forthereadersandthecharacters
- usuallyallvariationsexceptthe
correctone.Whilethisisusually
ahumoroustrope,inspecialcir-
cumstances,thiscanbecleverly
usedbyaprivateeyetolullthe
criminalintoa falsesenseofsecu-
rity,leadingthemtomakeamis-
take,leavingdamningevidence.
IMPOSSIBLECRIME:Thisisanox-
ymoronreally,sinceacrimeonce
committed is clearly possible.
Yet,itisusedtodescribeanoutré
crimethat,atfirstglance,seems
absolutelyimpossible.Thinkofa
theftata bankvaultwiththelatest
foolproofanti-burglarytrapsora
train-jackingwherea compartment
disappearsbetweentwostations.
LOCKED ROOM:Ifanauthorde-
cidestohavea characterkilledin
aroomwithalltheentrypoints
closed,knowthenthattheyhave
beensacrificed at the altarof
oneofthemostfiendishliterary
deviceseverinvented.Alocked-
roomscenario(inotherwords,a
hermetically-sealedchamber)isa
sinistersituationinwhicha crime
issuccessfully committed at a
scenewithabsolutelynomeansof
entryoregress.
Thesizeandscaleofthelocked
roommayvary– itcouldevenbe
anislandcutofffromtheoutside
world,whereit’sevidentthatonly
one of the occupants could have
committedthecrime.Devisinga
successfullocked-roomstratagem
requiresspecialcare,inspiredim-
aginationandspecialattentionto
detail.Nowonderthisdevicehas
aplaceofpride among the best
crimefiction.UNRELIABLENARRATOR:Authors
bestowuniquepowerstothisfig-
ure– theymaydistortfacts,hide
detailsormanipulateeventssub-
tlywhilemaintainingthefaçade
ofbeinganimpartialchronicler
ofwhateventuallytranspires.RULENO. 1:Nevertrustanarra-
torunlessyouwanttobenastily
shockedlater.Thistropeisrare-
lyusedwithtransparency.Hints
abouttheunreliablenatureofa
narrator,usuallypresentedinthe
firstperson,canappearasimper-
ceptiblerevelationsabouttheir
stateofmind,thewordstheymay
havespokenorevenmannerisms,
behaviouralitchesandcharacter
traits.
AgreatexampleofthisisRyuno-
sukeAkutagawa’sshortstoryIna
BambooGrove(oneoftheinspira-
tionsbehindAkiraKurosawa’sRa-
shomon) wherewitnessesprovide
equallysincere,butcontradictory,
first-handaccountsofamurder–
laterdubbedtheRashomoneffect.
Akutagawa’sstoryletsreadersde-
cideforthemselvesthe authentic-
ity of the incident.75
Word Sleuth