Talk:Third Girl

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Third Girl article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1

Novels: Crime Mid‑importance

	Novels portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Novels, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and contribute to the general Project discussion to talk over new ideas and suggestions.NovelsWikipedia:WikiProject NovelsTemplate:WikiProject Novelsnovel articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Crime task force.

Women writers Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women writers, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of women writers on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Women writersWikipedia:WikiProject Women writersTemplate:WikiProject Women writersWomen writers articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Present tense in plot summary

How would you feel about "is posing as", because it keeps it in the present but reads slightly more clearly. Red Fiona (talk) 22:05, 20 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Redfiona99 that is fine, keeping to the present tense, which keeps the summary a bit more interesting. Tricky to do that with mystery story plots, with the resolution of the mystery revealing past events. But in this case, the man is still posing when Poirot reveals his false identity. --Prairieplant (talk) 06:23, 21 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

"Tricky to do that with mystery story plots" Particularly true for Agatha Christie novels. Due to her view that some murders have deep roots, the past of the various characters and past crimes/activities are prominent parts of the various narratives. For example:

In Five Little Pigs (1942), the poisoning-murder of Amyas Crane and the execution of his widow Caroline Crane took place about two decades before the "present day" of the novel. The re-investigation of the case depends on the memories of 5 other people who were in the house on the day of the murder. And naturally everyone gives a contradictory narrative of the past, colored by his/her own biases.
In By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968), the villain "Mrs Lancaster" is essentially an elderly serial killer, who has started killing again after decades of seeming retirement in nursery homes. Her past crimes and her connection to them are the main points to the mystery investigation.
In Postern of Fate (1973), the murder of Mary Jordan being investigated took place during or prior to World War I (there are contradictory clues in the text), while the detectives investigating it are active in the 1970s. The suspects, witnesses, and a previous amateur investigator have all been dead for decades. The 1970s investigation relies on the fading memories of geriatric people who may have met the deceased people several decades ago, and on extracts from diaries and newspapers.
In Sleeping Murder (1976), the murder of Helen Kennedy took place about two decades before the "present day" of the narrative. The daughter of the murder victim (a toddler at the time) has memories of witnessing her mother's murder, but oes not know the identity of the murderer. The investigation tries to uncover what actually happened decades ago. Dimadick (talk) 07:43, 21 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]