The Poetry of Mystery

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This is so gorgeously thought-provoking! And I adore when we have a topic we have never discussed before.

I met Kate Michaelson at Thrillerfest–and she is completely lovely. She’s a member of SINC, and ITW, and is a debut author, hurray! Her brand new book is HIDDEN ROOMS, and more about that below.

She also has an MFA in poetry. Is that valuable to a mystery author? Oh, yes, yes indeed.

The Poetry of Mystery

   By Kate Michaelson

 

What do Edgar Allen Poe, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy Sayers have in common? If you said they’re legendary crime writers, yes. But did you know they all wrote poetry as well? Others, like P.D. James and Louise Penny, infuse poetry into their mysteries with characters like poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh and Three Pines bard Ruth Zardo. 

 

At first glance, poetry and mystery couldn’t differ more. After all, poems make us slow down and reread a page. Mysteries, on the other hand, keep us turning the pages, propelling us forward to find out what happens next. So why does poetry appeal to so many mystery writers?

 

Having completed an MFA in poetry before writing my first mystery, I know a bit about this connection. In switching genres, I realized both types of writing actually have a lot in common.

 

For one thing, poets and mystery writers are both masters of microtension—those moments that may not address plot-level conflict, but still capture emotional clashes or uneasy juxtapositions. Like fiction writers, poets use small doses of conflict to drive poems forward.

One of my favorite poems, “How to Like It” by Stephen Dobyns, uses this technique to perfection as a man walks his dog on an unsettled autumn night. The poem opens by describing “the first days of fall” and a wind that “smells of roads still to be traveled.”

 

As the poem progresses, we see how the man’s settled life is at odds with the blustery night.

But in his sense of the season, the man is struck

by the oppressiveness of his past, how his memories

which were shifting and fluid have grown more solid…

 

Dobyns vacillates between stillness versus a desire to explore, until the poem culminates by asking, “How is it possible to want so many things / and still want nothing?” 

Part of what makes poetry so potent are these compressed doses of tension, everyday moments we often grasp with more immediacy than larger, more abstract plot points.

 

Likewise, mysteries use microtension to keep readers engaged in scenes where the central conflict fades into the background. Whether we’re developing characters or sneaking in backstory, small frictions keep readers going. These moments don’t necessarily address “whodunnit.” Rather, they make us worry whether the protagonist will have one-too-many drinks with her new colleagues, even as her spouse waits at home on their anniversary.

Or—to take a lesson from Dobyns—microtensions remind us that every human knows what it’s like to want two very different things at the same moment. 

 

Along with having an eye for microtension, poets and crime writers share keen instincts for what details to hold back, keeping their readers invested from moment to moment. Poets distill universal truths into a series of spare, broken lines—often on a single page—by winnowing away extraneous information to lay bare the essence of an emotion or moment. 

 

Crime writers, similarly, lay trails of intriguing breadcrumbs while concealing the explanations that tie them together. These omissions leave room for readers to summon their own emotional responses. Faced with only the most essential information, readers must fill in the gaps and enter the story as active participants.

 

Even though poems invite us to pause and mysteries forge ahead headlong, that doesn’t mean crime writing can’t boast poetic language. In my favorite mysteries, the words themselves are a joy to read. These books give me the best of both worlds: beautiful language to drink up and a riveting plot that won’t let me go. 

 

I have my favorites, but who are some crime writers whose work you’d describe as poetic?

HANK: Oh, I'm not sure I've ever thought of it that way, but I just finished--and beyond adored--Chris Whitaker's ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK which is as gorgeously and seamlessly poetic as any book I have ever read. (And one of my favorites ever. Truly, do not miss it.)

What about you, Reds and Readers?

 

 

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Kate Michaelson 

Kate Michaelson’s debut novel, Hidden Rooms, won the 2022 Hugh Holton Award for best unpublished mystery by a Midwest writer and was released in April of 2024. As a curriculum developer and technical writer, she has created educational content on everything from media literacy to cybersecurity awareness. She is active in Sisters in Crime and participates in causes that support those with disabilities and chronic illness. In her free time, she loves hiking, traveling, napping and anything else that takes her away from her laptop. She grew up in Greenwich, Ohio and now lives in Toledo, Ohio with her husband and pets.

 

 

Hidden Rooms

Long-distance runner Riley Svenson  has been fighting various bewildering symptoms for months, from vertigo to fainting spells. Worse, her doctors can’t tell her what’s wrong, leaving her to wonder if it’s stress or something more threatening. But when her brother’s fiancée is killed—and he becomes the prime suspect—Riley must prove his innocence, despite the toll on her health.

 

As she reacquaints herself with the familiar houses and wild woods of her childhood, the secrets she uncovers take her on a trail to the real killer that leads right back to the very people she knows best and loves most.