Narrative causality as a detection technique

[ewx]

If you watch TV detective shows (CSI, NCIS, Law & Order, ...) then very often you can figure out who did it - or who actually did it, that quite often only being fully revealed after a lot of effort chasing/questioning/prosecuting/etc the ‘obvious’ suspect - simply by knowing the conventions of the show - sometimes as simply as counting characters and figuring out that the only point of a particular character's presence is to be the guilty party.

My suggestion, then: a story about a detective who knows that some such set of conventions apply to the world they're in and can therefore use them to figure out whodunnit (though of course, they would still have to find and interpret evidence, use interrogation skills, etc to actually construct a winnable case) simply by applying these rules.

Comments

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

There's a RPG comic - probably either KODT or OOTS, that involves the characters ascertaining that an NPC doesn't have a pre-determined (by the GM) name and hence is not vital to the plot.

[alextfish.livejournal.com]

Order Of The Stick certainly play with NPC names and the significance thereof. This strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0472.html) is a delightful riff on Nominal Importance (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NominalImportance).

[damerell.livejournal.com]

"The warrior is ruled out by his own testimony."

"What do you mean, Holmes? He has said nothing at all."

"Precisely, Watson. His player is not here for this session."