  Mystery
This week: Under the Radar ~ Private Investigators Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
Edgar Alan Poe
Experience has shown, and a true philosophy
will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of
the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.
Edgar Allan Poe
A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.
Raymond Chandler
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Greetings, fellow creators of puzzles and puzzle-solvers. Emerging writers are repeatedly told, by fellow writers and instructors, 'write what you know.' I think this holds true in writing mysteries, because you can't cheat your readers. You give them clues to solve, along with your sleuth, to arrive at the believable solution with a satisfying 'aha!' or 'I should have seen it coming when..." You get the picture. Now, it doesn't mean that you have to take a job, or even a course, in either the police academy or as a private investigator to write of one, although Dashiell Hammett (Maltese Falcon), worked as a Pinkerton investigator before trading in his 'gumshoes' for virtual sleuthing in print.
Hammett wrote what he knew, of the darker, earthier, more real side of life, revealing the moral ambiguity, if not always corruption, beneath the facade of society's alleged gentility in the early part of the last century. And his 'Maltese Falcon' didn't rise like a phoenix fully formed, but after several years of writing short stories of a fictional investigative agency solving crimes for pay. He wrote a number of short stories featuring this agency, 'Continental Op,' using a first person point of view, and each further defining the tight writing style, almost as of a report or news article, evident in his novels as well, "writing...with the precision of a diamond cutter." (quoting Walter Clemons, Newsweek.
Ross MacDonald, in the mid'1900's, not a professional investigator but a 'writer's writer,' completed the image of the literary private investigator ("PI") as the recognizable physically and mentally tough loner able to see beyond society's veneer of respectability, uncovering the truth beneath the corruption to solve the crime. His 'Lew Archer' didn't engage in-depth relationships or mull or muse his own backstory, but stayed focused on the job for which he'd contracted, with a single minded dedication, an observer commenting on the action without becoming immersed in it, thereby able to see justice done, if by not altogether 'conventional' means. Ross MacDonald was not a PI by trade. He observed and read and asked questions - yes, the method for puzzling and solving a mystery.
Today we have both advantages and disadvantages over Ross MacDonald. Technology offers speed and accuracy in crime investigation for both law enforcement and private investigators (whether in the field or in our writer's vision). The inherent disadvantage is in shared resources, as law enforcement doesn't 'need' the PI to help ferret out clues, find a stray shoe print or the tire track they can measure and track with infrared or laser technology. On the other hand, rote use of technology can create complacency. Mechanical rather than intuitive problem solving doesn't seek the unexpected and may overlook it; merely calling up specs and statistics online will not make relevant the clue planted in a story without reard to its necessity in leading the PI/reader throuth the puzzle. That' where our PI's come in, consider more recently Lawrence Block's 'Matthew Scudder' and Sara Paretsky's 'V I Warshowski' using wits as well as technique, not always paid, but seeing that justice is done.
After nearly a century, the PI lives on. Consider the resurgence of interest in 'pulp' mysteries Hard Case Crime and Black Mask classic and newly written, but a couple of examples. Consider today the growing longing for empowerment in the face of beaurocratic conscription, and the PI fits the bill. Your 'gumshoe' may not wear shoes of gum rubber (yes, that's the origin of the colloquial term), or even sneakers, but your readers will embrace his/her ability to cut through obstacles, using not only current technology, but intuition and initiative, to find the clues, solve the crime, and see justice done.
If you'd like to try your hand as a PI in prose or verse, some standards that have evolved yet remained consistently viable for the private sleuth.
 PI stories are usually told first-person or with a tight third-person point of view. The PI carries the story, is both storyteller and central to the puzzle of the story itself. But remember to show the action as it unfolds before the private eye and his/her interaction with it. Be a good observer and show us what you see.
The PI generally has a strong moral center, and seeking justice is as relevant as the money which initiates the quest.
PIs are mavericks, even if they work for an agency, bending rules, blurring legal lines with respect to evidence, investigative techniques. As outsiders to the legal and beaurocratic 'system,' they can poke fun at social class and unmask hypocrites. In your story, the PI can stretch legal limits (PIs do know the law, and in most states are required to be licensed), but he/she can perhaps observe the 'letter' of the law and disregard the 'spirit' of rote rules. Yes, 'dumpster diving' can still uncover clues discernible to the questioning mind that laser lights and routine sweeps miss.
PIs cultivate contacts within and outside the legal system in order to obtain information that may not be accessible through conventional channels. Much is available online as courts upload many (but not all) criminal and civil cases; the government offers specs on weapons manufacture for competitive bidding; drug companies provide formulas; and weapons manufacturers offer their wares for the highest offer. But the clues to seeing justice done, are still those one needs to see or smell or hear or touch, and it helps for your PI to have a confidant on the inside to get this 'skinny.'
Working with today's technology, loads of personal information is available for near-instant viewing, but your PI will need to assess its relevance - i.e., names, aliases, relatives, property ownership, educational information, professional/trade licensure, memberships in organizations, book clubs, you get the picture - if somebody's done it, bought it, sold it, or contributed to it, it's public information. Your PI is hired to uncover what's not public; or where the mass (or mess) of data leads.
Most PIs are in urban areas, where there's crime and potential clients to support their business. Within that environment, however, they must blend in where the clues lead, be it a dark alley, a corporate office, a rave, a family diner - you get the picture. Depending on where the clues lead, your PI can travel into the country, or other countries, en route to solving the crime.
PI's as you can see observe, question, and research. Hey, a lot like a writer. Question people, follow leads (literally and figuratively), listen and watch and smell and touch. Use your Blackberry, cell, satellite, but also the low-tech observation - remember first person, what you see, hear, taste, smell. Okay, I'm back to dumpster diving ~ collecting data that conventional law enforcement may think irrelevant or superfluous. Your PI may find where least expected the clue that misdirects, then in another one that results in solving the crime and seeing justice done And your reader rides on the PI's shoulders to the satisfying, believable conclusion.
Background resource on Dashiell Hammett - from Steven Marcus' introduction to the short story collection Dashiell Hammett, The Continental Op, Vintage Books, (c) 1974 by Steven Marcus.
I hope you enjoyed this exploration. If you've a PI you're ready to send off sleuthing in the outer world, consider the following submission guidelines - and do let us know when your story goes to print, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine welcomes emerging and established writers
Write On!!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Check out the following stories and let the writers know how their PI's fare ~ do they solve the real crime to your satisfaction? ~ I'm sure they's appreciate your comment or review  ~ and why not create your own sleuth who works under the radar 
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Until we next meet
Seek ever clues;
distill with care;
craft a puzzle in prose
or verse for your sleuth
and your readers to share,
Write On!!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Mystery: December 11, 2012 Issue [#5407]
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