Detective Fiction Narrative Voices - Essay Example

Because they include many of the attributes described by Nancy Ellen Talburt and Juana R. Young, most of the works included in this course are successful in the amateur detective fiction genre. The novel Cruel and Unusual, by Patricia Cornwell, is interesting because it uses elements of both professional and amateur detective fiction. While the main character, Kay Scarpetta, is a medical examiner, she is joined by detective Pete Marino and an FBI Agent named Benton Wesley as she attempts to solve the mystery.

Readers will immediately notice the complexity of the case, which Talburt and Young state is important to detective fiction, since it revolves around a murder suspect who has already been executed. The reader is also drawn in by the Frank Donahue character, the warden who uses inmates to handle his problems on the outside, and Nicholas Grueman, who argues against the use of the death penalty. This generated character interest helps make Cruel and Unusual a successful amateur detective fiction novel.

With so many different characters having different agendas in this book, it makes the story much more complex and, therefore, more appealing to the reader. Cornwell gives the impression that everyone is against the protagonist when Scarpetta thinks, “of all the defense attorneys who would probably be delighted” if she ended up in jail (287). . In The Bootlegger’s Daughter, by Margaret Maron, the protagonist does not have the same professional help and is left solving a much different type of mystery on her own.

This novel has many more amateur detective qualities, starting with the setting of the story. The novel takes place in a small town where everyone knows each other, which is an example of the lore used by Talburt and Young to describe detective fiction. While this might seem like a location where very little could go wrong, there is a secret that has been present for years, which has never been addressed. The complexity of this problem occurs because Deborah Knott has a decision to make. She wants to become a local judge in the next election, but she also feels compelled to help Gayle find out who murdered her mother.

The text by Talburt and Young suggests that these attributes add to the character interest generated by the novel, making it into a successful piece of detective fiction. Although this murder took place about 18 years previous, it is clearly a soft spot for some people and there is a murderer in their midst who is attempting to keep this secret from getting out. This novel attempts to play on the lawlessness of this southern town, since law-abiding citizens are being threatened without repercussions.

The reader also learns that Janie was "shot behind the right ear 'execution style,' as if someone had taken out a contract on her life" (Maron 59). All of this adds to what Talburt and Young would call the complexity of the storyline, since the reader is left to wonder why the murder is still being covered up after such a lengthy period. This novel features a first person narrative voice, which helps integrate much of the information