The Perfect Crime

Sunday, November 8, 2009 Posted by Bachelor of Suspense

I recently read Agatha Christie's masterpiece novel – And Then There Were None. This amazing crime novel is a true classic, which is about a perfect crime. The plot and suspense are extremely well. I was simply baffled by the water-tight plot and the suspense. This is not a detective novel. It's a mystery crime novel. It's about a series of perfect murders. I don't want to reveal the plot further. But, what interested me was the plot itself. After reading this, I wondered whether it is really possible for a man to design a perfect crime, without getting himself known (or caught). As an avid reader of detective fiction, I usually read a story and try to figure out the culprit before the end, both logically and psychologically. Psychologically means, the least suspicious one is the culprit. But, both these techniques have failed in this case. No wonder over 100 million copies were sold!
Now, coming back to the topic. Often a perfect crime (rather, every crime) require a trustful ally. But, how trustworthy can he be? Will he succumb to the pressure, or support him? Another important factor is Mother Nature. The unpredictability of Mother Nature can wreck a foolproof plan. Sometimes, an unexpected rain can leave clues that will ultimately betray the criminal. Yet another important factor is Human Nature. Here too, we can't predict what a man will do next. Often an unexpected witness can reveal the whole story. Also, attempts to exterminate such a witness can leave unexpected clues for a sleuth. Some unexpected situations prove too much for even a hard core criminal. In such situations, emotion take control over intelligence, making them act foolish.
Throughout the above passage, the word 'unexpected' is encountered a lot of times. The uncertainty in the nature, human activities, trust can play a spoil sport in case of crime, which is a rather good news to sleuths. This is often refered to as “The fingerprint of GOD”. Whatever it may be, it is a boon. As theory states, every criminal leaves a clue behind him. The success of a sleuth is to find that, and exactly that particular clue, which stands out of the rest.
Of course, there are unsolved crimes, especially homicides throughout the world. Some of the famous ones are:
  • The Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short) murder in 1947 at Los Angeles
  • William Goebel, American politician in 1900 at Kentucky
  • Jack the Ripper murders, 1888 at London
  • Zodiac Killer murders at Northern California, 1968-1969
  • Jack the Stripper murders, at London, 1963-1964
I don't think most of the unsolved crimes remain so due to careful planning and execution. There are other factors too. Inefficiency of detectives, corrupt officers, the murderers being members of highly organised crime syndicates, external agencies interfering the investigation (usually politicians) etc.
After reading a handful of detective novels I think, the steps to solve a crime are: rely only on concrete evidences; consider witness statements suspiciously; suspect everyone; form a pattern using the available data. The last one is the most important step. Form a theory with the initial clues. Modify this theory when more REAL clues pour in. Abandon a theory, if new data stands out (if the data is real). View everything suspiciously. Every crime has a pattern of it's own. If the sleuth is able to identify this, he wins. Also, I've read somewhere that if more than one solution exists, the simplest one wil be the right one.
Hoping for a perfect WORLD, and not a perfect crime....
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