Sandbox / Dominik Dan

"The city, events and characters are fictional and any resemblance with real events is purely coincidental although somebody may find them familiar."
Disclaimer at the beginning of every novel.

A well renowned Slovak crime novel writer under the pen name Dominik Dán. In public there are ongoing disputed concerning his real identity as he scrupulosly guards it due to both professional and security reasons.

All of his works take place in "Our City" with only occassional temporal trips to other places in Slovakia or Czech Republic. The central point of every novel is murder although in many cases accompanied by other severe crimes including drug dealing, rape, robbery, property scams/fraud, bribing/corruption and organised crime. The murder cases involve both commoners and high-class people - the latter often connected to mafia.

Unlike most crime-scene writers Dominik Dán's writing style is very visceral. Don't expect any musing about the site at which the corpse is found. Instead get ready for many witness reports full of juicy detail. The first step in ivestigation is idetifying the victim and then finding and contacting all their relatives and acquaintance. It's the information they provide you which clues you in on what really happened. Avoid jumping to conclusions as even if people are telling the truth^note or what do they think is true, the information may be misleading. Obstructive Bureaucracy is also a very real problem which gets in the way of murder investigation. And just like in Real Life, not every time the perpetrator is caught. Sometimes they manage to get away scot-free especially if they're someone important for the government.

The investigators involved in all cases are the crew of Murder Department (formerly Department for Violent Crime) or simply Office no. 141. There are also other important policemen who either command or support them. Learn their nicknames, you'll be reading them a lot.

Members of Office no. 141:

• Richard Krauz^pronounce Ri K Hard: Arguably the main protagonist and possibly author surrogate although he doesn't get significantly more "screentime" than his coleagues. Being 30 to 40 years old, he is one fo the youngest members of Murder Department. He's brash and sometimes impulsive but also clever and caring. He doesn't always necessarily abide the rules if he believes he's doing the right thing.
• Eduard Burger (Edo fo short): The eldest member of Office no. 141. A man of principles with lost of experience. A fatherly figure but doesn't go easy on his subordinates. Sometimes tough-headed.
• Oto Hanzel: The second eldest crewmember - a firearms and explosives expert. Cunning, cynical and sarcastic.
• Ivan Mikovich a.k.a. "Váňa"^pronounce Vaanya: A severaly overwight middle-aged guy. Somewhat narrow-minded and sometimes malignant but proves to be a great help for his colleagues when push comes to shove. Eats ludicrously much.
• Pavol Kukučka alias "Kuky"^pronounce Kooky: A short guy skilled in martial arts. Don't make fun of his short stature, you'll regret it. On the job he usually works vith Váňa. He also keeps bringing various exotic plants and pets into the office only to fail in taking care of them and all of them meet a quick untimely demise.
• Josef Fischer a.k.a. "José"^pronounce it just like the spanish name:

Other recurring policemen:

• Mjr. Jozef Majchrán^pronounce Maykhraan: Old boss of the Department for Violent Crime who was in charge before Velvet Revolution.
• Mjr. Alexander Mayor: Post revolution boss of the Murder Department.
• Filip Kiss: A colleague investigator from next-door office.
• Petra Pergnerová: A female colleague investigator from next-door office.

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Dominik Dán's bibliography consists of the following crime novels:

• Ashes Straighten Everyone (Popol Všetkých Zarovná)
• Shameless Lamb (Nehanebné Neviniatko)
• Brute (Beštia)
• Sara (Sára)
• Cell no. 17 (Cela číslo 17)
• Crimson Captain (Červený kapitán)
• Our Daily Sin (Hriech náš každodenný)
• Count Death (Knieža smrť)
• Night of Dark Lies (Noc temných klamstiev)
• The Fly (Mucha) - set in summer 1990. An unidentified female body in advanced state of decay is found by a lake just outside the city. The only relevant clue which would help to solve this case are fly larvae.
• Flyswatter (Mucholapka)
• The Well (Studňa)
• You Only Live Twice (Žiješ iba dvakrát)
• On Stilettos (Na podpätkoch)
• Leather Heart (Kožené srdce)
• Knot (Uzol)
• Beauty and the Beast^no not that one (Kráska a Netvor)
• The Poet (Básnik)
• No Forgiveness for the Innocent (Nevinným sa neodpúšťa)
• One Step to the Grave (Jednou nohou v hrobe)
• Blood is not Water (Krv nie je Voda)
• Velvet Mirage (Nežná fatamorgána)
• Death on the other shore (Smrť na druhom brehu)
• Roots of Evil (Korene zla)
• A cigarette worth two puffs (Cigaretka na dva ťahy)
• A Letter from beyond the grave (List zo záhrobia)
• Venus from the Creek (Venuša zo zátoky) - the Venus in the title is a referrence to the Venus of Moravany, which is missing arms and head.
• Buried Alive (Pochovaní Zaživa)
• (Nevieš dňa, nevieš hodiny)
• (Klbko zmijí)
• In the shadow (V tieni)
• The Burden of past (Bremeno minulosti)
• Cat trail (Mačacia stopa)
• Arcane Veil (Tajomný závoj)
• Queen contra Bishop (Dáma kontra Strelec)^note that the translated title doesn't make sense in context as the original title is a Double Entendre which only makes snse in Slovak. The Queen chess piece is called "Dáma" which means "Lady" and the Bishop piece is called "Strelec", which means "Shooter" or "Archer". The point is that the chess pieces refer to the murder victim and the perpetrator.

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All of the following examples are fabricated and any association with Dominik Dán's works is purely coincidental although somebody may find them familiar...

• A Man Is Always Eager: Most males in Dominik Dán's novels don't even try to refuse any sexual offer. Even if it would clearly spell trouble for them.
• Big Eater: Taken to its logical extreme with "Váňa", who is eating atrociously often. So much that it ocassionally annoys his colleagues. Sometimes he'll even prioritize eating over doing serious work.
• The Ditz: "Váňa" doesn't compute such thing as irony. At times he's Literal-Minded and math isn't his strong point either. He's not totally dumb though especially when it comes to understanding malice and motivation behind it.
• Not What It Looks Like: Several eyewitness reports suffer from the witness wrongly interpretting what they saw and it often ends up misleading the investigation in the wrong course.
• Our Lawyers Advised This Trope:
• Serial Rapist:
• Smoking Is Cool: Mercilessly averted. There are many notorious smokers throughout all books, including all detectives of Office no. 141, but the smoking takes its toll on them just like in real life. The most prominent example is Burger, who's severely addicted to tobacco and ends up wasting his lungs with cancer.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The disclaimer at the beginning of every novel saying: "The city, events and characters are fictional and any resemblance with real events is purely coincidental although somebody may find them familiar." sounds somewhat suspicious. Anyone who's adept in Slovak history, notices that the events of many books match real events rather too well.
• Write What You Know: Being a former criminalist, Dominik Dán's work is based on his professional experience.
• Write Who You Know: