Spring Cleaning

Photo Courtesy of Darwin Bell

You can read Elizabeth Zelvin's Agatha Nominated short story "Death Will Clean Your Closet" on her website. For the most part, I liked it. I thought the descriptions were well done and the pacing was interesting. She often concludes paragraphs with a nice staccato sentence. I also liked how she wrapped things up, which I consider one of the most important parts of any short story, but especially a mystery story.

However, I thought some parts were a little impractical. [Spoiler Alert] For example, for a significant part of the story, the protagonist, Bruce Kohler, who is also the main character in her Death Will Get You Sober, seriously considers that the body he found in his closet might have been there for the last 90 days. He says he smelt something weird, but figured it was the restaurant next door.

Luckily, I have never been around an actual decaying body, so I can't say for sure how it would smell, but based on my experience with dead animals, the smell would not be confused with food, and would probably get pretty strong well before 90 days had passed. Ultimately, the resolution does not depend on the reader believing this happened, but I was still bugged that he he thought that might have been the case in the first place.

One other minor grievance...I don't like it when characters use the word "dude," unless it's as a joke. I guess there could be people out there that call their friend "dude" on a regular basis still, but to me it just comes off as false.