[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

The love story of Inspector Barton left a deep impression on Mary. She always admired bold girls and knew how shocking the young Mrs. Barton was in the Victorian era.To deceive a policeman in this way, Mary felt that, according to Mrs. Barton's ingenuity in the case, she should not be the kind of girl who would ignore it as soon as she got hot and do something stupid.

This also means that she came to London with the mentality of doing it if she doesn't succeed, even if she is taking the huge risk of ruining her reputation.

Fortunately, the ending of the story is not bad.

Mary appreciates the art of tragedy in literary works, but in reality, she still hopes to hear more happy endings.

I have to say that old Mr. Carlisle still has a certain story sensitivity, and the material is a good material, but the reason why Mary has not started writing is that it is not suitable for direct use.

Compared with the suspenseful case, the Barton couple's experience is a legendary love story.It's not that it can't be used, but the material itself cannot support a case.

To be used, it must be adapted and can be used as an embellishment for a case.

Therefore, Mary is stuck in the link of what case to write.

And Catherine's words reminded Mary.She wanted to write about female fraudsters. Since she couldn't come up with a suitable plot after thinking about the content, she might as well go the old way to pick up real people and real stories.

However, among the fraud cases suitable for the nineteenth century, there are very few that meet the conditions of women and are even more wonderful and bizarre.Mary's thoughts immediately turned a corner - who said that the prototype of a character must be a woman?

"I have an idea!"

Catherine was extremely excited. She didn't know which words she said woke Mary up. When she saw her third sister's eyes suddenly lit up, she knew that she had indeed been inspired.

"Speak quickly, speak quickly!"

Catherine, the little secretary, didn't even read the letter, she just put the package aside, and grabbed Mary's sleeve to ask her to make up a story on the spot: "I've been waiting for your next story for a long time, but you haven't come up with ideas for a long time, I'm afraid you are in a hurry I dare not urge you either."

Mary is not in a hurry, she is in a good mood.

Although her only source of income is writing now, several factory owners in Milton gave Mary a very good creative condition with the [-] pounds that Mr. Thornton took the lead in paying her for the case. Economic pressure to ensure the quality of creation.

This is very important for a new author.

However, the creative ideas that had been stuck at the beginning suddenly made progress, and Mary was in a very good mood.

"Don't worry," Mary comforted Catherine in turn. "When I conceived a story, I had to tear up the manuscript a few times? Even if I have an idea, it's just a flash of inspiration."

The flash of inspiration this time broadened Mary's mind a lot.

Without limiting the scope to women, which fraudster is the most famous, has the most legendary experience, is the most literary, and is suitable for adaptation into a novel?

Mary felt that it was not to blame that she thought of Frank Abagnale reflexively, but that this "criminal"—or the FBI security consultant, was so famous!

The name may be unfamiliar, but the movie "A Game of Tom and Mouse" starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio and starring Tim DeKay and Matt Bomer The TV series "The Mighty Thief Detective" is a household name.

These two films are both adapted from the real life stories of Frank Abagnale!

"I want to write about a financial fraudster," Mary said, "and it's a woman."

Frank Abagnale's life can be described as colorful and colorful. All his honors were obtained by "cheat"—if he wanted to be a pilot, he just pretended to be a pilot, but no one found out for a long time If he wanted to be a doctor, he forged a medical diploma and became the director of a certain hospital.If Detective Sherlock Holmes's disguise is his specialty, then compared with Frank Abagnale, the detective himself is an upright and kind person. Various identities, wrote fake checks to defraud up to 250 million US dollars in cash.

What Mary took a fancy to was not his changeable identity, but his experience of fake check fraud.

In European and American countries, the form of check has a history of hundreds of years.Among them, there are many cases of using check loopholes to carry out fraudulent crimes. Even if Mary does not know much about economics, she knows that under the social background of the late nineteenth century, there are too many ways to manipulate checks.

The experience of Frank Abagnale just provided Mary with a creative template.

In the eyes of Mary, a layman, frauds are different from murders and thefts, their harm is not so direct, and they happen frequently in the financial and economic industry.Most of the cases that Mary knew, such as the Ponzi scheme, and the legendary life of Frank himself, did not rely on outstanding skills or a vicious soul.

Most importantly, be shameless.

If you want to cheat, you have to lie, and you have to make up the lie seamlessly without arousing anyone's suspicion.You have to be so righteous in everything, and use all your abilities to convince others to believe in yourself.

"Financial fraud."

When it comes to this range, Catherine is a little confused. She looks a little disappointed: "I thought you would use the love story between Inspector Barton and Mrs. Barton."

"I didn't say no."

Mary laughed out loud: "It's just that love elements can't support a suspenseful story."

Catherine: "But if it's financial fraud, it's a real crime. How can the hero and heroine be happy?"

Mary: "I also didn't say that the female con artist I wanted to write about was Mrs. Barton."

Catherine: "Huh?"

It doesn't make sense to make Philip Luther a simple onlooker after changing the touching love story beyond recognition?Of course, Mary also doesn't like the ambiguous entanglement between the evil and elegant female devil and the upright tough-guy male protagonist-especially under the premise that she has already arranged a loving wife for Philip Luther.

"The love story between Inspector Barton and Mrs. Barton," Mary said, "can be used as a background description. I have thought about Inspector Luther and his wife's love experience for a long time, but after thinking for a long time, I haven't come up with a suitable idea."

"what……"

Catherine got it!

"Do you want to write the story of Detective Patton," she smiled in surprise, "on Philip Luther?"

"However, the consent of Inspector Barton must be obtained first." Mary nodded.

"great!"

Catherine stood up happily: "Inspector Patton will definitely agree. Since he agrees with Inspector Carlisle to write his experience in the document, it proves that he still wants to see this story become a novel!"

Mary thought so too.

And Inspector Barton... Mary was taken aback by his questioning when they first met, and her serious attitude and expression also made her a little confused.

But after listening to Inspector Carlisle's narration, she felt that Inspector Rudolph Barton was a weird old man who didn't like his integrity.

To arrange his own experience on Philip Luther, Inspector Patton may not say anything on the surface, but he may already be happy in his heart!

Of course, being certain, Mary felt that it was still necessary to inform Inspector Barton in person. This was a matter of principle.Especially in Mary's writing, Philip Luther's wife is dead, and this is how she exposed her identity in front of the two old detectives.Everything that is emotional and reasonable has to be personally agreed by Mr. and Mrs. Barton, especially Mrs. Barton.

After all, if the real-life story is used, Mary will "write Mrs. Barton to death"!

"If Detective Patton and his wife agree, I will use his experience to describe the story of Philip Luther and his wife," said Mary. It can unify the theme of the case.”

After experiencing "Serial Killer Chess Game" and "The King of Carnival", it is time to consider how to develop the role of Philip Luther.Since Detective Luther was endowed with an affectionate image from the very beginning, his love experience is naturally indispensable.

Although Mary still thinks it is better not to name the love story of Luther and his wife, keeping the hazy effect is the most beautiful; but it should be reasonable to use a financial fraud case to draw the memory of Detective Luther.

As for the scammer himself...

Mary turned decisively on Mr. Frank Abagnale.

One is a beautiful and attractive female liar, who can naturally remind Philip Luther of his wife, and the beauty of the dead wife is set off through real fraud cases; Also really eye-catching.And writing about female murderers and female thieves is not as interesting as a female fraudster who uses false identities and fake checks to defraud large sums of money.

From the perspective of creative conception and commercial conception, Mary herself is quite satisfied with this idea.

"However," she thought for a while and said seriously, "I still need some time to sort out my thoughts."

In view of the previous two stories, Mary thought very well. When writing, she changed countless settings and wasted countless papers.Even if the original intention of this creation is just "at most two short stories", Mary dare not take it lightly - after all, she wanted to write a simpler case as a transition from the beginning, but if it involves the financial and economic industry, how much is it? Long... Mary didn't dare to say.

"It's good that you have inspiration," Catherine said with a long sigh, "I've been worried for a long time."

"I'm not in a hurry," Mary couldn't help laughing, "What are you worried about?"

"I'm afraid you have no idea."

Catherine felt relieved: "Don't worry about it now."

Mary: "Let's think about how we finish reading our letters."

When it comes to “business,” Catherine is full of energy—now she looks forward to the monthly letter section even more than Mary does.The mood of reading a letter from a reader as an author is naturally different from the mood of reading a letter as a reader.What Mary hopes to see is the feedback of readers, but Catherine feels that watching other people analyze and comment on works and guess the direction of the following will give her a new reading angle.

Not only lamented that some readers were able to guess Mary's thoughts, but also gave her a lot of insight.

Fortunately, there are not too many letters from readers this time.

Although this serial is the beginning of "The King of Carnival", Mary—or Philip Luther is far from famous enough to open a new story to attract the attention of countless people.This is the second short novel, so it's normal that the beginning of the new story doesn't get as much feedback as the end of the old series.

But after reading a few letters, Mary felt that "The King of Carnival" might really need to focus on both the text and the text, causing a heated discussion.

The reason does not lie in the novel itself, but in the gimmick Mary chose, which is more effective than she imagined.

She underestimated the influence of pt Barnum.

No wonder editor-in-chief Hall praised her for "dare to write".In this issue of letters from readers, there is basically no other feedback, and nine out of ten are asking the same question in an affirmative tone: this circus master Pluto is Barnum himself!

Some readers thought it was a good opening.Just at the beginning, there was a circus performance prepared solely for Philip Luther. The description of the scene was lifelike, and the selection of materials and presentation methods were also different from the circus performances of this era.Mary's writing style is concise and clear, but even in line drawing, some people feel that it would be great if they could see this circus performance with their own eyes.

"Since you have been to so many places, Mr. Philip Luther," wrote a young man who was still in college, "have you met Mr. Barnum? I wouldn't be surprised if you two were friends. Why don't you wait for "Carnival" After finishing the draft of The King, I asked Mr. Barnum to use his circus to rehearse the exact same performance. I really want to see what the performance in the story looks like."

—It's not impossible.

She used Barnum as a character prototype without his consent. I don't know what Mr. Barnum will think when he finds out.Mary from the 21st century thought he was a historical figure, but now in the Victorian era, Barnum himself is still alive.

Since he is so good at discovering business opportunities, if she knows that Mary uses him as a prototype to create stories... She thinks that Mr. Barnum himself would be very happy to see this kind of free publicity, and it might even be true as the young college student said, Simply use "The King of Carnival" to build momentum for yourself and adapt it into a real performance.

Thinking about it carefully, Mary was actually quite looking forward to it.

The good remarks are basically the same, but some readers feel that choosing PT Barnum as the prototype of the character is simply Philip Luther, who created the term "serial killer", degrading himself.

One of the letters was written by an old gentleman.His letter was so indignant to read that Mary felt that if it were not for decency, the whole page would need to express herself in capital letters.

The old man's opinion is very straightforward: there are so many darkness to be discovered in this world, and so many cases to describe, why must choose a sensational clown as a prototype to describe the story?In his view, describing the life of the working class, and even confronting the crimes of "serial killers" has strong social significance, but "The King of Carnival" has been completely reduced to a commercial work, just like Barnum himself. The story of the masses.

"This gentleman is too much," Catherine couldn't help muttering after reading the letter, ""The King of Carnival" has just begun, and it is already sure that it has no social significance?"

"And he was right."

Mary is as good as ever: "If it wasn't for the sales volume, I wouldn't choose Barnum as a character prototype. There are people who don't like Shakespeare's plays. I'm just a new author. Some people like it and some don't." Like it, it's all normal."

"That can't be said too much." Catherine was sullen.

"It's ok."

Anyway, these feedbacks will not bring anything substantive to Mary. To put it bluntly, the manuscript has already been approved anyway, and the manuscript fee has been received. You can say what you like without delaying Mary to get the money.

And in fact, Mary was a little pleased with the feedback.

She could foresee which aspects of those literary critics who were not optimistic about Philip Luther would criticize her in the newspapers!Up until this moment, Mary had somewhat understood Barnum's own thoughts.

First of all, there must be discussion and attention, so that more people will pay attention to the quality of the work.

Maybe that's the way the gimmick is meant to be used.

But she didn't intend to argue with Catherine, after all, her sister was still doing her best.

"Instead of thinking about that," she said, "go on and look at the other letters. Is there anything else to say about me?"

"Let's see, let's see—"

"—Franz Harvey."

Lydia, who was flipping through the letters, suddenly looked up: "This name looks familiar, is it that reporter?"

Catherine's eyes widened: "It's the reporter who wrote literary reviews!"

Franz Harvey was the editor-in-chief of Hall's journalist friend at The Times.He made a very high evaluation of Philip Luther and "Serial Killer Chess Game", and the letter dialogue between the reporter and the editor-in-chief couldn't even keep Mary's face off.

At the end of "Serial Killer Chess Game", facing all kinds of verbal criticism, Mary didn't take it seriously, but the reporter wrote a literary review angrily.

He actually wrote directly?

Mary was surprised, but also a little touched.

Regardless of whether he supports Luther's story as always, or feels that the social significance is not enough like that old gentleman, this reporter can be regarded as Mary's first loyal reader.

Of course, she didn't mean that Catherine and the others, or even Mr. Sherlock Holmes, were not "faithful".It's just that for those around Mary, they knew themselves before they knew Philip Luther.As far as readers who read through the "Seaside Magazine" read, they don't know Mary Bennet, only Luther.

Fortunately, although Mr. Harvey, the reporter, is also interested in the social value of "Serial Killer Chess Game", he doesn't think "The King of Carnival" is worth mentioning.

He first expressed his excitement in writing to the author for the first time, and then jokingly complained about the editor-in-chief Hall, saying that they have known each other for more than [-] years, and such a good relationship cannot be exchanged for you Philip. As for Luther's real identity, this friend is considered in vain.

After the polite words, it's time to get down to business.

"To be honest, I'm surprised that you chose Barnum as the prototype of the character," Mr. Reporter wrote frankly, "Literary creation needs to break through oneself, and an author who sticks to the same theme will not go far. Even Tuo Dostoevsky, while maintaining the unity of the core and style of your own works, each work also has its own characteristics. I know that you will not be obsessed with describing cruel and dark stories, but I also did not expect that you will be in the The second story completely changes style."

The corners of Mary's mouth curled up. It sounds like this reporter really likes "The King of Carnival".

"If "Serial Killer Chess Game" has a gray and cold tone, then the beginning of "The King of Carnival" is as gorgeous as the title. To describe a story based on Barnum's prototype can also reveal many problems. Although The story is just the beginning, and the story will focus more on adventure than suspense, but I'm still looking forward to it unfolding."

The discussion of the work ended here, and Mary continued to read, and suddenly understood why Mr. Reporter had to write such a letter himself.

"I went to Milton, sir."

The reporter seriously wrote: "This unremarkable town really surprised me. I have spent most of my career chasing conflicts and disputes between factory owners and workers. And Milton's labor relations are almost The most harmonious labor relations I have ever seen. And the local workers told me that it is because they have undergone a 'reform'."

Mary: "..."

This is a bit blown.

She doesn't feel like she changed Milton's labor relations.In fact, even though the town was on strike when Mary arrived in Milton, she still felt that the relationship between the boss and workers in Milton was not as bad as it was in reality.

After all, Mr. Thornton is a conscientious factory owner. Even the old and cunning Hamp treats the workers the worst in Milton, which is quite kind in London.

If not, how could her "reform" succeed.

"Although the so-called 'reform' is a bit rudimentary and does not touch the fundamental problems, it has greatly improved the living and working conditions of the workers. It is a good idea to start with the infrastructure to protect the health of workers. And all this came from at the hands of a woman," said the reporter, "that astonishes me, sir. Since it was you who asked Editor-in-Chief Hall to inform me of Milton's existence, I may venture to assume that you and this Mary Bennet Miss is acquainted with each other, is she your friend?"

Editor-in-chief Hall did a great job of keeping secrets.

This reporter has already gone to Milton, and even knows that there is such a "Mary Bennet", but the editor-in-chief is still holding back to say that Philip Luther is actually this lady, and he is too capable. Hold it up!

If it were Mary, she would definitely not be able to hold back herself.

But...it would be a good thing to get the reporter's attention to Milton.

Mary doesn't ask what her actions will bring about any fundamental revolution, but she thinks it is worthwhile to make more people pay attention to the lives of workers.

So Mary put away the letter from reporter Franz Harvey solemnly and prepared to answer it herself.

As for other letters from readers, especially the negative feedback that made Catherine very angry, after reading Mr. Harvey's letter, it is not a problem at all.

And with the idea of ​​a new story, Mary's attention has been completely shifted to the next story.She had to think hard about how to write.

"and many more."

Seeing that the three girls had almost finished sorting out the letters, Catherine suddenly took out another letter from under the package: "This is also a letter... No, this is a telegram."

She paused, then raised her head to look at Mary: "Mary, it belongs to Sir Blackwood."

Mary: "..."

I just attended the banquet last night, and the telegram came today, what happened?

She took the telegram, which was very concise.

"I hope you enjoyed last night's dinner, Miss Mary," Sir wrote. "I have had a chat with Mr. Brownlow, who appreciates what you have done when he learns that you are the private detective who defended Miss Nancy. , if you don’t mind, why don’t I invite you to Mr. Brownlow’s house as an introducer, so that we can see the little Oliver who was indirectly rescued by you?”

Mary's first thought after she put down the telegram was that this man has never finished!

But she had to admit that Sir Blackwood's reason for choosing was very good. Whether it was from the perspective of Oliver being the young protagonist of "Oliver Twist" or the perspective of the case, Mary wanted to meet Oliver himself.She couldn't think of a reason to reject him at all.