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<\/a>I love picking up books for a one pound coin in Bristol charity shops. \u00a0I read books that normally would never come my way. \u00a0One such book: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House<\/strong> was particularly fascinating.<\/p>\nHere’s what I learned about the origin of fictional and real life detectives and detective stories:<\/p>\n
A Detective was a recent invention (in the 1840’s). \u00a0The first fictional sleuth, Ausguste Dupin, appeared in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue<\/strong> in 1841, and the first real detectives in the English-speaking world were appointed by the London Metropolitan Police the next year. The officer who investigated the murder at Road Hill House – Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher of Scotland Yard – was one of the eight men who formed this fledging force.<\/em><\/p>\n The Road Hill case riveted all of England. It was a classic “country house” murder. \u00a0Someone viciously killed\u00a0a small child, took him from his bed, and stuffed the body down the privy (outhouse). \u00a0Logistically, only someone inside the house could have committed the crime. \u00a0No one else had the access to the necessary locations. \u00a0The (very public) unfolding of the investigation\u00a0shaped the detective fiction of the era and beyond. Whicher’s personality inspired the first English detective novel, Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone<\/strong> and its police inspector\u00a0Sergeant Cuff. \u00a0Cuff\u00a0has inspired nearly every detective in fiction since.<\/p>\n The Emotional Toolbox categorizes the stories we normally think of as detective stories as Power of Truth stories.<\/p>\n These\u00a0stories are defined by the secrets, lies, conspiracies, and truths that are\u00a0hidden or concealed from or by the characters.\u00a0Power of Truth stories explore the most profound and personal of betrayals.<\/p>\n In\u00a0The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher\u00a0<\/strong>there are secrets, lies, and layers of betrayal at the heart of the Victorian home, a place considered irreproachable and sacred at the time of the murder. The case tore the roof off what was\u00a0a deeply private place. \u00a0It exposed rot and malice in place of\u00a0what was assumed to wholesome and pure.<\/p>\n Power of Truth stories feature twists, treachery, and reversals, each of which can suddenly change\u00a0everything the character believes is true. They conceal and reveal larger underlying\u00a0issues or covert agendas that secretly manipulate the characters or the story world\u00a0itself.<\/p>\n The cruelty, hatred, and abuse seething beneath\u00a0the violent explosion in the Road Hill Murder case revealed the twisted dark side in seeming respectable middle class Victorian family life. \u00a0This was a shock to the public and to Whicher himself.<\/p>\n Power of Truth stories are complex tales that usually\u00a0deal with darker side of\u00a0human emotion. Plotting is key to triggering the detective’s\u00a0fear and loathing and \u00a0maintaining it at full force through the story.<\/p>\n The Power of Truth\u00a0story world is rich and multi-layered. Nothing is ever quite what it seems. The\u00a0protagonist can\u2019t fully trust anyone. In some cases, the protagonist can\u2019t even\u00a0trust him or her self! The case broke Whicher professionally, personally, and emotionally.<\/p>\n A Power of Truth story is fundamentally about how others deceive a character\u00a0and how that character deceives him or her self. Plot development typically\u00a0investigates or uncovers the truth about one thing and, as a result, uncovers the\u00a0truth about larger secrets, crimes, or conspiracies lurking below the surface.<\/p>\n Ultimately, these stories explore the essential nature of truth and whether it\u00a0is ever possible to fully know or understand the complex mysteries of the human\u00a0heart\u2014 our own or anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n Power of Truth novels and films are rich, complex stories filled with profound\u00a0questions about the nature of illusion vs. reality; guilt, innocence and culpability;\u00a0the elusive boundaries of loyalty and betrayal; the corrosiveness of secrets and lies;\u00a0and, certainty vs. the unknowability of some things.<\/p>\n These stories slowly un-peel multi-layered deceptions, forbidden truths, and\u00a0deep self-delusion, exposing the most agonizing and dangerous\u00a0human emotions.<\/p>\n