The Perfect Crime, Chapter 3: Your Sleuth

Crafting an iconic detective

Sherlock Holmes. Jessica Fletcher. Hercule Poirot. The truly iconic detectives in mystery fiction are few and far between. And you want your protagonist to be numbered among them.

So, how do are you going to do it? Well, in many ways, creating a Sleuth is just like creating any other character. You’re going to give her a name, an appearance, some backstory. However, there are three specific characteristics that can really elevate your Sleuth into the kind of iconic detective that can capture readers’ hearts.

They are:

• a Unique Investigative Talent

• a Unique Worldview, and

• a Redeeming Virtue

In this chapter, we’re going to look at these three characteristics through the lens of one of fiction’s most famous detectives, Sherlock Holmes.

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A Unique Investigative Talent is a special ability your Sleuth can deploy to solve the case. Now, just by virtue of the fact that your protagonist is a Sleuth, we know that she has a lot going for her—she’s smart, resourceful, and she cares about justice. The Unique Investigative Talent is something beyond that. It’s a signature move that she brings to the table, which allows her to make deductions that not just anyone could make.

Sherlock Holmes has several Talents, but the most well-known is his ability to look at a person and casually rattle off a series of facts—observations and deductions that reveal far more about that person than anyone else can discern. If you’re a fan of the character, you know how delicious, how absolutely iconic are the scenes in which Holmes deploys this Talent. They make your admiration for him soar, and cement him in your mind as a detective of incomparable skill.

Your own detective’s Talent can serve this same purpose: allowing the reader to admire her while providing delightful scenes that your reader can look forward to.

Most Unique Investigative Talents fall into one of three categories:

• They rely on an esoteric body of Knowledge

• They involve the use of a specialized Skill

• They provide Access to information

Let’s look at some examples of each of these.

Knowledge:

On Remington Steele, Mr. Steele has extensive knowledge of Golden Age Hollywood movies. This allows him to cite plots that put the current case into perspective and send the sleuths down new lines of inquiry.

On Bones, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan uses her extensive scientific knowledge about bones to solve cases.

On The Murdoch Mysteries, set in the 1890’s, William Murdoch uses his knowledge of the latest scientific advancements to analyze evidence and solve the crime.

Skills:

On Psych, Shawn Spencer has trained his mind to perfectly recall very small details. This allows him to make inferences that surprise the police detectives he works with.

On MacGyver, Mac has the ability to cobble together small machines and weapons from whatever happens to be lying around.

On White Collar, Neal Caffrey executes various capers using skills he acquired during his life as a con artist and art forger.

Access:

On Columbo, Lt. Columbo asks seemingly benign questions until he tricks the Villain into making unwanted admissions. This gives him access to more information than he would have if he employed a more direct method of questioning.

On Lucifer, the fallen angel Lucifer has the ability to force humans to tell him what they most desire. This gives him access to information about their internal motives.

On Lie to Me, Cal Lightman, the foremost expert on facial expressions, has the ability to analyze the emotions of everyone around him. This gives him access to information about the secrets various characters are keeping.

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When looking for a Unique Investigative Talent for your Sleuth, it may be helpful to browse through your Image Bank. If I were building a mystery based on my Catholic high school hook from Chapter 2, I might design a Sleuth with any of these Talents: