Crime Genre: "The devil has been the unwilling instrument of grace..."

September 28, 2011

"The devil has been the unwilling instrument of grace..."

More from Flannery O'Connor. This is from the tail end of "On Her Own Work" in Mystery and Manners:

From my own experience in trying to make stories 'work,' I have discovered that what is needed is an action that is totally unexpected, yet totally believable, and I have found that, for me, this is always an action which indicates that grace has been offered. And frequently it is an action in which the devil has been the unwilling instrument of grace.

Posted on September 28, 2011 at 10:46 AM in Anecdotal Evidence | Permalink

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Love this quote!

Posted by: Molly | January 20, 2012 at 07:11 PM

From my own experience in trying to make stories 'work,' I have discovered that what is needed is an action that is totally unexpected

AMEN

Posted by: generic viagra | December 22, 2012 at 03:19 AM

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Bertrand 101

J. Mark Bertrand is the author of Back on Murder, Pattern of Wounds, and Nothing to Hide, crime novels featuring Houston homicide detective Roland March. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston and lived in the city for fifteen years. After one hurricane too many, he and his wife moved to South Dakota. Mark has been arrested for a crime he didn't commit, was the foreman of a hung jury in Houston, and after relocating served on the jury that acquitted Vinnie Jones of assault. In 1972, he won an honorable mention in a child modeling contest, but pursued writing instead.

The March Series

J. Mark Bertrand: Nothing to Hide
The third book in the series takes March into the world of the paranoid conspiracy thriller: a headless corpse, the Mexican cartels, gun runners, and an ex-spook obsessed with Dante.
J. Mark Bertrand: Pattern of Wounds
In his second outing, March hunts a vicious killer while trying to keep a decade-old conviction from falling apart. A compulsively readable follow-up that Publisher's Weekly calls "gritty and chilling."
J. Mark Bertrand: Back on Murder
Back on Murder, the first in a series about Houston homicide detective Roland March, is on bookshelves now.

Published Elsewhere

Review: "The Outlaw Album"
My review of Daniel Woodrell's short story collection, published August 2012 by Books & Culture.
"Writing About Reprobation"
My essay on the theological value of noir fiction, published in the Spring 2011 issue of ByFaith.
"I Know What You Read Last Summer"
My essay on summer reading, published (and re-published) in Comment.
Review: "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read"
My review of Pierre Bayard's charming and mischievous guide to literary bluffing (and honesty), published in Comment.
"Of Deerstalkers and Labcoats"
The crime fiction I like, the crime fiction I don't, and the reasons why, published in Comment.
"Strange Love? Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Young Adult Novel"
My complicated relationship with adult reading habits, publishing in Comment.
"The Wake for Printed Books"
My thoughts on the future of printed books, published in Comment.
Review: "Post-Apocalypse Now"
Marcel Theroux's Far North and several classic by John Wyndham feature in my rumination on post-apocalyptic fiction, publishing in Comment.
Review: "Breeding Monsters"
My review of Gareth Edwards' sci-fi indie Monsters, published in Comment.
Review: "The Glass Rainbow"
My review of James Lee Burke's The Glass Rainbow, published on the Books & Culture blog.

Others by Bertrand

Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand: Beguiled: A Novel
My friend Dee and I teamed up for a fusion of romance (her genre) and crime (mine) set in modern day Charleston.
J. Mark Bertrand: Rethinking Worldview
David Naugle dubbed this book on worldview thinking "...a rich gift to serious citizens of the kingdom of God."

Crime Genre