I know this is probably a common topic. For me, I’m not sure if it’s a “trope” or just totally misinformed writing, but it’s how many authors approach alcoholism. Some examples are Girl on the Train and The House Across the Lake, among HUNDREDS. If anyone else here has struggled with alcoholism, you know it’s not just "i woke up after downing an entire bottle of whiskey but was able to shower, down a cup of coffee, and solve a murder. "
The Agatha Christie story “The Body In The Library” is a good example of a mockery of a trope that so thoroughly killed it that no-one remembers the original trope.
But in mystery stories, it was common for a dead body to turn up in a library with a mystery being about how the killer got in or out, often due to a closed room mystery. A secret passage or a means to sneakily enter and leave the room without anyone knowing. The library itself had a spectacular element to it that facilitated the mystery.
But what made the book so unique was the fact that there was nothing of note about the library - it had no secret passages, the doors weren’t locked, there was no reason to keep it isolated at all, nothing.
What makes the story so strange was the fact that a random-ass corpse just turned up out of nowhere.
That was a great book . I am currently reading the mirror cracked and the references in it are really funny .People keep asking about the murder and the reply is always : there wasn’t any murder there . The body was just put there . 😂
Yes she went through every possible idea/permutation of ‘murder story’ kinda systematically which is fun
That’s why it remains one of my favorite Christies.