[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

Three days later, Lydia accepted Mr. Wickham's next ball invitation.

This matter was told by Catherine to Mary.

Taking advantage of the good weather, Mary came to Meryton's inn early in the morning. Editor-in-Chief Hall thought it would be a bit slow to send letters by postal route, so he directly entrusted someone to send a new issue of "Seaside Magazine" serialized with "Serial Killer Chess Game". "Sample issue to Mary.

And Mary also wrote a summary of the new serialization idea that had been sorted out before, and put it in an envelope. The inviter then entrusted the letter to the editor-in-chief Hall, in order to ask him for his opinion on the next serialization idea.

In the relationship between editors and authors in the [-]th century, in most cases, the author sent the manuscript to the editor after finishing the manuscript, waiting for news of whether the manuscript was approved.

The advantage of this is that all the creative rights are in the hands of the author, and it is the writer who gives full play to his subjective initiative to create.As for whether to publish or not, it is another procedure after the creation.

But in the 21st century, editors of some publishing houses or magazines are more inclined to read the author's outline and sample chapters first, communicate with the author in a timely manner, and sign the copyright of the work first, and then let the author create the cooperation model.

This is a compromise between the creative process and the market—the editor’s performance considerations are entirely based on the number of readers, and interfering with the author’s creation from this perspective can more or less guarantee the commercial value of some works.

From the perspective of literary development, Mary does not fully agree with this approach.

Working in this way can naturally ensure that the published texts are loved by readers and that the magazine can get money, but it completely treats literature as a commodity.It is easy for the author to lose his own thinking and self-expression, and completely condense his creative motivation on money.

But from another perspective, this cooperation model can not only speed up the efficiency of editorial review, but also the author can get professional advice from the editor, which is a win-win solution.

Mary's current creative motivation is only money.

It's not that she hasn't imagined that she can become a great writer like Balzac, Stendhal or Dostoyevsky-it's not enough to dream.Regardless of the amount of manuscript fees that his works can sell, the mere word of leaving his name in history is already a great temptation for an idealist like Mary.

However, the reality is cruel. If you have no money to eat, where do you get the energy to create?Mary feels that she should focus on reality, and after ensuring that she can rely on royalties for financial independence, she should think about how to create the social and artistic value of literary works.

So she still chose the cooperation mode of the 21st century, and first handed over the plot outline to the editor-in-chief Hall, and asked him to provide some suggestions from the perspective of an experienced editor to increase the chance of drafting.

After handing over the letter to the young man in charge of the errands, Mary walked out of the inn, and Mary replied to Catherine: "Lydia agreed to Wickham's invitation, wouldn't that be better, and I'll have five brand new hats soon."

Catherine: "..."

Catherine, who accompanied Mary, hesitated to speak for a few times. She hesitated for a moment before carefully probing: "Do you really think that Wickham would propose such absurd things as elopement, Mary?"

Mary hooked her lips.

"If you're as unbelieving as Lydia," she said, "I can't help it."

"I believe it." Catherine said softly.

This brought Mary a surprised look, and the fourth younger sister who had never had a sense of presence continued to speak: "You can help professional detectives solve cases, and you have serialized mystery novels. It is easier to identify a person's character than to describe a murder case. "

"It doesn't have to be."

Although Catherine was praising herself, Mary still shook her head: "The human heart in reality is far more unfathomable than fictional characters."

However, Catherine's words really surprised Mary.

In the original book, Catherine, the fourth eldest sister of the Bennet family, left an impression on Mary of... no impression.

The same is true of Catherine in reality. She has no ideas or hobbies.Because there is a big difference in age between the two older sisters, and Mary has the kind of personality that is boring to study and does not like to socialize, so Catherine, as the older sister, has become Lydia's little follower instead.

In daily life, apart from the occasional quarrel with Lydia to snatch beautiful hats, it is just a girl's small fight. Generally speaking, Lydia basically likes whatever she likes.

It's just that Lydia doesn't care about Mary's creative path. Mary knows this very well, but she didn't expect that Catherine would be interested in her own serialization.

A few days ago, I was still listening to the outline of her story about the circus, and a few days later, I took the initiative to accompany her to sample the issue. This appearance is not the polite and friendly relationship between sisters.

"So you like detective stories, too," said Mary, "I hadn't noticed that before, Katie."

Catherine blushed: "I didn't like it before. I think it's something boys would like. It's either murder or crime. It's bloody and scary."

Mary: "And then?"

Catherine: "Then your serial was published in "Beach Magazine". Dad liked it very much. He read it several times and praised you at the dinner table. I went to read it and found that the mystery novel is more interesting than I thought. That's a lot."

Well, who hasn't experienced this kind of "true fragrance".

Mary laughed out loud.

No matter what she thought before, now she looks very interested, who would dislike her sister for being interested in books.

"Then if you're interested," she said, "I'll recommend the mystery novels I've read to you."

"I want to know the story of Mr. Philip Luther even more!"

Catherine mustered up the courage to speak: "I heard that you came to pick up the sample magazine today, so I came here on purpose. I just wanted to know... what the plot development will be like."

Mary: "..."

Catherine: "What?"

Mary: "Nothing, I'm happy!"

Mary is really happy to have one more person who recognizes her creation out of thin air.Jane and Elizabeth have always been on good terms with themselves, and of course they will support themselves, but Catherine is different.

She loves the house not out of caring for herself, but because she really likes the work itself.

"Then you should be in such a hurry," Mary generously handed the sample to Catherine, "just read it first."

Catherine's eyes lit up: "Really? Don't you need to read it first?"

Mary: "I wrote the serial, I don't need to read it to know the plot."

As for typographical errors, spelling errors, etc., Mary thought that she was not as professional as the chief editor of Hall, and she was assured of his professional ability.

Moreover, this series is about to officially start the plot, as the author, Mary is naturally the one who is most familiar with the work.According to Hall's editor-in-chief's habit of breaking chapters, she can probably guess at which plot point this series will end at.

The second issue of the serial, following the wonderful fragment of the previous issue, Philip Luther's first reaction after hearing Edmond's words was to ask, "Are you the one who surrendered himself?"

"Yes." Edmund admitted.

"Then who did you kill?" Luther asked.

His question brought a smile from Edmund, and the burly and stiff Edmund looked a bit cold when he smiled.

"It's up to you to discover it yourself, detective."——Edmond's purpose is not only to surrender, but also to fight.

Even though Philip Luther hadn't recovered from the pain of losing his wife, his sense of justice had already been deeply implanted in his soul.And taking a step back, his wife was also his assistant when solving the case. Even if Luther wanted to continue to sink and not accept the murderer's provocation, his lover's spirit in heaven would not forgive him.

So Luther immediately sent Edmond to the police station, and then officially started the investigation.

Before Sherlock Holmes finished reading the first serial of "Serial Killer Chess Game", she threw out three possibilities for the case, which convinced Mary - she wanted to investigate a murder without finding the victim. After thinking about it, I can't think of an answer other than these three possibilities.

So Luther described by Mary, the first thing is to find the missing persons in the parish.

Fortunately, this is not difficult. Although the industrial town is prosperous, the neighbors know each other.After the pastor made the matter public, everyone was shocked and frightened, and quickly helped the police and detective Luther find the answer.

There was indeed a missing lady in town, Edmund's mother.

Edmund's mother was strict and controlling, so she didn't have a good relationship with her neighbors.Everyone likes the honest but witty Edmond herself far more than her mother. She left home a year ago to "visit relatives" in the south. A year later, still missing.

After a whole year, even if there were any clues, most of them disappeared.For this reason, Luther had to adopt the most primitive investigation methods, collecting clues from a year ago bit by bit, and finally found Edmond's mother's body in the wasteland outside the town.

The corpse had basically decomposed, and the police confirmed that the cause of death was that the head was chopped off with an axe. It was brutal and bloody, just like Edmond, who was abused by his mother on weekdays. Ax, killed his own mother.

But Luther felt that things were not that simple.

How can a criminal who kills someone out of passion wait until a year later, when he arrives, and then say "I killed someone" in an extremely calm tone.

He went to see Edmond again with the answer, and he confessed to it in prison.

The mammoth Edmund was handcuffed to a chair, and he still had that almost numb and cold expression.

"Your efficiency is very high," he praised, "they are definitely not so quick to change the police - I don't mean to offend the local police, I am still very good friends with them, however, detectives, government agencies do things It's tedious and lengthy, you have also been a policeman, you should be very clear, it's just..."

Luther didn't speak.

Seeing that Luther did not answer his words, Edmund's dull expression showed a bit of dissatisfaction.

But he went on without hesitation: "It's just not enough for me to praise you as a smart man, detective. You just did what the police can do."

"How many more victims?" Luther asked roughly.

"Ah," Edmund was satisfied now, "you guessed it, how did you guess it?"

"Because you turned yourself in to show off."

Luther suppressed his anger and explained: "For a whole year, the police didn't find any clues, which made you very dissatisfied. You want others to know what you have done, so you chose to turn yourself in to me to show off what you have done As. Your method of killing your mother is unfamiliar, thanks to her bad popularity and no one cares about her, this is the first time. How many other victims are there?"

"Do you know what a sequence is, detective?"

"..."

Edmund did not answer Luther's question.

"To put it simply, it is a series of objects arranged according to a certain unchanging rule," Edmund responded, "I have participated in workers' classes, and the teachers there taught us that way."

"You mean."

Luther looked at him warily.

"Are you a sequence killer who kills by his own unchanging rules?"

——If Mary's guess is correct, according to the development of the plot and the number of words, the editor-in-chief of Hall will probably truncate the story here.

In the 21st century, the term "serial killer" was finally determined and became a term in criminal psychology, which also went through a process.Mary is nothing more than removing the psychological investigation and research of this process and condensing it in this story.

In the end, Philip Luther would use the term serial killer to describe Edmond, but not now, but Mary has thrown out the concept at this plot point.

The second issue of the series ends here, which not only lets everyone know the criminal pattern of the murderer, but also gives the murderer a temporary definition, which is a more appropriate ending.

Catherine happily took over the sample of the new issue of "Seaside Magazine". Seeing the posture, she wished she would spread out the magazine and read it in the street.

"Go back and read," Mary had to remind, "reading on the road hurts your eyes."

"Ok."

Catherine had to close the magazine: "Then let's go quickly."

However, she was doomed to miscalculate.Just when Mary nodded and was about to return to Longbourn with Catherine, a carriage suddenly stopped in front of the two Bennet sisters.

"Miss Mary, Miss Catherine!"

Mr. Bingley, who hadn't seen him for a long time, got out of the carriage without saying a word.

"Mr. Bingley?!"

Both Mary and Catherine were very pleasantly surprised: "Are you back?"

A few days ago, he wrote a letter saying that he would return soon, but he didn't expect such a coincidence to happen just recently.

Mr. Bingley, who is about to become his future brother-in-law, is very eager to see the two sisters of Jane.He took off his hat. "I was expecting to go straight to Longbourn after finishing my business, but I didn't expect Meryton to meet you two now."

"Katie and I came to sample the issue," said Mary.

"Congratulations." Mr. Bingley laughed.

"It is we who should congratulate you, sir!"

Mary joked with a smile, and at the same time, she didn't forget another important thing: "You and Jane were very busy before, so I didn't dare to ask, is there any progress in Holmes' overseas investigation?"

"He hasn't responded to the letter yet, but the government officials who jointly commissioned him to investigate abroad said that he is safe," Mr. Bingley explained. "As for you, Miss Mary, if you really want to go to Milton, Mr. Thornton said he would ask My own mother and sister will take care of you."

Strictly speaking, Mary is also helping Mr. Thornton investigate the case, so it is only natural for him to say so.

But Mary shook her head: "Thank you Mr. Thornton for me, but we have a relative in Milton, maybe I can live with a relative."

Mr. Bingley was taken aback: "Do you have a relative in the north?"

In fact, Mary was also quite surprised.

Mary is not surprised to say that Mr. Bennet has many relatives, she is also a decent country gentleman anyway.But she hadn't expected any relatives to go so far north from Longbourn.

And apart from a few close relatives—for example, the Gardners and the Phillips couples, and other distant relatives who didn't move around to contact each other, Mary really didn't know.

"I didn't know before," she answered truthfully, "Dad told me."

"I know who it is!"

Catherine suddenly continued: "This morning, I heard my father tell my mother that there was a pastor surnamed Hale, who was my father's cousin. At the beginning of the year, he suddenly quit his job and moved to the north with his whole family. Teaching!"

Mary: "..."

Last name Hale?

She knew no relatives named Hale.But the pastor surnamed Hale, who lived in the south, quit his job and moved to the north... By comparison, this is the family of Miss Margaret Hale, the heroine in the novel "South and North".

The second lady of the Bennet family married a straightforward and sincere man, as did the only lady of the Hale family.

Mary couldn't laugh or cry at once, is the heroine of a love story in the world a family?