“Jill”
I challenge the mirror
“how much guts have you got?”
This is the opening of the book. The cover and title page indicate that it is “An Erotic Murder Mystery” but what it does not say that is the book is written entirely in verse. So, no, this is not just some strange and bizarre opening in the form of a poem. This is how the entire book plays out. A good thing to know before you start reading, probably. Certainly, an important element to know before you buy it. Those who love murder mysteries but hate poetry may discover a certain ambivalence in the decision-making process. Important to know is that while written in verse, this is conversation poetry. In other words, it’s not like reading a book of poetry if you are one of those people who hate poetry.
The streets coil around me
when they empty
I'm female
l get scared.
The verse structure does serve as a typical foundation for murder mystery in some ways, however. This excerpt closes out a short selection titled “I’m Female” which serves as context. Taken out of context and place into strictly prose arrangement, however, and it sounds like it belongs in any hard-boiled detective novel: “The streets coil around me when they empty. I'm female. I get scared."
“Diana told Tony everything
she told him
You made a pass
a big pass at her.”
Just because the novel is written in verse does not mean that it does not have the same typical sort of elements as prose fiction. Conversations do occur, but due to the limitations of space and structure, these are not big long drawn out affairs. Discourse between characters is truncated, more allusive, less direct, often ambiguous and typically conveys only the most essentially important of information. Don’t worry about keeping track, however, as the author despite guidelines like “she said” or “he asserted” makes it relatively clear who is taking part in the conversation and who in particular is speaking the quoted lines. For instance, the title of this selection is “Barbara’s Venom” and it begins with a description:
“Barbara is wrinkled
But petitely pretty”
her throat
thrums
against my breast
I’m stunned
Her finger runs
down
my windpipe
I gulp
Make no mistake that in addition to being a novel written in verse and a murder mystery, this is also an erotic mystery as the subtitle indicates. This example is actually one of the more strictly erotic; others verge closer to the side of erotica some—some, mind you—might label “pornographic.” As an example of just how sexually explicit, or at least how explicit the language can get, one of the selections of verse is titled “F—K All” except that the middle letters are not missing. The language and the imagery can get pretty raw, but at least the reader has been warned right from the outset. It is all there on the cover and title page: The Monkey’s Mask: An Erotic Murder Mystery
