Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Parrot Talks (Squawks)

On Rick Robinson's blog,  J. F. Norris made this comment.

"A parrot squawking out a mysterious phrase occurs much more frequently in mystery fiction than I ever would’ve imagined. There’s Death in Swaythling Court, Murder on Wheels, The Chinese Parrot, and this one [The Case of the Perjured Parrot by Erle Stanley Gardner]. I’m sure there are more.

Can anyone come up with more for Rick? Such a strange device to be repeated. But as the only bird (or animal) that speaks, too good to ignore? 

11 comments:

Olivia V. Ambrogio said...

Don't forget Michael Chabon's The Final Solution.

pattinase (abbott) said...

OOh, I haven't read that Olivia. You could do a nice piece for us on animals in novels, I bet.

Graham Powell said...

The kid's series The Three Investigators had a book called The Case of the Stuttering Parrot.

Deb said...

As I recall, there's a parrot in the original movie of "The Ladykillers," though whether it has any bearing on the plot, I don't recall.

pattinase (abbott) said...

THE PERFIDIOUS PARROT by Jan van Wettering but no idea if the parrot gave the clue.

Anonymous said...

I remember the Gardner and the Biggers. And I've read the Chabon. Can't think of others.

Jeff M.

Travis Erwin said...

Seems I recall a myna bird in a story but the details escaoe me.

Charles Gramlich said...

Ray Bradbury's story, "The Parrot who met Papa" comes to mind.

J F Norris said...

That should say "from Rick Robinson's blog." That's my comment you quote that I posted on Rick's blog. Sorry if I appear to be fault finding, but I'm rather sensitive about this kind of thing lately. Just yesterday one of my reviews was linked on another blog and my authorship was completely erased and credited to someone who had nothing to do with writing it.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.....an intriguing question! I'll have to think about that. Certainly there area lot of animals in crime fiction.

Gerard said...

Powell, One of my sons just read Case of the Stuttering Parrot.