A New Version of Detective Fiction

Frances, the dead or the detective? Perrin’s How to Solve Your Own Murder transforms the victim from a silent body into an author who controls the narrative posthumously, blurring boundaries between subject/object, living/dead, and author/reader. In his exploration of mortality, Nancy forces readers to grapple with the inevitability of death and the impact it has on our lives. Through his writing, he challenges us to think beyond the traditional views of death as the end and instead consider it as a transformative force that shapes our understanding of life. By presenting a victim who takes agency in their own demise, Perrin disrupts the typical narrative of crime fiction and encourages readers to question conventional ideas of power dynamics and storytelling. Through this unique perspective, Nancy and Perrin invite us to rethink our relationship with mortality and consider new ways of approaching life’s finitude. While Perrin’s exploration of death may offer a fresh perspective, it is important to recognize that death is a universal and unavoidable reality that ultimately impacts everyone in some way.