After Reading Three Crime Stories, Which Detective Do You Find Most Believeable?

English Homework

AFTER READING THREE CRIME STORIES, WHICH DETECTIVE DO YOU FIND MOST BELIEVEABLE?

Over the last few weeks I have thoroughly analyzed four uniquely different detective stories. Each story was gripping and compelling in its own way. The first story I read was titled ‘A Wife in a Million’ by Val McDermid. Basically in this story detective Maggie Staniforth is called in to investigate mysterious murders occurring in the area, whilst trying to keep her relationship under control. The second story is titled ‘The Man with the twisted Lip’ written by the legendary Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’. In this detective story Detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr James Watson try to unravel an ominous case where a man seems to vanish without a trace. In this case Holmes has to use all his legendary detective qualities to unravel a truly bizarre case.

The third story which I read was titled ‘superfluous Murder’ written by Milward Kennedy. In this ironic story Mr. John Mansbridge attempts to kill his cousin Felix Mansbridge in a bitter money dispute, however it becomes evident that John Mansbridge is too smart for his own good, and it is up to the detective to unravel a truly superfluous murder.

The last of the stories which I read was titled ‘The Reluctant Detective’ by Michael Z. Lewin. In this story amateur detectives Fredrick and Dawn are unwillingly called in to investigate a suspected arson attack. So by using all their connections, they had to establish what really happened to the building.

In the story ‘A wife in a million’ Maggie Stanforth is the detective out to solve a recent spate of deaths occurring from food poisoning whilst trying to keep her relationship with her lover Sarah under control. Firstly an interesting point about the detective is that she is a lesbian, and since this is the first detective story where the actual detective is gay, I think that Maggie automatically becomes more believable because her lifestyle reflects modern Britain, with statistics showing that 1 in 20 people are gay in this country. However there are some descriptions used by the author which I think are intended to make the character more believable, but in fact backfire and make her less realistic. Firstly throughout the story Maggie appears to be continuously stressed out “She noticed lines of strain around her eyes”. But as a detective, you should be able to handle pressure better than this like Sherlock Holmes did in ‘The man with the twisted lip’. However a place where the writer does make the story slightly more realistic is by placing the tension between herself and her partner Sarah. Unlike other stories where everything is nice and rosy in the household, in this one the writer constantly emphasizes that everything is not well in the home. Also the fact that the writer even bothered to put empathizes in relations in the household makes the story stand out from other detective stories, which makes the detective seem less like a robot and more like a human. There is also the fact that although there is no question that the two people love each other, there is an eerie tension in the household which makes the detective and the story more believable “…for fear of provoking another bitter exchange”. The writer also makes the detective believable because of the way he empathizes her determined attitude to work. For instance, like nearly all other real life detectives who dedicate all their time on trying to solve a case, Maggie even goes one step further by even putting her relationship in jeopardy just to solve the case. Nevertheless the way the story ends the writer makes the detective look very unbelievable. The way Sarah ‘by chance’ gives the lead to the case, which even Maggie, the detective with years of experience could not think of, is just not believable. Also the fact that there were no false leads like there usually are in murder inquiries is questionable. So to sum up the story and the detective in the words of Sherlock Holmes “There’s plenty of thread but I can’t seem to get it into the end of my hand”

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The second story which I read was ‘The Man with the twisted Lip’ by Sir Author Conan Doyal. When first reading this Sherlock Holmes novel I found the detective even more unbelievable than Detective Maggie Stanforth in ‘A Wife in a Million’ however considering the fact that it was set over 100 years ago Detective Sherlock Holmes seems quite a believable figure in this story. Mainly it was because of the language which is used, with phrases like “Pray continue your narrative” and “I am an old campaigner”, which makes the story slightly more difficult to understand. Firstly I find it quite convincing that Sherlock Holmes was once an opium user as in most other detective stories including all the ones which I am reviewing, the detectives all seem to be squeaky clean. However right at the beginning of this story we find out that Sherlock Holmes had once been a Heroin user. We also find out one of Sherlock Holmes special skills are disguising himself which not only fools his sidekick Watson, but ironically helps him solve the case. Something else which makes him seem more believable is unlike Maggie who constantly feels the strain of being a detective, Sherlock Holmes remains Ice Cool. Furthermore another factor which makes Sherlock Holmes believable is that Sherlock Holmes is an intelligent man, who gathers all the evidence, looks at something from all angles, comes to a conclusion and unlike the detective in ‘Superfluous Murder’ is open to other ideas “The impression of a woman may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner…” and “…maybe you will see a spark where all is dark to me” Also what makes Sherlock Holmes more believable is like Maggie in ‘A Wife in a Million’ he is devoted to his work “…his mind would go for days, and even for a week, without rest”. Also unlike Maggie in ‘A Wife in a Million’ Sherlock Holmes always keeps his emotions under control and doesn’t let anything get in the way of him solving the case.

Something else which makes Sherlock Holmes believable is that he was not the perfect detective as he did make mistakes whilst trying to solve the case. For instance Holmes assumed that Neville St.Clare was dead before he read his letter, but then later he finds out that Neville St.Clare is still alive. Despite all of this I believe that the ending of the story made the detective a bit less convincing, as I believe that it would be unlikely for a detective to just waltz into a murder suspect’s room without any objections from the police officer on duty. Also the fact that Holmes cleaned the face of Mr. St.Clare to reveal his true identity doesn’t do any real good to his status as a detective as, before the man would stand trial he would have been cleaned up so he would have been found out anyway. So to sum it up in the words of the detective in Superfluous murder ‘I’m afraid I can’t swallow that story’.

The third story which I read was superfluous murder written by Milward Kennedy. I find the detective (who strangely is not named or described) in this story very convincing, showing all the required qualities of a detective, without really showing any weaknesses. Also the fact that this particular story is set out in the way that the reader knows who and how the murder is committed makes the story more interesting and the detective more convincing. This is done by the reader following the murderer and knowing exactly what he was doing. Because of this the reader, unlike in many other detective stories knows more than the detective so therefore the reader can be galvanized by how the detective solves the case. Secondly what makes the detective convincing is that he is not gullible, and is confident and sure of his own opinions, ignoring the obvious story which he cant ‘swallow’ to find the truth. The detective also does everything which a good detective should do, by firstly trying to arrange the facts (“Now let’s see where we are”) and using these facts he tries to establish what happened what happened on the night of the death of Felix Mansbridge. Also what makes the detective convincing is that although he is not described in any physical way we know that he does have feelings of compassion to his fellow officers, which is why he is going out of his way to try and clear one of the officers’ names. Something else which makes this detective even more believable is the fact that unlike most other detectives in detective stories, who can figure everything out, this particular detective admits that there are some things which he cannot even figure out, which shows that he is human after all. Another fact which makes this detective convincing is the fact that he is certain of his facts and unlike Maggie and Sherlock, this detective did not need to ask for any help whilst solving this case. Lastly something convincing about this detective is the fact that he uses common sense throughout the case, so that even the most sceptical of readers would be convinced that whatever the detective was saying was true.

The fourth story which I read was titled ‘The Reluctant Detective’ by Michael Z. Lewin. In this story two people who have set up a detective business because they to escape tax have been asked to investigate a serious case of arson. Although I did find this story the most enjoyable to read over the other stories I found the detectives the least convincing. Firstly as unlike the detectives in ‘A Wife in a Million’, ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ and ‘Superfluous Murder’ who are all trained detectives with assumingly many years of experience, these detectives have had no training or experience whatsoever. I also find it unrealistic that people who are supposed to be enforcing the law are breaking themselves “It was a tax fiddle”. I also find the fact that the fact that dawn knows so many people who can do so many different jobs unrealistic, because in the other three detective stories the detectives can solve the case with the help of one or two ordinary people whereas in this story the detectives incidentally now the right people with the right skills who are available at the right time, which I believe is not right. Furthermore I believe that if the detectives were actually experienced then the ending would be quite realistic, however due to their lack of experience I find it lamentable that the detectives could solve the case with such ease “You’re the arsonist for the fire at Rest Easy Beds”. Lastly something which makes the detectives seem less believable is the language which Fredrick uses thought the story. Since he came from America “I am American by birth and by upbringing” it is surprising that he doesn’t sound very American at all, in my opinion he sounds more British than American. So basically it would take much more than an once of shag and five pillows to make me believe that these detectives were something other than a work of fiction.

My conclusion to reading all four of these stories is that the detective in Superfluous Murder is the most convincing out of all five detectives I have studied. I believe this as this detective basically had all the good points of all the other detectives and very few of the bad points. The only debatable thing about this detective is the fact that he is not described as a character and you do not get any idea of his personal life like Maggie in ‘a wife in a million’. However the sheer ease in which he solves a bizarre crime is excellent and he uses all the skill a real life detective would need. To sum it up, this detective was so believable that it was hard to believe my self that the detective in ‘superfluous murder’ was fictional.

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