HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Hurray hurray hurray for Keenan Powell! Is there anything that compares in wonderfulness than a pal who has a debut novel? We all know the craziness and angst and second-guessing and crossed fingers and flat-out longing that comes with writing a book. Not to mention selling it.
And Keenan, who has paid her dues and worked hard and is totally committed to her second career(she’s a lawyer) deserves many standing ovations for her mad success. Her DEADLY SOLUTION comes out today!
And it’s got her to thinking about the authors—and protagonists—who came before.
And THAT got her to asking a pret-ty provocative question.
Miss Marple: Busybody or Feminist Icon?
Just the other day, I’ve heard Miss Jane Marple referred to as a “busybody” by a person of the male gender in a “pat-the-old-dearie-on-the-hand” tone of voice, and it just stuck in my craw.
Full disclosure: I’ve been a big fan of Miss Marple since my first visit to Ireland in 2002. My cousin, Teresa, and I stayed in a bed and breakfast near our great-grandfather’s village, Crossmolina, County Mayo. When we came in from dinner (fish and chips) in Ballina, the landlady was watching Miss Marple. I’d never seen the show. I still remember clearly the landlady patting the couch for us to come sit beside her as she said, “I just love Miss Marple.”
This was my first trip to Ireland. I’d been raised in a fierce Hibernian American family, who still nursed old grudges, and was unsure how those back in the Old Sod felt about anything English, so I was impressed when this Irish woman said that she loved this English character. We took a seat on the couch and watched the show. I’m not sure which episode it was, but I fell in love too. Upon my return, I soaked up all that was Marple, and then all that was Poirot.
This is what I loved, and still love, about Miss Marple: she was the quintessential scary old lady, the kind who knows everything you did and exactly what you’re thinking and can communicate all that with the tilt of her chin. I, for one, would not dare to pat Miss Marple’s hand.
To me, her superpower is not her old age and certainly not her ability to gossip. If that were so, all the old ladies in St. Mary Mead would be private detectives. No, sirree! Miss Marple’s super power, like all other amazing fictional detectives, is that she’s smarter than everyone else. Sherlock Holmes listed the qualities of a great detective in Sign of Four: she must have the power of observation, the power of deduction and knowledge. In Body in the Library, when Sir Henry Clithering identifies her as an expert, she responds, “One does see so much evil in a village.” Vicar Clement, in whose home the unfortunate Murder in the Vicarage occurred, had the same opinion. On several occasions, he stated that Miss Marple was smarter, and more knowledgeable, than everyone else.
And let’s not forget how many she is asked to assist in the investigation, to the chagrin of Inspector Slack. So, lo these seventy-seven years later, to hear a person refer to her as a mere “busybody” makes me think that individual fails to appreciate her significance.
My protagonist, Maeve Malloy, couldn’t help but inherit some of Jane Marple’s fictional DNA. Maeve is loner, running her own little criminal defense law practice. She is a ground-breaker – even at this day and age, approximately twenty per cent of criminal defense trial lawyers are female. Maeve has a male Watson, much as poor Inspector Slack ended up following up on Jane’s leads. And Maeve, like Jane, sees where the puzzles pieces should go.
I wonder if Agatha Christie understood the impact Miss Jane Marple would have. Not only was Dame Christie a self-supporting female writer, her character was a groundbreaking woman, of mature years, who carved herself a niche in what had heretofore been a man’s world, mystery fiction. Move over Sherlock. Move over Dupin. In 1930, there was a new genius in town and she is the literary godmother to all of our female protagonists.
So Femmes? What do you think? My vote is for Miss Jane Marple, Feminist Icon.
Hank: Oh,absolutely! Detective, psychologist, confidante, sponge. And knower of all poisons! Interesting how today detectives have to "grow and change. We rely on Miss Marple to stay the same. But whoa, I would not try to keep a secret from her! What do you think about Miss Marple, dear Femmes? And say congratulations to Keenan!
Keenan Powell is the author of the Maeve Malloy series (named after her grandmother). The debut, DEADLY SOLUTION, releases from Level Best Books on January 23.
Born in Roswell, New Mexico, several years after certain out-of-towners visited, her first artistic endeavor was drawing, which led to illustrating the original Dungeons and Dragons when still in high school. A past winner of the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic grant, her publications include Criminal Law 101 in the June 2015 issue of The Writer magazine and several short stories. She writes the legal column, Ipso Facto, for the Guppies’ newsletter, First Draft. She lives, and practices law, in Anchorage, Alaska. When not writing or lawyering, she can be found riding her bike, hanging out with her Irish Wolfhound, studying the concert harp, or dinking around with oil paints.
Visit Keenan at: www.keenanpowellauthor.com
https://www.facebook.com/keenanwrites
I love Miss Marple! (Wouldn't she be a fun next-door neighbor? Unless you did something wrong...)
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | January 23, 2018 at 06:39 AM
Congratulations, Keenan. And three cheers for another Miss Marple fan! I adore her. Sleeping Murder and The Moving Finger two of my favourite crime novels,
Posted by: catriona | January 23, 2018 at 07:00 AM
Miss Marple was my introduction to mysteries. At 14, I picked one up to read on a train ride into the city, where I was doing a summer theatre program, and by the end of the summer I'd read pretty much everything Agatha Christie wrote. Great post!
Posted by: Ellen Byron | January 23, 2018 at 07:28 AM
Congrats, Keenan!
Miss Marple is wonderful - but she's scary, too. I'd be afraid to meet her because she'd figure out within minutes all the bad things I'd done in my entire life!
Posted by: Liz Milliron | January 23, 2018 at 07:50 AM
Busybody is such a loaded word, isn't it? It's usually only applied to women, and most often older ones. It's a sexist term that dismisses tendencies that, in a man, would be considered sharp-eyed, or perceptive, or unusually insightful.
So heck with that.
Congratulations, Keenan. We have never met, but I keep seeing your name on blogs and Facebook posts, and wish you the very best with this book. I look forward to diving into it!
Posted by: Karen in Ohio | January 23, 2018 at 08:16 AM
We all have a little of her in us, right? Intuition, and observation, and putting puzzle pieces together.
Haven't people said to you--HOW did you know that??? And you think--how did you not?
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | January 23, 2018 at 08:47 AM
Keenan--everything okay in the earthquake?
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | January 23, 2018 at 08:48 AM
Hank, everything OK for us in earthquake. Anchorage is hundreds of miles from Kodiak, the epicenter, and a very long way from the Pacific Ocean. But the dog was upset.
As for Miss Marple, I've noticed in myself that after a certain amount of experience, one notices patterns.
Catriona: Thanks so much!I've been listening to the books narrated by Joan Hickson. She was amazing.
Ellen: Thanks! I had listened to a lecture about Miss Marple, in which the man patronizingly referred to her as a "busybody" that got my Irish up.
Liz: I'd want Miss Marple on my side for sure.
Karen: Absolutely! Hope you enjoy the book.
Posted by: Keenan Powell | January 23, 2018 at 09:55 AM
Miss Marple is one of my heroes. A smart woman making the world safe using her smarts. What's not to love?
Posted by: Alexia | January 23, 2018 at 10:57 AM
Alexia: that's what I say! Thanks for stopping in!
Posted by: Keenan Powell | January 23, 2018 at 11:28 AM
All my maternal grandmothers were known as "white" witches in their Cornish villages. They did have a reputation for knowing things. I find myself knowing things ahead of others, but my mother had dreams that came true with in the next few days. And my brother would wake up and hear plane accidents, etc. at the time they were occurring and have confirmation in the news the next day
Posted by: Ellie Enos | January 23, 2018 at 03:51 PM
Ellie! Amazing. And incredibly fascinating.
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | January 23, 2018 at 06:57 PM
Ellie: how intriguing! They call that "Second Sight" in Ireland and, I think, in Scotland. I wonder if sometimes people with that gift would rather not know?
Posted by: Keenan Powell | January 23, 2018 at 09:45 PM
I think that some of my brother's experiences are very emotionally draining. On other occasions, it feels like a gift. One day we were driving on I-80 heading East towards Reno. Ty was driving in the far left (fast lane); he suddenly looked in his rearview mirror and moved into the far right lane and took the exit. Seconds later, we saw a car careening from the Westbound lane, jumping the concrete barrier, and crashing into the Eastbound Highway right where we would have been. It caused a multiple car accident, but we were on the exit road out of harm's way.
Posted by: Ellie Enos | January 24, 2018 at 09:20 AM
Ellie, that sort of thing really gives you pause. There are more things on heaven and earth...
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | January 24, 2018 at 09:47 AM
Congratulations, Keenan! I look forward to getting to know your characters!
I'm a Miss Marple fan. She reminds me somewhat of my maternal grandmother who was a down to earth, sensible person, and quick to note that "there are no new evils, just new people finding new ways to commit the same old sins." My grandmother was a pretty good judge of character, too, and I can easily see her and Miss Marple being friends.
DebRo
Posted by: Deb Romano | January 24, 2018 at 04:10 PM
DebRo! What a truly wonderful thing to picture...xoxo
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | January 24, 2018 at 04:42 PM