Children in Detective fiction

Normally, children are not prominent in detection fiction as murder is involved. But there are a few notable exceptions.

Agatha Christie's "Crooked House", which was one of her favourite books, was "a pleasure to write", as she herself claimed. It starts with the poisoning of Aristide Leonides, a wealthy entrepreneur, living with his family, who is murdered. Almost all the members of his family, come under the scanner. His grand-daughter, 12 year old Josephine, ugly, precocious & addicted to detective stories, also seems to be a victim of an assault & later, her former nanny is killed. Aristide's late wife's spinster sister, Miss Haviland, who has lived on to take care of his family, discovers a diary of Josephine, which starts with the chilling words "Today I killed grandfather." He had crossed her in her desire to learn ballet, so he had to go. To divert attention, Josephine also staged an attempt on herself & killed her nanny also when she came in her way. Miss Haviland, whose days are numbered, to spare Josephine from the law, takes her in her car & crashes it, killing both.

The next child appears in Ngaio Marsh's "The Final Curtain", which starts with the murder of the celebrated actor, Sir Henry Ancred. Here also many family members are suspected. Many suspicious pranks take place, attributed to his grand-daughter Patricia (Panty), who is precocious, outspoken & mischievous but being educated in a school which prohibits any punishment. But Detective  ('andsome) Alleyn arrives & finds the culprit, thankfully not Panty, in this case.

To end this essay on a cheerful note, we come across Betty, a toddler with her mother Mrs. Sprot in a seaside village in England during WW 2 in Agatha Christie's thriller "N or M". The enterprising couple of Tommy & Tuppence are entrusted with the task of unearthing spying activity there. The enchanting play of Betty is given adequate coverage in the book. There are many suspicious people but the couple find out that Betty is stolen from her real mother & used as a prop by Mrs. Sprot as none would suspect a mother with a toddler as a spy. Betty's book of "Goosey Goosey gander" also contains a clue. Finally Betty is saved & the spy Mrs. Sprot caught. In a later book, we find little Betty has grown up & doing research in South Africa!