History Main / MurderMysteries

[[quoteright:302:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1574534742_01_LZZZZZZZ_8080.jpg]] '''"Murder Mysteries"''' is a short story by NeilGaiman which was adapted first into an audio drama for the SciFiChannel website's Seeing Ear Theatre and then into a Dark Horse graphic novel illustrated by P. Craig Russell.

The story is divided into two main layers. The first is a framing narrative that focuses on a British man (the narrator) remembering his younger years when he was stuck in Los Angeles while trying to get back home. During his stopover he briefly hooks up with an old flame named Tink, and after leaving her apartment he meets an older man who tells him a story in exchange for some cigarettes. The older man tells the narrator of when he was the angel Raguel, the embodiment of God's vengeance, and of his investigation of the first murder in the history of existence after the body of another angel, Carasel, was discovered dead in the Silver City. Along the way he interacts with several other members of the divine hierarchy, including a pre-fallen Lucifer.

The conclusion of the story is, not too surprising for Neil, a bit of a MindScrew. The ending can be interpreted different ways, and Gaiman himself provides an answer (see below), but it's hard to pin things down definitively.
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!!This graphic novel provides examples of:

* AdaptationDistillation: The radio drama.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Sort of, angels have specific roles, which sometimes seem to posses them.
* {{Asexuality}}: Subverted. You would think that angels, especially ones without genitals would be incapable of sexual desire or activity. You would be wrong.
* AlwaysMurder: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It's right there in the title folks.]]
* CouncilOfAngels: No official council, but angels seem to be running things without direct contact from God.
* {{Determinator}}: Do not try to stop Raguel from doing his job. It will not end well.
* DramaticIrony: Hearing Lucifer say "Azazel would follow you anywhere" is a little chilling when [[RageAgainstTheHeavens you know what's coming.]]
* EveryoneIsASuspect: Not because everyone hated Carasel, but because there was no obvious motive in the first place, [[{{Determinator}} and Raguel is willing to interview everyone in the Silver City to get to the bottom of things if he has to.]]
* FairPlayWhodunnit: It is pretty obvious that [[spoiler: Saraquael had something to do with the murder]] even before TheReveal.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Almost everything the narrator says during the first part of the story, depending on one's interpretation.]]
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Raguel, whenever he is angry or using his powers.
* {{God}}: No Silver City populated by angels building the blueprint for the universe would be complete without one.
* [[spoiler: GodIsEvil]]: Or at the very least a bit of a jerk.
* HaveYouSeenMyGod: The angels seem to be working without ever actually knowing where God is, but [[spoiler: Raguel finds Him in the end.]]
* HeyItsThatVoice: Michael Emerson, best known for his role as Ben Linus on ''{{Lost}}'', is the narrator in the radio play adaptation.
* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler: God]]
* [[spoiler: LaserGuidedAmnesia:]] [[spoiler: Possibly]]
* [[spoiler: LoveMakesYouEvil:]] [[spoiler: Saraquael murders Carasel because he cannot bear the pain of loving him and not being loved back.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Even though it looks like Carasel had died from falling, Raguel figures out pretty quickly that he was dead before the body hit the ground.
* MindScrew: [[spoiler: Did the man murder Tink and everyone else in the apartment? What did Raguel give him? How much of this is God controlling? What happens to the narrator in the elevator? There's a lot to screw your mind with in here.]] WordOfGod: [[spoiler:Yes, it was a murder, as it's all in the title]]
* OmniscientMoralityLicense: The only way [[spoiler: for God to not come off as an absolute bastard for His {{plan}}.]]
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: They're naked and sexless, for starters.
* ThePlan: [[spoiler: God appears to be running one of these.]]
* PowerFloats: Lucifer and Raguel both demonstrate this.
* PowerGlows: Raguel glows whenever his aspect comes upon him.
* TheReveal: Raguel assembles all of the suspects for his own angelic parlor scene.
* StartOfDarkness: For Lucifer.
* StealthPun: The story is a murder mystery but it is also a murder [[PassionPlay mystery.]]
* SympatheticMurderer: It's pretty hard to not empathize with [[spoiler: Saraquael.]] Hell, even Lucifer sheds tears for him.
* UnreliableNarrator: The narrator often mentions that he remembers certain things with crystal clarity and others not at all. [[spoiler:There's a reason for this, but what it might be is down to interpretation.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Raguel manages to deliver one of these to [[spoiler:''God Himself'']].
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Lucifer willingly puts himself through these sorts of tests.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Technically it's silver with a hint of sea-mist, but Lucifer qualifies.

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[[quoteright:302:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1574534742_01_LZZZZZZZ_8080.jpg]] Murder Mysteries is a short story by NeilGaiman which was adapted first into an audio drama for the SciFiChannel website's Seeing Ear Theatre and then into a Dark Horse graphic novel illustrated by P. Craig Russell.

* {{Squick}}: The narrator's dream of [[spoiler: having sex with Tink's dead body, slick with clammy menstrual blood.]]

* WhatTheHellHero]: Raguel manages to deliver one of these to [[spoiler:''God Himself'']].

* [=~What The Hell, Hero?~=]: Raguel manages to deliver one of these to [[spoiler:''God Himself'']].

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* FairPlayWhodunnit: YourMileageMayVary, but it is pretty obvious that [[spoiler: Saraquael had something to do with the murder]] even before TheReveal.

* OmniscientMoralityLicense: The only way [[spoiler: for God to not come off as an absolute bastard for His XanatosGambit.]]

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: God appears to be running one of these.]]

The conclusion of the story is, not too surprising for Neil, a bit of a MindScrew, mostly in regards to [[spoiler: whether or not Tink, her daughter, and her roommate were murdered and if it was the narrator who killed them.]] The ending can be interpreted either way, and Gaiman himself says the answer to said question is [[spoiler:yes, as it's all in the title]], but it's hard to pin things down definitively.

* MindScrew: [[spoiler: Did the man murder Tink and everyone else in the apartment? What did Raguel give him? How much of this is God controlling? What happens to the narrator in the elevator? There's a lot to screw your mind with in here.]]

* AdaptationDecay: The graphic novel.

* OldMaid: Tink is single, in her early thirties, and has a daughter. While she is still attractive, and may even be trying to rekindle things with the narrator, she is beginning to show her age.

* CakeEater: The narrator is ten years younger than Tink.
* ChristmasCake: Tink is single, in her early thirties, and has a daughter. While she is still attractive, and may even be trying to rekindle things with the narrator, she is beginning to show her age.

Murder Mysteries is a graphic novel based on a short story and radio play by NeilGaiman. It was adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell and released by Dark Horse.

The story is divided into two main layers, the first is a framing narrative that focuses on a British man (the narrator) remembering his younger years when he was stuck in Los Angeles while trying to get back home. During his stopover he briefly hooks up with an old flame named Tink, and after leaving her apartment he meets an older man who tells him a story in exchange for some cigarettes. He tells the narrator about when he was the angel Raguel, God?s vengeance, and how he had to investigate and solve the first murder in the history of existence after the body of another angel, Carasel, was discovered dead in the Silver City. Along the way he interacts with several other members of the divine hierarchy, including a pre-fallen Lucifer. His discovery of the perpetrator, and the resulting punishment, seems to have damaged him and is part of the reason he is now on Earth instead of in the Silver City.

The conclusion of the story is, not too surprising for [[NeilGaiman Neil]], a bit of a MindScrew, mostly in regards to [[spoiler: whether or not Tink, her daughter, and her roommate were murdered and if it was the narrator who killed them.]] The ending can be interpreted either way, but it?s hard to pin things down definitively.

*AlwaysMurder: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It?s right there in the title folks.]]

*DramaticIrony: Hearing Lucifer say, ?Azazel would follow you anywhere,? is a little chilling when [[RageAgainstTheHeavens you know what?s coming.]]

*MindScrew: [[spoiler: Did the man murder Tink and everyone else in the apartment? What did Raguel give him? How much of this is God controlling? What happens to the narrator in the elevator? There?s a lot to screw your mind with in here.]]

*OurAngelsAreDifferent: They?re naked and sexless, for starters.

*{{Squick}}: The narrator?s dream of [[spoiler: having sex with Tink?s dead body; slick with clammy menstrual blood.]]

*SympatheticMurderer: It?s pretty hard to not empathize with [[spoiler: Saraqual.]] Hell, even Lucifer sheds tears for him.

*YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Technically it?s silver with a hint of sea-mist, but Lucifer qualifies.