#Detective fiction

[detectivejay]

Time for a new poll! I'm curious to see the spread of answers on this one (and hear any other series not on the list.) Tried to go for a range of older and newer series on here, more on the older end of the spectrum, but I can't cover everything with the limited poll options here, so I hope you'll share your answers! :)

Please reblog for a larger sample size, thank you!

[malcolmschmitz]

The Insider and Outsider Detectives

So there's a lot of discourse about detectives floating around, ever since 2020 shifted a lot of people's Views on the police. Everyone likes a good mystery story, but no one seems to know what to make of a detective protagonist- especially if they're a cop. And everyone who cares about this kind of thing likes to argue over whether detective stories hold up the existing order or subvert it. Are they inherently copaganda? Are they subversive commentary on the uselessness of the police?

I think they can be both. And I think there's a framework we can use to look at individual detectives, and their stories, that illuminates the space between "a show like LAPD straight-up exists to make the cops look good" and "Boy Detective is a gender to me, actually".

So. You can sort most detectives in fiction into two boxes, based on their role in society: the Insider Detective and the Outsider Detective.

The Insider Detective is a part of the society they're investigating in, and has access to at least some of the levers of power in that society. They can throw money at their problems, or call in reinforcements, and if they contact the authorities, those authorities will take them seriously. Even the people they're investigating usually treat them with respect. They're a nice normal person in a nice normal world, thank you very much; they're not particularly eccentric. You could describe them as "sensible". And crime is a threat to that normal world. It's an intrusion that they have to fight off. An Insider Detective solving a crime is restoring the way things ought to be.

Some clear-cut examples of Insider Detectives are the Hardy Boys (and their father Fenton), Soichiro "Light's Dad" Yagami, or Father Brown. Many police procedural detectives are Insider Detectives, though not all.

The Outsider Detective, in contrast, is not a part of the society they're investigating in. They're often a marginalized person- they're neurodivergent, or elderly, or foreign, or a woman in a historical setting, or a child. They don't have access to any of the levers of power in their world- the authorities may not believe them (and might harass them), the people they're investigating think they're a joke (and can often wave them off), and they're unlikely to have access to things like "a forensics lab". The Outsider Detective is not respectable, and not welcome here- and yet they persist and solve the crime anyway. A lot of the time, when an Outsider Detective solves a crime, it's less "restoring the world to its rightful state" and more "exposing the rot in the normal world, and forcing it to change."

Some clear-cut examples of Outsider Detectives are Dirk Gently, Philip Marlowe, Sammy Keyes, or Mello from Death Note.

Now, here's the catch: these aren't immutable categories, and they are almost never clear-cut. The same detective can be an Insider Detective in one setting and an Outsider Detective in another. A good writer will know this, and will balance the two to say something about power and society.

Tumblr's second-favourite detective Benoit Blanc is a great example of this. Theoretically, Mr. Blanc should be an Insider Detective- he's a world-famous detective, he collaborates with the police, he's odd but respectable. But because of the circumstances he's in- investigating the ultra-rich, who live in their own horrid little bubbles- he comes off as the Outsider Detective, exposing the rot and helping everyone get what they deserve. And that's deliberate. There is no world where a nice, slightly eccentric, mildly fruity, fairly privileged guy like Benoit Blanc should be an outsider. But the turbo-rich live in such an insular world, full of so much contempt for anyone who isn't Them, that even Benoit Blanc gets left out in the cold. It's a scathing political statement, if you think about it.

But even a writer who isn't trying to Say Something About The World will still often veer between making their detective an Insider Detective and an Outsider Detective, because you can tell different kinds of stories within those frameworks. Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote is a really good example of this-- she's a respectable older lady, whose runaway success as a mystery novelist gives her access to some social cachet. Key word: some.

Within her hometown of Cabot Cove, Fletcher is an Insider Detective. She's good friends with the local sheriff, she's incredibly familiar with the town's social dynamics, she can call in a favour from basically anyone... but she's still a little old lady. The second she leaves town, she might run into someone who likes her books... but she's just as likely to run into a police officer who thinks she's crazy or a perp who thinks she's an easy target. She has the incredibly tenuous social power that belongs to a little old lady that everyone likes- and when that's gone, she's incredibly vulnerable.

This is also why a lot of Sherlock Holmes adaptations tend to be so... divisive. Holmes is all things to all people, and depending on which stories you choose to focus on, you can get a very different detective. If you focus on the stories where Holmes collaborates with the police, on the stories with that very special kind of Victorian racism, or the stories where Holmes is fighting Moriarty, you've got an Insider Detective. If you focus on the stories where Holmes is consulting for a Nice Young Lady, on the stories where Holmes' neurodivergence is most prominent, or on his addictions, you've got an Outsider Detective.

Finally, a lot of buddy detective stories have an Insider Detective and an Outsider Detective sharing the spotlight. Think Scully and Mulder, or Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. This lets the writer play with both pieces of the thematic puzzle at the same time, without sacrificing the consistency of their detective's character.

Back to my original point: if you like detective fiction, you probably like one kind of story better than the other. I know I personally really prefer Outsider Detective Stories to Insider Detective Stories- and while I can enjoy a good Insider Detective (I'd argue that Brother Cadfael, my beloved, is one most of the time), I seek out detectives who don't quite fit into the world they live in more often than not.

And if that's the vibe you're looking for... you're not going to run into a lot of police stories. It's absolutely possible to make a story where a cop (or, even better, an FBI agent) is an Outsider Detective-- Nick Angel from Hot Fuzz was originally going to be one of my 'clear-cut examples' until I remembered that he is, in fact, legally a cop! But a cop who's an Outsider Detective is going to be spending a lot of time butting heads with local law enforcement, to the point where he doesn't particularly feel like one. He's probably going to get fired at some point, and even if his badge gets reinstated, he's going to struggle with his place in the world. And a lot of Outsider Detective stories where the detective is a cop or an FBI agent are intensely political, and not in a conservative way- they have Things To Say about small towns, clannishness, and the injustice that can happen when a Pillar Of The Community does something wrong and everyone looks the other way. (Think Twin Peaks or The Wicker Man.)

Does this mean Insider Detective Stories are Bad Copaganda and Outsider Detective Stories are Good Revolutionary Stories? No. If you take one thing away from this post, please make it that these categories are morally neutral. There are Outsider Detective stories about cops who are Outsiders because they really, really want an excuse to shoot people. There are Insider Detective stories about little old people who are trying to keep misapplied justice from hurting the kids in their community. Neither of these types of stories are good or bad on their own. They're different kinds of storytelling framework and they serve different purposes.

But, if you find yourself really gravitating to certain kinds of mysteries and really put off by other kinds, and you're trying to express why, this might be a framework that's useful for you. If your gender is Boy Detective, but you absolutely loathe cop stories? This might be why.

(PS: @anim-ttrpgs was posting about their game Eureka again, and that got me to make this post- thank them if you're happy to finally see it. Eureka is designed as an Outsider Detective simulator, and so the rules actively forbid you from playing as a cop- they're trying to make it so that you have limited resources and have to rely on your own competence. It's a fantastic looking game and I can't recommend it enough.)

(PPS: I'm probably going to come back to this once I finish Psycho-Pass with my partner, because they said I'd probably have Thoughts.)

(PPPS: Encyclopedia Brown is an Insider Detective, and that's why no one likes him. This is my most controversial detective take.)

[facts-i-just-made-up]

What is a detective?

I have no idea. I'll investigate and find clues to help solve the mystery.

[secretlyafiveheadeddragon]

Sherlock Holmes is John watson’s manic pixie dream girl

[cephalopadre]

Mechtober Days 9 & 10: Ace Detective Prowl and his snarky partner Chromedome!

The Prowl and Chromedome detective stuff comes from Transformers IDW G1 issue "Shadowplay", the precipitate stuff is a plot twist near and dear to my heart from Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and the comic format's riffing on Aoyama's Detective Conan. Truly self indulgent stuff here, lol. Warpath's the culprit because robot Mrs. Inglethorpe would've been into him being a tank.

[poirott]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AGATHA CHRISTIE! (b. September 15 1890)

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—a moniker which is now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

[youseethehat]

He's looking at a hot dog

[mysharona1987]

[anim-ttrpgs]

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Introduction

The world of Eureka is, for the most part, just like our own. Its history is our history. Its people have families, friends, jobs, struggles, and flaws. It is a world that those who inhabit it think they know well, trusting science—or at least headlines about science—to tell them all the answers. We all learned that there were no monsters under the bed when we were six years old, and everyone knows force equals mass times acceleration, right?

Theft, disappearances, murder, conspiracy; in the world of Eureka, there are mysteries to be solved, and investigation will lead to answers–sometimes inexplicable answers, but answers. Perpetrators can be punished, victims can be rescued - but the dangerous and unexplained do not confine themselves to the mystery at hand. There's always another mystery to solve. Perhaps one was at your side the entire time….

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a role playing game for veterans and newbies alike about mystery-solving detectives (amateur or professional) using their different sets of knowledge, personalities, and unique gameplay mechanics to sleuth their way through a challenging world. Roleplay and mechanics are tightly bound together, supporting rather than resisting each other, and your character’s unique personality and traits will ensure a totally different gameplay experience from your fellow players’. Eureka supports and rewards real-time deduction from the players and gives you the power to build drama, suspense, and excitement around every corner! (You can also get the latest PDF for FREE for a limited time by joining the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club!)

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but our Kickstarter page is still the best place to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, and where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more than just status updates, going forward you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and it’s adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[thepenultimateword]

Trick or Treat! 🦇🎃👻

I started writing this before October ended, but I didn't finish in time, so have a late treat!

Grounds for Murder

The officer observed the large smear of yellow paint on the coffee shop window. From up close, it looked like nothing more than a few random arced lines, but when Faelan approached the shop from across the street this morning, it looked a lot like an eye, the way the glass had glared in the dawning light almost like it was blinking. It had sent the fur on Faelan's haunches up on end. And as he hastily dug into his bag for the door keys, he had the eerie feeling of being watched.

The call to the police had been immediate, but now that he stood back on the street an hour later, the city a little more awake, and an officer at his side the graffiti didn't seem nearly so ominous. But maybe that had more to do with the nonchalant way the officer observed it, one hand on his hip, the other holding some ridiculous chain brand of coffee to his lips, his snake half circled into relaxed coils.

The officer swallowed his gulp of coffee loudly. "So if I have this right, you left at about 10:00pm last night and the window was clear. Then when you returned around 5:30am this morning this--" He waved vaguely at the vandalism. "--was here?"

"Y-y-yes."

"And none of the neighboring shops saw anything?"

Faelan frowned. "I d-didn't check. Isn't that the police's job?"

"Well, most people don't like an officer on their doorstep, especially not for something as minor as this."

Faelan frowned even deeper. Sure it wasn't a murder or anything big, but this was still a crime.

"You'll probably have more luck with your neighbors than us," the officer continued, and then as if to stop any protest directly added, "Any security footage?"

Faelan didn't want to let the topic change slide, but seeing as he wasn't the professional in this process, he bit down on his complaint. "Y-yes. In the back and out front. B-but it only catches snapshots every ten minutes. I-I already checked the feed. The paint appeared around 3:00am, but it didn't catch whoever did it."

The officer hummed vaguely, looking the markings up and down for a solid minute before saying, "Well, unfortunately, since no harm was actually done, there's nothing I can do."

Faelan's mouth dropped open. "Y-y-you're not going to investigate?"

"With so little to go on it would only be a waste of time. All of our officers are dedicated to serious cases right now, and with so little to go on, I doubt we can do much at the moment. Set up more cameras, and if it happens again, we'll see what we can do."

Faelan's tail flicked aggravatedly. "But this is the only shop they touched! It feels targeted! D-d-d-doesn't that seem concerning? "

The officer raised his brows. "There's no words. No recognizable symbols. Nothing that constitutes a real threat. You’re three blocks from the university; If anything its some dumb kids trying to be funny."

"It's n-n-n-not f-funny." Faelan barely grabbed control of his stutter. It always got worse when he was emotional, which was just inconvenient. If ever he needed a clear voice it was when he was chewing someone out.

The officer only stared at him, his expression more like someone inconvenienced than patient. “Talk to your neighbors. Set up more cameras. Don’t let it ruin your day.”

With that, the officer slithered smoothly back to the police car on the curb.

“B-B-B-But—”

Too late.

Faelan cursed under his breath before storming back inside, the overhead bell tinkling violently with the force he put on the door. His hooves clacked loudly as he shoved into the kitchen, tore open, the refrigerator, seized a mass of dough from yesterday, and threw it on the work table. He gnawed bidingly on his bottom lip while he washed his hands, barely holding himself back from drawing blood before slamming both fists onto the dough with a loud poff!

The dough was cold but he worked into it with all the violent anger he’d wanted to throw at officer or the perpetrator, or anyone else who wanted to try pissing him off today, and soon it was warm and malleable in his hands.

The bell tinkled from the front and Kaiyo’s familiar light step sounded on the tile, moments later the kitchen door creaked.

“Hey, what’s with the— Oh, you’re getting a late start.”

Faelan’s head shot up and Kaiyo's took an instinctive step back, ears flattening against his head.

"S-s-some stupid k-kid vandalized the store, and I wasted h-h-half the morning talking to the useless police who decided they’re not going to do a single thing, w-which they could have told me over the phone for all the help that officer p-provided me by coming down!” He ground the heels of his hand harder into the dough as he raised his voice into a mock conversation. “‘H-Hey, someone vandalized by shop, can you c-come check it out?’ ‘Oh, we a-a-actually don’t give a crap about your shop, so no, we aren’t going to do anything’ ‘Oh, no problem. Th-thanks for being incredibly useless.’ ‘You’re welcome, we love doing nothing.’ See? Easy!”

He punched the dough right in its soft center.

Kaiyo reached across the table and grabbed Faelan’s wrists. “Ok, you’re definitely going to overwork that, so let’s just step back a moment.”

Without letting go, he walked around the counter and pulled Faelan to a stool on the edge of the room, forcing him to sit.

“So, let's calm down a bit. You're saying kids painted that thing on the window?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. That’s what the officer theorized. I don’t actually know who did it, security cameras didn’t catch it.”

“I told you we should get some that actually film.”

“Nothing ever happens on this street; how was I supposed to know we’d be the only shop ever to get vandalized?”

Kaiyo flicked one ear, but he didn’t argue the point further. He probably didn’t want Faelan to explode.

“Well. If the police aren’t worried, let’s leave it for now.” He pulled Faelan up by the arms and began pushing him to front of the shop. “Here, why don’t I finish up the dough, and you do customer service until something is baked.”

“I hate talking to the customers,” Faelan grumbled.

“And they hate talking to you, but you’re in a mood, so you need to not be alone stewing.”

Faelan sighed heavily but clopped up to the register anyway. As annoying as it was, Kaiyo was right. He really could not be trusted with his own thoughts right now or he’d probably start trashing things, or worse, make a very, very angry phone.

The bell over the door tinkled, and he straightened up, forcing on his most accommodating smile. “W-welcome in, how can I—”

An intense chill rushed down his spine quickly followed by a slam of anxiety to the gut so strong he felt dizzy. He had to steady himself on the counter, but the touch of his hands to the cool granite only made him hyper aware of the fact that every single hair on his body was stood on end.

What was happening?

Thump thump thump thump thump…

His heart beat rapidly, no pauses, and as he concentrated on his next inhale to sow it, he realized his breaths were following the same pace.

His eyes flicked rapidly up and down as the woman approached the counter. She didn’t look dangerous. Dark circles under the eyes and a long brown trench coat might be off putting in some places, but at a coffee shop they were fairly normal.

Still, Faelan’s legs tensed to run.

She cocked her head a little and ruffled a hand through her short shag haircut, yellow eyes glinting. “I had a question about your window, but since I’m here, why don’t you throw in a Turkish coffee.”

[hoshi-kawaii]

Arthur Conan Doyle: what if there was a detective and he was super mysterious and badass and like the smartest man alive but of course was misunderstood and an outcast but in a cool way.

Agatha Christie: what if there was a detective but he was a tiny little fancy man and no one ever took him seriously no matter what he does because of white on white racism. and he's got a silly mustache.

[detectivejay]

I'm sure this has been done countless times, but polls are fun and I'm curious, so... For the purposes of this poll, I'm only counting shows/books/games/etc. where Sherlock is a main or very prominent secondary character, there's a decent amount of other Sherlock canon characters represented (at least a version of a John Watson), and there are some references made to the ACD originals. Not counting where he's only a relative of the lead but not a main (like Enola Holmes, RKDD, etc.)

Not counting the ACD original canon as an adaptation here, as none of these would exist without it. Everything else listed is adapting it in some way.

There's also some series I haven't watched/read yet but have been recommended that aren't on here yet for the purposes of space, including Detective L, Miss Sherlock and the Bonnie MacBird Sherlock books.

Feel free to reblog this for a larger sample size :)

[mercury-waters]

09.12.2024 - a book that changed my life

the house of silk by anthony horowitz

"it is impossible to imagine what the world will be like by then, what advances mankind will have made, but perhaps future readers will be more inured to scandal and corruption than my own would have been. to them i bequeath one last portrait of Sherlock Holmes, and a perspective that has not been seen before."

[herecomesthementalmeltdown]

woke detective literature be like

SHE/HERlock holmes

hercule POLYrot

john watson

[motionjames]

let me shill you japanese columbo

Do you like Columbo? Do you like police procedurals starring grumbly, slightly eccentric ossans? Do you believe in the power of shoujo manga?! Well, do I have the show for you!

Introducing....Furuhata Ninzaburō!

Written by genius playwright Koki Mitani and starring the extremely charismatic jidaigeki star Masakazu Tamura, Furuhata Ninzaburo is a detective drama directly inspired by Columbo (not to be confused with...Shinano no Columbo, which yes, exists). Its got the murders, its got the mystery, its got an unreasonably good theme song, and there's middle aged man with the mannerisms you love to see. The formula usually goes as follows:

Furuhata-san stands in the dark void, talking about riding bicycles or something or another to setup the theme of the story.

You see the baddie do the murder and try to cover it up. Yesiree, you see the murder-- because the fun comes from watching it all unravel!

Furuhata-san appears (possibly struggling with a vending machine, or bicycling with some half-price daikon) and catches a whiff of something funny ahead of time.

Cue the game of psychological cat-n-mouse as Furuhata-san slowly deconstructs the whole thing.

Furuhata-san looks directly into the camera like it's the office to ask the audience what the final piece of the mystery is (this is briefly addressed)

The killer spirals ace attorney style as the audience screams GOT THE BITCH! and Furuhata-san escorts them off screen to purgatory... or, you know, prison.

Yup, it's pretty standard fair detective drama stuff, but the writer Mitani is able to construct some seriously compelling, twisty mysteries that keep you on the edge of your seat. By the end of first season, the direction finds its style and you'll get plenty of jaw-dropping musical cues and camera cuts that make you feel like you're full immersed in some deluxe, spicy juicy awesome mystery fiction action!

Okay... but who is the man of the hour? A good mystery needs a good detective, and there is hardly anyone as wonderful to watch as the black-clad oyajisan.

Tamura aces the role of Furuhata. It's just too good. As he's based off of Columbo he's of course a disarmingly scrungly genius with terrible posture and a grumbling-mumbling way or speaking, but he was plenty of other traits to set him apart. He's a fan of shoujo manga; he's an excellent chef but only knows how to prepare three mismatched dishes; he loves konbinis but is cursed by vending machines; he's terrible at baseball and is totally unsportmanlike; he is often seen on his beloved bike CELINE (since he was in the area anyhow)... I could go on, but the character is well realized and so fun to watch. His head tilts, forehead taps, and drawn out ええと。。。are perfectly captured, and all do a great job at annoying his victims. A stand out trait of Columbo is his unique relationship to the culprits; he's described as being very buddy-buddy or even respectful, using his friendly ho-hum manner to weedle his way to the truth. Furuhata-san is similar, but more... salty? Bitchy? The man frequently makes underhanded remarks towards the culprit or acts offensively relaxed until he find a contradiction in their words, in which he will then pursue to the ends of the earth. It gives a kind of "c'mon, can't you do better?" attitude reminiscent of a disappointed teacher.

But even with all his sass (which he has in spades), Furuhata-san will always sit down with the killer and offer a smile and a bit of light conversation before the credits roll. The killers are usually afforded a bit of dignity. Most famously a radio show host tells the detective "the funniest joke there ever was"-- but as a small revenge, she refuses to tell him the punchline. Credits roll, theme plays, it's just another day on the job.

Oh, there's also Imaizumi. Imaizumi is a big dummy and always falls for the red herrings the killers leave behind. Because of this, Furuhata-san is relentlessly mean to him and slaps him on the forehead as punishment. He forces the guy to do menial tasks and be victim to his many tests. Imaizumi, however, is just happy to be here. His special skills include knitting, flower arrangement, not reading the room, and having hemorrhoids.

Okay, now have some Furuhata-san crying and reading shoujo manga.

Truly the guy of all time.

You're probably totally in love with this show because I've described it so beautifully, right? Right? So you wanna watch it, riiiiight? Well lucky for you it's all totally subbed on internet archive!

Watch this awesome show ENGLISH SUBBED and FOR FREE you won't regret it! This link is so full of oyajisans! Please! Join me in Japanese crime fiction hell!

(Personally speaking, the first episode pilot thingy is a bit slow and does not represent the rest of the show very well, I would suggest skipping to the second episode "The Kabuki Murder" to get a real taste and then maybe return to the previous one later. Just my thoughts!)

Also, there was a really awesome remix of the main theme made for DDR. Here's that, but with Haruka Amami from the idolm@ster dancing over it.

Ah yes.... I have spilled my love... I suppose I should go now. Please enjoy this wonderful show, and remember: Don't you ever fuck up ever or else Furuhata-san WILL get you and you WILL go to super hell! Bye!

[conscbgb]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

THEY ARE BACK!!!!! I NEED TIME TO WATCH THE 28 EPS!!!!! NOW!!!