Lessons From FanFiction: How Lathen's Books Change

Classic Lathen: domestic financial motive,

witty social commentary, hilarious scenes,

and Thatcher acts like himself. 

I am a fan of Emma Lathen's Wall Street murder mysteries. 

Emma Lathen's mysteries were written by two women, Mary Jane Latsis and Martha Henissart, from 1961-1997. The style/plotting of some of the later books indicate that one author may have had more say in the book's content/writing than the other. This varies (I believe one of the authors was ill at one point), but generally speaking, the later books are not as evenly crafted as the earlier ones.

For one, the books' detective, John Thatcher, changes--as I discovered when I went to write him into my fan fiction. An iconoclast who gets along with his colleagues and is even amused by them, Thatcher yet follows his own line of thinking. His colleagues perceive him as something of a maverick (What is John up to now?). 

However, in some of the later books, Thatcher becomes one of the scooby-gang/the "boys"--a member of a network. A great deal of the earlier reflective and wry humor--including Thatcher's reactions to his colleagues--read more like the good-natured joshing between frat boys or the team in The Fugitive. Still amusing! But not the same.

Consequently, in some of the later books, he solves the cases alongside others including the police while in the earlier books, he alights on explanations and clues (and occasionally hares off to check them) mostly by himself (with some support from "research"). Even if the former approach is more realistic, it doesn't have the tone or nature of the latter approach.

Less classic Lathen: convoluted motive,

little social hilarity, Thatcher less himself.

Another difference: in the earlier books, Thatcher LIKES being a banker. In fact, he will often fiercely protect his space and time to complete work. He does it because he is good at it and because he thinks it matters. He also has a broad and thoughtful understanding of human nature. He gets pulled into the mysteries by both his interest in banking and his interest in people. He is the General Practitioner of the banking world. 

A perfect quote about Thatcher from Going for the Gold--a later book but one in which Thatcher is still Thatcher--sums up his appreciation for money and people: "Watching the three women contestants [at the Winter Olympics] was undiluted pleasure for Thatcher. He had always enjoyed the spectacle of experts at work, even when the physical manifestation was as pedestrian as an auditor checking a ledger." 

But in at least one of the later books, Thatcher is (rather unfairly) portrayed as doing his job but not really interested in it. Or, rather, as the stock-character banker, he does his job because he is soooo obsessed with numbers and stocks. But oh, if only a juicy murder would come along...

He is still an okay character but without the whimsy or the irony of the original Thatcher. Consequently, he became a far less appealing Holmes to my fanfic Watson.

The interesting point here: I always knew that I didn't like the later Lathens as much as the earlier ones, and I could even pinpoint reasons here and there, such as particular plots, exposition, and dialog. I began to zero in on the impact of Thatcher's (changing) character when I tried to make him work in my fan fiction. 

I recommend literary critics give fan fiction a try--it's a remarkable window into how a writer's writing works. And might make said critics more appreciative of what does work--even Lathen's later books are decent mysteries.