On avoiding crime fiction cliches. I remember a line from G.K. Chesterton which said some many detective stories begin with a murdered American millionaire as if something like that would turn the world on it’s head. An American millionaire, dead? What evil has befallen the world?
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I suppose the “American” millionaire provided an opportunity to present a rich guy who’s also a boor (the English rich had old money, and better style, and anyway they’d been murdered to death in previous mystery stories) and so intrinisically murderable. Murders in High Society are more entertaining than murders in low society. When a pimp or a drug dealer gets killed, the police don’t usually have to solve a mystery.
That’s true.
At least America is a place where people can both make money and enjoy it. I made the mistake of reading through the complete Sherlock Holmes in a few sittings many years ago. Once I got past the formulaic similarity of all the stories, the second feature that struck me was how none of the wealthy residents of England’s rural estates portrayed by Conan Doyle had made their fortune in England. They had all found diamonds in Africa, Gold in California, tea in India or silks in China before retiring to a country manor in England. But none of them made their fortune at home.
That’s true, now you mention it. There may be some old money, but the old money people seem mostly walk-ons. The Musgraves seem to be old money, if I recall correctly (it’s been a while), but I think they had fallen on hard times.
Much comedy is created by the mixing of old and new money. Consider Magnum PI and his butler Higgins.