Something in the Air | Techniques

Something in the Air Techniques

Once again, Lathen cleverly uses a single financial body, this time a small commuter airline, to make the "closed society" of the classic detective story plausible. The death of the victim, a rather unpopular bachelor pilot, has no possible benefit for anyone outside of Sparrow Airways—but could be enormously useful to many within the company. Unlike most earlier novels in the series, however, Something in the Air has a variety of settings. Locale is not restricted to company headquarters and the Sloan, but includes two stunning airport scenes and a memorable boat excursion. This opening-up gives the action of the book a less contrived, more varied effect. Lathen had experimented with varying the scene with When in Greece (1969), much of which takes place on the road, but Something in the Air is a more successful effort. A comparison with Agatha Christie's classic Death in the Air (1935), in which...
(read more)