Life, Death, Murder

At any one time, I’m reading several books, placed in different parts of the home. There are books in the toilet, the kitchen and in the living room. The one in the kitchen, which I read while I’m waiting for the water to boil or the food in the microwave to be done, is a G.K. Chesterton mystery by Kel Richards called “Murder in the Mummy’s Tomb”. It’s a fictitious story using the character of G.K. Chesterton and his wit and wisdom in the solving of a murder mystery.

Chesterton appears as a welcome blast of fresh air and real life after a few chapters of dry desert forgettable characters and conversations. The day after he arrives at the archaeological expedition in Egypt, the narrator, a young archaeologist named Flinders, tells him that someone has been murdered, stabbed to death, and comments, “It’s tragic.”

“Most assuredly. Murder is always tragic,” agrees Chesterton.

“A sad death,” Flinders says.

“You mistake my meaning. It is a nonsense to think of a death as tragic, since we shall all die. Life is a fatal condition. No one gets out of here alive. None of us shall escape death. No, the real tragedy is that a living man has now become a murderer.”

Then when Flinders says that it is extraordinary to think that the murderer may be a member of their expedition, Chesterton remarks that it is not strange at all, but entirely natural, in fact.

“Murder is the oldest crime of all. The inclination to murder runs in our blood. We should not be surprised that a race who will kill their God will kill each other. The truly remarkable thing is that so many of us succeed in exercising restraint and venting our homicidal passions in more innocent ways, such as kicking a doorpost or writing a poem.”