Line #36 Literature/MurderMysteries


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1574534742_01_LZZZZZZZ_8080.jpg]]
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3	''Murder Mysteries'' is a short story by Creator/NeilGaiman which was adapted first into an audio drama for the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] website's Seeing Ear Theatre and then into a Dark Horse graphic novel illustrated by P. Craig Russell.
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5	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.
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7	The conclusion of the story is, not too surprising for Neil, a bit of a MindScrew. The ending can be interpreted in different ways, and Gaiman himself provides an answer (see below), but it's hard to pin things down definitively.
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9	----
10	!!This graphic novel provides examples of:
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12	%%* AdaptationDistillation: The radio drama.
13	* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Sort of, angels have specific roles, which sometimes seem to possess them.
14	* AlwaysMurder: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It's right there in the title, folks.]]
15	* ComicBookAdaptation: P. Craig Russell drew one of these for Dark Horse, which is ironic because the story seems to be set in the DCU. [[note]]The Silver City is from DC Comics and Lucifer has a lot of similarities to his portrayal in Neil Gaiman's Sandman.[[/note]]
16	* CouncilOfAngels: No official council, but angels seem to be running things without direct contact from God.
17	* {{Determinator}}: Do not try to stop Raguel from doing his job. It will not end well.
18	* DramaticIrony: Hearing Lucifer say "Azazel would follow you anywhere" is a little chilling when [[RageAgainstTheHeavens you know what's coming.]]
19	* 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.]]
20	* FairPlayWhodunnit: It is pretty obvious that [[spoiler:Saraquael had something to do with the murder]] even before TheReveal.
21	** Zephkiel's name [[spoiler:means "God's Knowledge" and he is supposed to be one of 7 archangels who rule Heaven]].
22	* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Almost everything the narrator says during the first part of the story, depending on one's interpretation.]]
23	* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Raguel, whenever he is angry or using his powers.
24	* {{God}}: No Silver City populated by angels building the blueprint for the universe would be complete without one.
25	%%* GodIsEvil: Or at the very least a bit of a jerk.
26	* {{Gone Horribly Right}}: Of course, Raguel eventually figures out [[spoiler:that Zephkiel is actually God - Raguel was created to be an investigator, after all. Unfortunately, Raguel makes the connection a little too late, but God had not intended him to figure out that he was {{the Chessmaster}} behind the actual murder.]]
27	* HaveYouSeenMyGod: The angels seem to be working without ever actually knowing where God is, but [[spoiler:Raguel finds Him in the end.]]
28	%%* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler:God]]
29	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:It's implied that Raguel removed the narrator's memory of some of the events of the night they met.]]
30	* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Saraquael murders Carasel because he cannot bear the pain of loving him and not being loved back. The implication of the frame story is that the narrator murdered Tink for the same reason.]]
31	* 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.
32	* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Zephkiel, aka God. By the end, it's clear that the murder was a multi-stage BatmanGambit, with the eventual goal being to provoke Lucifer's fall from Heaven. In the end, only Raguel can put the pieces together, and he is thoroughly disgusted.]]
33	* 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 within here.]] WordOfGod: [[spoiler:Yes, it was a murder, as it's all in the title.]]
34	* OmniscientMoralityLicense: The only way [[spoiler:for God to not come off as an absolute bastard for His {{plan}}.]]
35	* OurAngelsAreDifferent: They're naked and sexless, for starters.
36	* ThePlan: [[spoiler:God appears to be running one of these.]]
37	%%* PowerFloats: Lucifer and Raguel both demonstrate this.
38	* PowerGlows: Raguel glows whenever his aspect comes upon him.
39	* TheReveal: Raguel assembles all of the suspects for his own angelic parlor scene.
40	%%* StartOfDarkness: For Lucifer.
41	* StealthPun: The story is a murder mystery but it is also a murder [[PassionPlay mystery.]]
42	* SympatheticMurderer: It's pretty hard to not empathize with [[spoiler:Saraquael.]] Hell, even Lucifer sheds tears for him.
43	--> ''Lucifer'': That was not right... that was not just.
44	* 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.]]
45	* WhatTheHellHero: Raguel manages to deliver one of these to [[spoiler:''God Himself'']].
46	* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Lucifer willingly puts himself through these sorts of tests.

Context Literature / MurderMysteries