As I mentioned last month, the trend to presenting law
enforcement as accurately as possible starts to pick up in
the '40s with novels like Treat's V AS IN VICTIM, movies like
THE NAKED CITY, stage plays like DETECTIVE STORY, and radio
shows like DRAGNET.
In the '50s, with DRAGNET simultaneously the most popular
drama on both radio and TV, and one of the top-grossing films
of all time, the trend starts to build into a wave, and there
begins to be a widespread perception that this
"semi-documentary" approach represents a new "school" or
sub-genre of mystery fiction.
Writers like Ed McBain and John Creasey (as J.J. Marric),
frankly admitting to being influenced by DRAGNET, start
long-running series about cop characters, basing the "police
routine on established investigatory technique," to use
McBain's phrase.
Writers who have been known for completely different kinds of
mysteries, like Frederic Brown in THE LENIENT BEAST, Herbert
Brean in A MATTER OF FACT, and Doris Miles Disney in BLACK
MAIL, try their hand at the new form.
In his 1956 "end of the year" column for the N.Y. TIME BOOK
REVIEW, mystery critic Anthony Boucher talks about this
approach at length, citing DRAGNET as both the exemplar and
the root source of the trend, and coins the term "police
procedural" to describe it.
The police procedural has arrived.
JIM DOHERTY
P.S.
Mom's twice-postponed surgery is, hopefully, finally taking
place tomorrow, 30 Jan. Good thoughts and prayers during this
day in particular would be especially appreciated.
Thanks again for all the support.
JIM D.
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