On Monday, August 12, 2002, at 12:07 AM, RARA-AVIS Digest
wrote:
> Not all of his books are procedurals, but the
ones
> about the Scottish police detective in Edinburgh
with
> the name that sounds like a puzzle are.
>
Jim, I have read them. And I've been struck before now by the
unprocedural nature of Rebus' actions. I'm unrepentant: as I
read them, these books have a protagonist who is almost a
type of private eye, a man who fights more against procedures
than with them, and whose moral hang-ups are personal. He
does not hide behind his rank or status, and the depiction of
law enforcement is only marginally accurate. Indeed its
detailed accuracy would be almost irrelevant to the books. I
have no sense that Ian is, or has ever been, especially
interested in this kind of thing.
> A police procedural is nothing more, and nothing
less,
> than a mystery (crime, suspense, detective, call
it
> waht you will) story in which the main interest is
the
> accurate depiction (or at least the appearance of
the
> accurate depiction) of law enforcement.
There are real problems with PIs in a British context, you
see, and various ways of solving the problem have been
attempted by a number of writers. Some authors have solved
these problems by developing police protagonists whose
actions are ultimately maverick. By your own
nothing-more-nothing-less-main-interest definition, the books
just don't really qualify.
Marianne
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