Trends may come and trends may go (though I’ve got a case of Pet Rocks stashed in the basement for when they make a comeback). One recent publishing trend that may have already seen its heyday come and go is the so-called mashup novel.The first of these, apparently, was the rather popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It was a collaboration, of sorts, between Jane Austen and one Seth Grahame-Smith. Other titles in this vein have included Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Little Women and Werewolves, and Mansfield Park and Mummies.
Whether or not this particular trend has fizzled out is not for me to say. But I have it from a dubiously reliable source that there are a number of classic crime and mystery titles about to be subjected to the mashup treatment:
The Hound of the Baskervilles and Scooby-Doo
The Big Sleep and Bedbugs
The Mystery of Edwin Drood with Reanimated Drummers from Spinal Tap
Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Plumbers with Low-Riding Pants
The Postman Always Rings Twice and Cujo
The League of Frightened Men with Reality Show Producers
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and J.R. Ewing
The Maltese Falcon and Count Chocula
Murder on the Orient Express with Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders
The Talented Mr. Ripley and Smurfs
Farewell, My Lovely Winged Monkeys
William I. Lengeman III is a freelance journalist with a fondness for gourmet tea and traditional mysteries. He writes about the former at Tea Guy Speaks and the latter at Traditional Mysteries.
