geri_chan | Yet more on Narrative Kinks

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you on my F-list who live in the US!

I realized that I left yet another of my favorite themes off of my initial list of Narrative Kinks: mystery and detective stories! I've watched most of the various incarnations of Law & Order, and all the various CSI spinoffs, and several other detective-type shows like Hawaii 5-0, Bones, NCIS, and Blue Bloods. I really love the forensic-type shows in particular, although it kind of bugs me that the writers/producers blur the lines between the roles of the detectives (who should be carrying out the actual investigations) and the CSI techs (who would not be interviewing suspects in real life). I get the need for a bit of artistic license in making a story that's exciting for the viewers, but I like it when the roles are more delineated...like how in Bones, the "squints" take care of the science stuff while Booth does the detecting. (I let Brennan's involvement in the detecting slide because, well, she's the heroine of the show, and I love watching her and Booth interact.)

And I love detective J-dramas--I'll watch anything in that genre that the local Japanese language station airs. I've noticed that there are a few dramas where the focus is on forensics, but mostly the detectives solve the crimes with their wit and intuition. And there's often a much bigger emphasis on the redemption of the criminals--getting them to admit responsibility, turn themselves in, and atone for their crimes, with the implication that they'll be able to start over again after they've served their time. (This may be related to the cultural need to maintain social harmony, which Snapelike and I have discussed briefly before in the comments of one of my Haru fics.)

I also love reading mystery novels. For these, I tend to mostly read stories about strong female protagonists, mostly written by female authors. My favorites are the Sharon McCone series by Marcia Muller, the Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron, and the various mystery novels by Rita Mae Brown (which also include the unique perspective of animal protagonists who are the pets of the human protagonists). Although I also loved the Spenser series by the late Robert B. Parker, and the Henry Rios series by Michael Nava. The latter is about a gay defense attorney, written by a gay author, and there seems to be a significant LGBT subset in the mystery genre, so I should do a follow-up post on that someday.

But as much as I love watching and reading mystery stories, I don't really write mystery-themed fanfic, mostly because my mind can't seem to come up with the necessary puzzles and plot twists required to keep the reader guessing about who the killer is, while still making the eventual revelation seem logical in hindsight. And as much as I would love to read some MacGyver fanfic for Yuletide, I don't think I could write a MacGyver story, because I just can't think of any clever MacGyver-y solutions for him to come up with--you know, saving the day with a Swiss army knife and some duct tape! Although I suppose I could manage some Mac/Murdoc smut...