 Mystery: April 18, 2018 Issue [#8855] |
  Mystery
This week: The OUTBACK as setting! Edited by: eyestar~*  
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Hail readers! I am happy to be here as guest editor to the mysterious.  Bear with this non-mystery writer and enjoy my little forray into settings! What I know of mystery is from reading and research and the only mystery I ahve to solve today is the mystery of the missing notebook! (where I keep all my passwords and numbers for banks etc!) It should be easy to find...I use it all the time. So... gremlins are at play or the messy setting in my office and on my table is the culprit.  Now I do move my laptop around.. so that book could be anywhere. Yet.. not.... so I have sleuthing to do. Or.. cleaning! 
So settings indeed are vital to a good mystery, don't you think?
"Write settings you are familiar with." Jeffrey Deaver
"“Fire would barrel along that chain like a bullet train, he knew. It surged and jumped and gorged itself. It raced like an animal. It ravaged with inhuman efficiency.” The Dry, by Janet Harper
"It takes me as long to develop the plot and work out the characters as it does to write th book. Sometimes longer. So once I have the setting, I begin to get to know the people as it were and last of all, the clues." P.D.James
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Setting is vital in any story to help create emotional response like dread or surprise when crime happens in a place one does not expect. It shapes the mood and tone of a story as time and place can affect perceptions and actions of characters and even readers. One does not expect murder in a church vestry or crime in a child's room and if dark castles or lonely pathways can be spooky. Or as in Scandanavian and Outback expanses of relative peace and little crime, it is very alarming to have horrors and crime occur there.
Cruising around in Australia for the "Invalid Item" I took a peek at the genre of Mystery/Horror in the down under and I found that the Outback makes a great character or setting for mystery and horror. Much like the moors in Sherlock Holmes and the quaint villages of Miss Marple and the Scandanavian wilds among others, Australian authors like Adrian Hyland use the remote outback desert regions as backdrops for their mystery and horror novels.
The areas are remote, isolated, where land can look the same for miles and shadows can play havoc. Rocky outcrops, dry riverbeds, roads that can turn to mud on rainy nights, distances between homes and towns are long create for suspense as help can be far away, clues blow in the wind and reliance on each other is vital.
The Outback is traditionally a place where aboriginals live and outlaws, eccentrics, runaways who want a fresh start, congregate, where black meets white, mining companies may vie with environmentalist and natives lending itself as a hot bed for cultural classes and life for all who live there struggle to survive in the harsh, unforgiving landscape. Drought, bush fires and miles of open space are all features that have added suspense and drama to story lines.
“The space ...was enough to drown in, To look out and see not another soul between you and the horizon could be a strange and disturbing sight.” Janet Harper wrote.
Henry Lawson wrote about the "everlasting maddening sameness of stunted trees" and the loneliness in the Driver's Wife .
Adrian Hyland has often lived in the Outback and in his books attempts to shed light on the issues and wonder of the area and its people. In two novels, Diamond Dove and Gunshot Road, he uses rural towns where mangy dingos roam wild. He highlights the issue between aboriginal view of land as alive with the mining company's view of it as a resource.
In "The Dry" by Janet Harper, scenes of wandering down country roads at night, the white noise of insects, shrieking birds and the use of "fire" as a deadly weapon creates a sense of dread. Australians there know the danger of fire and its effect. The devastation of drought is vividly shown in the landscape as it can give and take life. It is the backdrop for an apparent suicide of a farmer, worn down by the lack of rain in Kiewarra.
It seems there is a greater trend to use this lonely, wild land as settings for horror and mystery among Australian authors. Charlotte Wood’s horror novel The Natural Way of Things, features the isolation and harsh environment to underscore kidnapping of women and how they need to survive. Some have even used historical events that happened there as basis for novels.
Some cool books to check out!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/791345.Picnic_at_Hanging_Rock
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16180308-homecountry
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/never-never-9781925324938
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8359693-gunshot-road
The Outback itself is a character of mystery and wonder, from its well watered TOP End, to its arid Red Center and the Never Never, dotted with isolated posts, villages, mines and vast cattle ranges, from Ayers Rock to the ancient Hanging Rock, a setting where young gals disappear at a Picnic. It's beauty and dangers test the rugged individuals who find themselves drawn to the vast spaces and freedom. One could hide forever and never be found. It is not wonder it would make a perfect suspenseful setting!
What do you think? What settings are your favourites?
Thanks for reading and remember, every life is a mystery. Live it well. 
Sources:
https://jsydneyjones.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/mystery-down-under-adrian-hylands-...
www.tripfiction.com/crime-mystery-set-in-australia-novel-flag-2017/
http://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2038579/why-australias-outback-perfect... |
 A few mystery bites!
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Do you have a favourite mystery/horror author? How did the setting speak to you as vital part of the work?
My last mystery newsletter; "Mystery Newsletter (December 27, 2017)"
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