Period Mystery Idea

[alias_sqbr]

This occurred to me in a dream I had last night (which was mostly pretty incoherent because my subconscious loves STARTING mystery plots but has no idea how to finish them)

So! The story starts out seeming like a sort of Christie/Sayers pastiche. It's set in the 1930s or whatever, and has a Brilliant Detective who tries to be unassuming but has a remarkable ability to ferret out secrets and understand people's motivations. He is also very progressive for the time, expressing exactly the sort of attitudes a modern reader would expect/like from a hero.

BUT. This is all because he is a time traveller, who is relying on knowledge and attitudes he learned in the future (probably around our modern day). While he's progressive for the thirties he's got more subtle modern blindspots and can be a bit obliviously smug about what are more like cultural differences. And as his actions trying to solve the mystery affect the timeline, his knowledge becomes less and less useful, and he finds it increasingly difficult to solve the mystery/deal with the bad guy.

It's a bit like To Say Nothing Of The Dog from the point of view of one of the Victorian characters, I guess.

In my dream he also noticed anachronisms that would only stand out if you recognised them from the future, and realises he's not the only time traveller.

Another option is that he be a modern reader who never quite finished the novel but I personally like time travel :)

I'm not sure what would happen after that?? I guess he solves it with the help of the plucky female protagonist or something? He could also ACTUALLY be the villain but I like the idea of him being sincere.

This would be a lot easier to write for someone with like...a history degree or something, and the ability to construct mystery plots. So I am throwing it out into the world.

Comments

[skygiants]

I absolutely want to read this now.

[alias_sqbr]

ME TOO. Someone linked to https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930171.Fire_Burn_ which is vaguely similar but not really the same.

[deird1]

Somewhat reminiscent of “Fire, Burn” by John Dickson Carr. That was a detective from the (then-contemporary) 1950s solving a murder in 1829.

[alias_sqbr]

Oh, interesting! From a nowadays readers point of view I bet there'd be lots of inadvertent moments when the protagonist's "modern" attitudes were very much of their own time, as well as any deliberate ones.

[deird1]

You’re not wrong. :)

[flamebyrd]

This is a really fun idea!

I'm assuming you're describing a novel, which would be great, but I feel like it could also be an interesting sort of visual novel/point-and-click adventure game, with the player being the time traveler. (Although you would have a better idea of how well that would work, having... actually played such games...)

[alias_sqbr]

I was thinking a prose story but yes, playing the detective in a game could be fun, especially if one goal as a player is to balance making informed decisions with avoiding suspicion for being suspiciously knowledgable.

[flamebyrd]

Ooh, yes, I like that mechanism!

[fred_mouse]

That sounds really intriguing! I'd love to say 'I'd play that' but past experience shows that unless it is a mindless puzzle game, I get bored too quickly.

[alias_sqbr]

Past experience shows I'd probably be too anxious to play without a detailed walkthrough haha. But someone would be into it :)

[fred_mouse]

And if it was well done, someone will have done a detailed walk through. Now if only it existed .

[winterbird]

Okay but how are you having SUCH AWESOME DREAMS

[alias_sqbr]

Well in this case it was more the dream itself was just silly, but me in the dream was pondering to themselves about plots. I'm often semi-lucid during my dreams so it can be a little like a very vivid, disjointed daydream not entirely under my control.