Guest Post: MINOR CHARACTERS HAVE LIVES TOO by Mary Reed

 

Please welcome author Mary Reed to the blog today…

 

MINOR CHARACTERS HAVE LIVES TOO

 

Mystery novels often feature an unusual type of character  -- one who appears in the story only when interviewed by the detective in the course of his investigation. Although such characters appear on stage briefly for the purpose of providing information, treating them like spear carriers risks turning a mystery novel into a succession of staccato question and answer sessions. They need to be given some interest beyond their function as informants.

 

Our protagonist John, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, necessarily encounters many people from all walks of life in the course of his investigations. Given Constantinople's colourful cosmopolitan population we've created a number of minor characters who are, we hope, memorable in their own way.

 

To do this we mention a few interesting details about their lives in addition to whatever clues or information they need to supply to advance the plot. This not only brings the individual to life but also gives the reader some insight into how Romans lived during the sixth century.

 

For example there's Helias, creator of water clocks and what he calls shadow traps, in other words sundials. He suffers badly from what would today be diagnosed as sciophobia. He therefore strongly dislikes strong sunlight and avoids it as much as possible because it causes shadows, which he views as nasty things that move fast and trip people up. He is so terrified of them his workshop is underground. At one point John personally observes how crossing a sunlit square is a positive torment for the poor fellow. Helias' useful information is provided to John not to be helpful but rather given in the spirit of spite because he intensely dislikes his merchant neighbour.

 

Take Aristotle, seller of antiquities and oracles, and one of seven witnesses to an oral will made by the shipper Nereus. Set during the Justinianaic plague, John's locating these witnesses is a particularly urgent matter given thousands die daily in the city. Aristotle was present in  Nereus' household when the will was made, having visited to show him an oracular statue he was interested in purchasing. In conversation with Anthemius. a brickmaker who shares a work place with Aristotle, John hears an anecdote which turns out to be of some importance though not the way it implies at first glance.

 

Then there's Pedibastet, purveyor of faux cat mummies in Alexandria. He has no information to impart, his assistance to John being merely a matter of business but one still vital to the investigation. Pedibastet's is an unpleasant trade for he grows his own cats to use as materials for his business. Due to circumstances, John has to purchase one of the poor little cat mummies to use as a prop in a scandalous street theatre performance he and his two companion put on. This extraordinary event collects enough money from appreciative passersby to pay for the trio's passage up the Nile, their destination an estate where John has been ordered to investigate why sheep are cutting their own throats.

 

In these and other cases our goal was to sketch out a character with a life beyond his function as a source of information, one larger than his brief talk with John, someone who might be interesting enough to star in his own novel, or at least his own short story.

 

Mary Reed 

Mary Reed and Eric Mayer co-authored twelve novels about John, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, set in sixth century Constantinople as well as two World War II Grace Baxter mysteries taking place in England. Their short stories have appeared in EQMM and various historical mystery anthologies, including thirteen of the Mammoth Book series edited by Mike Ashley. Their website is at https://reed-mayer-mysteries.blogspot.com/