye Kinsey Millhone. One of the
things that makes Sue Grafton’s writing so engaging is the descriptive nature
of how she writes. The scenes and the
characters are written so graphically and vibrantly that I have no difficulty
picturing the scenes in the stories and the characters which inhabit them.
I would like to give you some examples of
the writing but unfortunately all our copies of the books are back in Ann of
Green Gable’s home province and so I must limit the examples to a few I found
on line:
Beverly Danziger looked like an
expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. Only
her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. It
was a nervousness out of all proportion to the problem she placed before Kinsey
Millhone.
He was young—maybe twenty or
so—and he must once have been a good-looking kid. Kinsey could see that. But
now his body was covered in scars, his face half-collapsed. It saddened Kinsey
and made her curious.
The question I would like to put to you
today is, “if Sue Grafton was to put you into one of her novels, how would she
describe you?” This of course could be
both the outer appearance as well and the inner person.
Thinking about what I would write was more
daunting that I first thought it would be.
It is a bit like what would I put in my obituary if I were to write it
but makes it more immediate. In effect
how do you think other people see you?
Well here is my preliminary effort. In outward appearance Gregory (Greg) Little
is a tall (6’2”) somewhat overweight (215 lbs.) senior citizen (now 65 years
old). You could not describe Greg as
tall dark and handsome despite his height.
He is fairly attractive but his years are beginning to show. He does wear his age quite well but not as
well as he thinks. He is certainly no
longer dark as the thinning hair is showing a lot of gray as is his full
beard. Greg peers at the world through
myopic eyes and does not see a lot of the physical colours in the world being
somewhat colour blind to go along with his short-sightedness. Greg is, however, very interested in the
nuances of people and what makes them tick. He is a person who likes to see the
connections with things beyond the physical world however; he doesn’t always
make the connections about others as well as himself as he thinks he
should. Greg is not a detail oriented
person as anyone reading his emails can attest.
He puts this down to his personality type which is INFJ on the Myers
Briggs scale and a 9 on the Enneagram scale.
However he is more attentive to detail than he used to be. Greg also has a good sense of humour and
likes seeing the ironic and paradoxes in life.
I could go on but I think I will leave it
at that — for today in any case. So how
would Sue Grafton describe you on the inside as well on the outside? 
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