Mysteries, small and infinite
The Slipping Place a page-turning murder mystery, but it also a meditation on the mind. It is about lies, secrets and unspeakable cruelty. It is about the things we thought we knew, and the things we miss… and it is about a choice, a decision point, that is infinitely, vanishingly, terrifyingly small. see: joannabakerauthor.com … Continue reading Something at the corner of vision, that vanishes as you turn towards it.
But there is no Illumin Gallery in Brooke Street. There is no Merchant’s Cafe, or empty haberdasher’s in New Town Road. There is no ruined barn on the northern edge of Campania. There isn’t even a Slipping Place.
The Slipping Place, is a murder mystery set in and around Hobart and on Mount Wellington. It is a dark and suspenseful and a meticulously constructed clue-puzzle. The book is also rich with ideas. "You draw a line" The Slipping Place is concerned with violence in the domestic sphere and examines the way in which … Continue reading The Slipping Place
Narrative is central to our understanding of life. It reflects the structures of human thinking.
In 1948, poet W. H. Auden confessed to a passion: "The reading of detective stories is an addiction."
The detective novel has developed into a highly codified form of literature with a widely recognised series of conventions.
The delight of finding the hidden thread that pulls together an array of confusing facts, of solving a puzzle, of revealing the hidden significance of things.
One of the great thrills of detective fiction — the thrill of not knowing.
Our reasons for loving detective fiction are complex and hard to describe.
JOANNA BAKER 