I feel modern detective novels and tv shows nowadays focused too much on the dramatization and grittiness of the story and not on the case itselfs.
The actual detective work wil always ended up being a disaster, the main detective character will be struggling and at their wits end, their personal issue will get in the way of the case, and it sometime derails into some unrelated story for no reason
The case eventually get solved in the end somehow mostly by pure luck, or the bad guy made a mistake or intentionally revealed himself in the end, or they uncovered an easy clue they could have found from the beginning if they do their job properly. Also don’t forget at the end the bad guy not actually the one, because there is going to be multiple plot twist at the end.
Can i get story where the detective is doing a proper job at trying to solve a very interesting case? Kinda like Hercule Poirot except modern. I also found that japanese authors like Keigo Higashino for example have this style of mystery novels i wanted but somehow western novels always tends to take the gritty route. It gets samey, tiring and eventually predictable at one point when the case has no layers and just a device to push out the same story over and over.
by MmntoMri
3 Comments
Justice by Faye kellermen. Or any of her Peter Dexter books
Minette Walters writes great psychological thrillers, with smart investigators. I found so many times that a question that occurred to me occurred to the characters too, no stupid detectives for the plot’s sake! Fox Evil, Devil’s Feather, The Chameleon’s Shadow are all excellent.
The Posadas County series by Steven Havill.
The Sarah Burke series by Elizabeth Gunn.