Somehow I’m not able to find a suitable film on Netflix
these days. I’ve consumed plenty of crime films and reviewed them here. I’ve obsessed
over series like The Wire and House of Cards. I can’t find a moment these days on Public
television, when it is not playing “The Best of Pledge Week” after several
pledge weeks. God Bless Suze Orman; but would she please shut up. Regarding network TV, summer brings an over dependence
on people losing a hundred pounds or more and other forms of torture and
deceitful behavior disguised as “reality.” I really can’t stand seeing people
cry because they can’t sing or dance well enough. I’ve seen every “Law and
Order’ in existence and in all of its configurations several times. I’ve even
watched reruns of “Blue Bloods,” enduring yet another Sunday dinner with the
aptly-named Reagan family. I’m afraid “The News Hour” and “Jeopardy” are not
enough to get me through the summer doldrums.
So I’ve turned, hopefully for just a brief spell, to real
crime, case by case by case. I sit in my half-darkened living room drifting off
during the commercials for all sorts of miracle products only available through
an 800 number. When I awake, the narrator reminds me of what has already
happened and provides titillating information about what’s to come, a bribe for
me to stay awake for a “shocking” or “startling” piece of evidence.
As a crime fiction writer, I’ve found some of the information
useful. I don’t know all there is to know about forensics, even old
forensics. Sometimes, the show provides
insights into methods of investigation or how prosecutors determine who, when
and if to prosecute. What seems common here is that the murder victim is almost
always killed by a spouse or family member, and that it often — more often than
not — takes years from the time of the crime to bring a defendant to court. And
just when you think it’s over, it isn’t. There are a surprising number of mistrials
or hung juries in capital cases. At least this is what my addiction has led me
to believe.
I do learn a few things of value for my craft, but learning
about clever murderers isn’t one of them. First, a deadly crime of passion is
almost impossible to conceal. Blood splatter, DNA, forensics trip up the perp
when he or she forgets the Boy Scout oath. No time to plan. Not enough time or
skill to cover up what’s been done in a senseless rage. Eventually, the
resources and bureaucratic stubbornness of the authorities yield sufficient
data in these cases. Someone will be arrested. In crime fiction, this amounts to a police
procedural kind of story. It can be interesting, especially if the solutions
are new or are especially creative. In my mind-numbing marathon of true crime
dramas, it has much more to do with “how” rather than “why.” And while that is
less interesting to me as a writer, it I important and has spawned a whole
sub-genre of popular writers and best-selling books.
However, even when perpetrators have all the time in the
world to plan a murder, it rarely goes well. The only time murders are unsolved,
it seems, is when they are random – that is, there seems to be a ratio that the
more random the choice of the victim, the less likely the perpetrator can be
found. But a good fictional mystery or crime story demands, except in serial
killer or horror stories, a connection between the criminal and the victim. How
else can the reader participate in the solving of it? Why else would a reader care? And if the criminal isn’t a whole lot smarter
than who we see on these true crime shows, there’s very little challenge for
the reader. What I’ve noticed may be obvious to others — and this is true of
more recent crime stories on the far slicker “48 Hours,” “20/20” and “Dateline”—
in real life, sometimes the cops are bone-headed, but the murderers are almost
always astonishingly stupid. When, on occasion, that’s not the case, even after
the trial ends, we’re not sure beyond a reasonable doubt that justice was done.
(This happens more often when the defendant can afford a good attorney.) I can’t tell you how often I wasn’t convinced
that the verdict was the right one. Of course there weren’t eleven other people
in my living room pressuring me to agree with them or waking me up, for that
matter. The blessing is that fiction writers can make the case airtight. Or not.
As far as the addiction is concerned, I know I should do
something about it. I should read some Mark Twain, listen to Beethoven, or take
a walk. However, when I do these things, I’m still spinning plots and creating
characters. Can’t escape it.
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