One of the most tried and true genres of fiction is the Whodunnit mystery. The premise is simple, a crime is committed and the reader or audience watches the a detective solve the mystery. They are our eyes and ears. We know only what they know, and we must solve the crime along with the detective. This is not an episode about those. Instead, we want to talk about a related genre, the Howcatchem, aka the inverted mystery. There are a surprising amount of entries int he pop culture landscape about crimes where the audience is fully aware of details of the crime that the detective is not. Often, we may even see the crime committed in the opening scene. On this crossover episode with the Protagonist Podcast, Mav is joined by returning guests Joe Darowski and Stephanie Siler to explore this phenomenon and what makes it great. Why do we enjoy mysteries so much when what is traditionally thought of as the defining trait of the genre is rendered moot? Listen and then let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Citations and Links:
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
- Listen to Joe on The Protagonist Podcast and follow him on BlueSky: @jdarowski
- Follow Mav on BlueSky: @chrismaverick
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