Unusual crime fiction novels/films/etc...?

Flay

Currently I'm studying crime fiction in my English classes. We've been given a speech, which requires us to examine the use and subversion of the conventions of the genre within different works. The task asks...

Present a speech for Crime Fiction academics in which you explain the intentions behind the works of two composers for the module you have studied.

You must show how the two composers use and subvert some of the specific conventions of the Crime Fiction genre.

Refer to one perscribed text and one other text.

For my perscribed text I'll be using 'The Real Inspector Hound' by Tom Stoppard. I was hoping that someone here could give me a few suggestions for additional pieces of material that I could study, that both apply and subvert Crime Fiction conventions. I was considering using 'Memento', a postmodern Crime Fiction film, which progresses backwards in intervals, following a central character with a short-term memory problem.

mightyspacepope

Check out "Gun, With Occasional Music". It's a novel by Jonathan Lethem. Here's the plot summary from wikipedia:

Metcalf is hired by a man who claims that he's being framed for the murder of a prominent urologist. Metcalf quickly discovers that nobody wants the case solved: not the victim's ex-wife, not the police, and certainly not the gun-toting kangaroo who works for the local mafia boss.

It's a weird blend of sci-fi and detective novel. The main character had his sexual nerve endings switched with a woman. I don't know much about the usual crime fiction conventions, but I'd assume they're usually about tough, masculine protagonists. The fact that this one has undergone a sex change of sorts may be something worth looking into.

BlochWave

How about The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie? It's a well known classic, and

the narrator did it, and his narration is, clearly, unreliable, as you learn at the end when he's caught

Craigopogo

The Usual Suspects might be worth a look.

It plays with narration in the same way that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd does. The characters are fairly standard archetypes, but the way the narration works throws everything into confusion.

Kate of Lokys

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon? It's a detective story told from the perspective of an autistic boy.

Elin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colorado_Kid

Unsolved is definitely a convention breaker.

SatanIsMyMotor

There's a book I read a long time ago called "Anonymous Rex" by Eric Garcia.

Here's the synopsis:

"For Los Angeles private eye Vincent Rubio, the idea of having a tail means a lot more than being followed. Vincent is a velociraptor, one of those little dinosaurs who caused so much panic in Jurassic Park. He keeps his tail tightly strapped up in the special latex costume that he wears to make himself look human.

In Eric Garcia's wild but winning first mystery, dinosaurs never did get wiped out--they evolved secretly and now make up about 5 percent of the world's population. There are dinosaur doctors, lawyers, even detectives like Rubio--although he's hit a low point in his own career because of the suspicious death of his beloved partner. Now the distraught Vincent sucks up so much basil that he can't do his job. But when a human who knows the dinosaurs' secret is killed during an arson fire at a popular dino disco called the Evolution Club, Rubio's luck begins to change. He starts to snoop, following the trail of a lovely human female to the office of Dr. Emil Vallardo, where bizarre experiments are being done on interspecies breeding between humans and dinosaurs. It's all great comic book fun, full of nice little inside jokes, served up deadpan and with full respect for the private eye genre it enlivens."

Xenocide Geek

Kate of Lokys wrote: »

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon? It's a detective story told from the perspective of an autistic boy.

great book, easy read. fairly depressing at some points, but i still recommend it.

TychoCelchuuu

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon and Death and the Compass by Jorge Luis Borges might work. The second one is really short and the first one is really good so you might as well read them.

Mai-Kero

A Study in Emerald by Neal Gaiman.

Craigopogo

Neil Gaiman has another short story, about a murder in Heaven being investigated by an Angel. I can't remember what it's called, but it might be worth a gander as well.

noir_blood

Craigopogo wrote: »

Neil Gaiman has another short story, about a murder in Heaven being investigated by an Angel. I can't remember what it's called, but it might be worth a gander as well.

Isn't that one actually a comic? I remember seeing scans of it in scans daily.

Craigopogo

It was a short story first, but was, apparently made into a comic book in 2002. It's called Murder Mysteries, and is in the Smoke & Mirrors short story collection, as I've just discovered.

Theungry

The Big Lebowski is a subverted Film Noir crime film.

Edit - Also Fargo.

urahonky

Theungry wrote: »

The Big Lebowski is a subverted Film Noir crime film.

He peed on your fuckin' rug.

Also, do games count? Condemned had a pretty great Crime Fiction going on.

In a nutshell (spoilered so if you haven't played it):

You're this FBI agent that is "one of the best" investigators out there. You go on a call to find a scene of a murder that has the MO of a guy named the Matchmaker. Well eventually during this call one of the purps takes your gun and shoots two police officers, and you're framed for killing them.

You then start tracking this guy down. Come to find out the purp is a guy who has been following all your cases and murdering the serial killers. He's now known as Serial Killer X.

Hmm... That sounds really sloppy, here's wikipedia for you:

The game begins with the protagonist, FBI agent Ethan Thomas, arriving at the scene of a murder. He and his fellow officers go into an abandoned building that is surrounded by psychopaths and criminals. The murder they observe is one of a young woman. She is on the floor with strangled wounds across from what is a male mannequin. Ethan along with his colleagues agree that the murder was most likely one of the Matchmaker's, a murderer that Ethan has been on the trail of for quite a while. After they observe the scene further they move into another room where they smell smoke. They decide to go after the suspect they hear above them by splitting up. While searching for the suspect, he is flung from an electrical box by the resulting charge of activating it. This makes him accidentally drop his weapon and a man hiding in the shadows takes it. When Ethan manages to chase the man into a small dead end room, the man subdues Ethan and begins to try to convince him that they were on the same side. Some officers enter the room as this event takes place, and the man shoots at them before shoving Ethan out a window onto the street.

Ethan wakes up in his apartment with Malcolm van Horn, a friend of Ethan’s father, at his side. Malcolm warns Ethan that he is wanted for the deaths of two of the officers that the man at the crime scene shot. Ethan is determined to prove his innocence.

He soon finds evidence that the man is interested in Ethan’s FBI career. Later, he finds one of the serial killers that he had been looking for killed by his own modus operandi. He presumes that the man at the crime scene is trying to kill the serial killers that Ethan is looking for, so he searches for the one that he thinks is next, the Torturer.

Shortly before finding the Torturer, Ethan is attacked by a strange man-like creature. Ethan kills the creature, and then finds the Torturer dead, also killed according to his own modus operandi. Soon Ethan finds the mysterious killer, who is revealed to be Leland van Horn, nephew of Malcolm van Horn. Malcolm arrives and knocks Ethan out to prevent him from hurting Leland. Leland then knocks Malcolm out.

When Ethan revives, he is tied up and at the mercy of Leland. He explains to Ethan that he has been killing the serial killers that Ethan had been hunting, and that he intends to kill Ethan as well. While Leland is talking, Ethan notices another man-like creature hiding in the rafters. This creature is known as the Hate and is identified as the source of the madness gripping Metro City. Malcolm jumps Leland from behind and begins to wrestle him. Ethan manages to free himself, and Malcolm tells him to kill the creature saying that it is the cause of Leland’s madness. Ethan pursues the creature as it tries to escape. He eventually corners it in a barn and kills it.

As Malcolm drives Ethan home, Ethan discovers that Leland is alive in the trunk of the car. When Ethan looks in the trunk, he is given the option to shoot Leland as he lies tied up. If he does not shoot Leland himself, Leland pulls out his gun and waves it at Ethan before committing suicide. Later, Ethan and Rosa are having a conversation in a diner when Rosa reveals that she is wired, possibly explaining that she still trusts him. Ethan excuses himself to go to the bathroom. Something bizarre happens in the bathroom and Ethan's face becomes that of the man-like creature.

meeker

All you will ever need:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Gently

CoJoeTheLawyer

May I suggest the movie Memento. It's excellent and the exact opposite of usual.

Also, if you are looking for a more hardcore Sci-Fi twist to your crime fiction, you can not go wrong with Altered Carbon

EDIT: I should learn to read the OP. My Bad.

amateurhour

Couldn't Kiss Kiss Bang Bang be considered a decent choice? The whole movie is basically a play on obscure crime novels and movies.

noir_blood

Plus a great example of breaking the fourth wall.

A lot of Batman stories could probably be put into this category. Altered Carbon is a take on noir in the future, and deals with the idea that someone could live forever by having multiple bodies to put themselves into.

wmelon

A Scanner Darkly could fall into this genre. It's about an undercover Narc cop, trying to catch a drug dealer. The drug of choice has a side effect of psychosis and of course the undercover cop does lots of it to fit in with the druggies he's using as cover. He goes farther and farther into a paranoid schizophrenic state and it turns out that the drug dealer he's trying to catch is himself.

amateurhour

wmelon wrote: »

A Scanner Darkly could fall into this genre. It's about an undercover Narc cop, trying to catch a drug dealer. The drug of choice has a side effect of psychosis and of course the undercover cop does lots of it to fit in with the druggies he's using as cover. He goes farther and farther into a paranoid schizophrenic state and it turns out that the drug dealer he's trying to catch is himself.

Unless I misread that movie he knew he was the drug dealer, everyone else didn't. That's why they wore those suits.

Kyougu

amateurhour wrote: »

Couldn't Kiss Kiss Bang Bang be considered a decent choice? The whole movie is basically a play on obscure crime novels and movies.

I was going to mention this. Seriously, everyone should see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang anyways.

Premier kakos

The Dresden Files is a pretty good series of unusual crime fiction. It's starts off with a fairly typical pulp-noir type novel and then adds in a wizard private detective. It turns out that Chicago is also invested with all other sorts of supernatural creatures. Voila. Fairly unusual crime novel.

MegaMan001

Kyougu wrote: »

amateurhour wrote: »

Couldn't Kiss Kiss Bang Bang be considered a decent choice? The whole movie is basically a play on obscure crime novels and movies.

I was going to mention this. Seriously, everyone should see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang anyways.

I logged on from work just to second the fact that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of the best, if not the best movie, in the last 10 years.

It's one of those gems that no one knows about and not nearly enough people saw.

Flay

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll definately be looking in to these...

durandal4532

A little late, I guess, but you might want to check out Hal Clement's "Needle". It's his response to the challenge that it was impossible to write a decent Sci-fi detective novel.

Jebu

Brick is a great movie that's essential a noir detective story set in a high school. I'd highly recommend it.

wmelon

amateurhour wrote: »

wmelon wrote: »

A Scanner Darkly could fall into this genre. It's about an undercover Narc cop, trying to catch a drug dealer. The drug of choice has a side effect of psychosis and of course the undercover cop does lots of it to fit in with the druggies he's using as cover. He goes farther and farther into a paranoid schizophrenic state and it turns out that the drug dealer he's trying to catch is himself.

Unless I misread that movie he knew he was the drug dealer, everyone else didn't. That's why they wore those suits.

Well, I've never actually managed to finish the novel, as it makes me paranoid for some reason. But I don't think at the start of the novel he actually realized that he was the drug dealer. It's been a while, so I should probably read it again to verify that.

amateurhour

wmelon wrote: »

amateurhour wrote: »

wmelon wrote: »

A Scanner Darkly could fall into this genre. It's about an undercover Narc cop, trying to catch a drug dealer. The drug of choice has a side effect of psychosis and of course the undercover cop does lots of it to fit in with the druggies he's using as cover. He goes farther and farther into a paranoid schizophrenic state and it turns out that the drug dealer he's trying to catch is himself.

Unless I misread that movie he knew he was the drug dealer, everyone else didn't. That's why they wore those suits.

Well, I've never actually managed to finish the novel, as it makes me paranoid for some reason. But I don't think at the start of the novel he actually realized that he was the drug dealer. It's been a while, so I should probably read it again to verify that.

Bear in mind I'm going from the movie, but in the movie he was fully aware that he was both a cop and a drug dealer.

wabbiteh

"Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", and "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams. Might want to skip the Dirk Gently sequel, as it isn't really that fantastic.

Flay

One of my friends is already using one of the Dirk Gently novels; I don't want to steal his thunder,

A Scanner Darkly has got me interested, but my English teachers are kind of iffy about the whole science-fiction thing.

If there are any more suggestions to be had, keep 'em coming.

Apothe0sis

I would also add the movie Brick (they're kiddies!)

But Incompetnce (sic) is a good novel as well, it's a detective story in a world where incompetence is considered a disability and thus given protected status.