RARA-AVIS: procedurals?

From: MatCoward@aol.com
Date: 20 Aug 2002


In a message dated 19/08/02 7:34:55 PM GMT Daylight Time, owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:

<< I've read a couple of Ian Rankins and have been sort of on the fence as to whether they're police procedurals. Rebus has seemed to either take off on his own or be sent off; he is often only very loosely affiliated with the police department. I can see that the series isn't the exemplar of police procedurals while still allowing it in my version of that category. >>

For my own purposes, I always class this kind of book as a "Detective Inspector Novel". I feel that police procedurals, strictly, are ensemble stories, and that they should have a kind of detached flatness or objectivity to them - the actual activities of the cops, in a largely unglamourised manner, should be central to every scene, and pre-eminent in the book as a whole. On the other hand, Rankin, Reginald Hill, RD Wingfield, and dozens of others, write about a man (or a duo) at the centre of everything, and that character's cogitation is more important than procedure, even though a fair amount of procedure does occur "on stage". Off hand, I can't think if there's a US equivalent to "DINs"?
- Mat C
<A HREF=" http://hometown.aol.co.uk/matcoward/myhomepage/newsletter.html"> http://hometown.aol.co.uk/matcoward/myhomepage/newsletter.html>

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