Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mystery and crime

I'm pretty sure the first letter was G, but maybe it as a 2.

Admiral Haddock — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:23:39 -0800

How do police departments use/search partial license plate information in their investigations? Or incomplete information about cars generally? The events in Boston have gotten me wondering how the police track down leads, and track down leads with respect to cars in particular.

For instance, say someone sees a car speeding away from the scene of a crime. It was a blue SUV, and all they could catch was the first three (of six) characters on the license plate. The witness may or may not be confident in their interviews what the characters were, but assume say they emphatically "remember" 012. But say it really was CIZ (or any number of alternative combinations). And say the witness wasn't sure what state's plates it was, but the lettering wasn't red (but might have been blue, black, or green).

Is that enough for the police to find the car's registration? Do the police automatically run plates based on every permutation of potential character (C/O/0/Q,9/6/G,1LI, etc), in every possible state with the right color plates? Is this done by some computer somewhere, or by brute force detective work?

And how much investigative weight is put on license plates, given how easy it would seem to make passable fakes (I remember making plastic ones at a kid's birthday party a million years ago), or steal them from other vehicles?

Alternatively, it seems like the police would get a lot of incomplete info about cars in general (it was an SUV, I think, er, maybe a station wagon, and it was blue, black, dark green, but maybe brown, I'm not sure)--do they actually run searches on that basis, or do they just keep it in their back pockets as corroborating information as other leads unfold?

Looking for great crime novels with some depth

1901gunner — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 06:36:44 -0800

Seeking recommendations for (non-American/British) crime novels that also serve as interesting social commentary I've made an effort this year to expand my reading of English-in-translation lit and in the process have particularly enjoyed crime novels that go beyond simple mystery or suspense to say something about the culture of their setting as well.

Examples of authors I enjoy who fit this criteria: Natsuo Kirino (Japan), Jo Nesbø (Norway), Tana French (Ireland). While I very much enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series in Botswana, that's the sort of thing a bit cozier than what I'm searching out. Also, works set in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, or South America would be particularly good to hear about (and must be available in English).

Thanks!

Can you ID this book?

Neely O'Hara — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:45:24 -0800

Help me identify a book I read in the mid-90's! All I remember about it is that it was a crime novel, about a guy on death row, and the big surprise at the end of the book is that he and his lawyer (an ostensibly straight married man) wind up having some kind of sexual encounter before the client is executed. At least I think that is what happened - I could be making up some of the details. But hopefully this is enough to go on - thanks, book sleuths!

Entertain Me!

kittenmarlowe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:20:51 -0800

I know everybody asks this (and I've read through the previous questions looking for recommendations), but what should I watch next? Preferably on Netflix or Hulu Plus (not web only). In general, I tend to like: mysteries/crime procedurals/law dramas, especially with a quirky twist, and also shows involving a quirky band of misfits (or individual) working outside the law to bring justice to the little people while finding out who done them wrong (e.g. the A-Team, Burn Notice, The Pretender, etc.) I also like heist shows and sci-fi. And occasionally anime. Despite the fact that I love mysteries/crime shows, I have a pretty intense phobia of serial killers, so anything with a large focus on tracking them (e.g. Dexter) is not an option.

Stuff I've loved:
The Pretender
Veronica Mars
Firefly and Dollhouse (sometimes Buffy & co)
Nero Wolfe
The Middleman
The Unusuals
Due South
White Collar
Leverage
Dead Like Me
MASH
How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory
Monty Python's Flying Circus
The Muppet Show

Stuff I've seen and enjoyed
Law and Order (all of them except CI and the more serial killery episodes of SVU)
CSI
JAG
Ally McBeal
Murder She Wrote
Psych
Monk
Twin Peaks
The Defenders
Star Trek (All of 'em)
Farscape
House (the first couple seasons)
Dresden Files
The Ateam
Gunslinger Girl
Haibane Renmei
Lain
Bones
Burn Notice
Murdoch Mysteries
MacGuyver
Quantum Leap

I'm sure plenty of others I'm not thinking of.

What was that crime novel that used carmageddon as a plot point

dersins — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:35:40 -0800

What-was-that-book-filter: 70's or 80's (?) heist (?) novel that involved shutting down L.A. by closing a couple of freeways and the central telephone switching system. So all this talk of "carmageddon" this weekend has made me remember a question I've always meant to ask metafilter. Some time in the mid-to-late-80's (I think... could possibly have been early 90's but I don't think so) I remember reading a crime novel that revolved around some sort of heist (I think) in LA.

Part of the plan was to shut down LA by engineering accidents that blocked several key arterials (one of which involved jackknifing a gravel truck so that it strewed its load across all lanes of either the 101 or the 405, I think), and also shutting down the phone system by doing something that may or may not have involved super glue.

I always assumed it was one of Westlake/Stark's Parker books, but I recently re-read all of them (including the later ones) and it's not. So what the hell was it? This has been bugging me for literally years.

Where can I find great new crime or mystery short fiction?

dersins — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:13:36 -0800

I want to read new crime fiction and/or mystery short stories. Where should I look? What are some great (or good, or even merely decent) websites or print periodicals that publish new crime fiction / mystery short stories? I'm aware of (the sadly-defunct, apparently) Thuglit, and of course Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, but don't really know what else is out there. For what it's worth, I have a pretty strong preference for the hard-boiled over the mannered whodunit.

How do PI's dig up dirt on people?

reenum — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:57:11 -0800

Where can I find out more about the investigation techniques used by private investigators? In watching movies like This Film Is Not Yet Rated and reading mystery novels about PI's, I've become really interested in the field. I don't think I'll become a professional PI, but I still want to read more about the techniques they use to dig up information about people.

I'm looking for books, web sites, and other resources that talk about how private investigators conduct investigations and the web sites or other databases they consult.

Thanks!

Good Toronto bookstores?

cows of industry — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:21:24 -0800

I will be traveling through Toronto (from Detroit area) on the way to Muskoka soon and I am looking for some good bookstores in the region. I am interested in everything, but I really have a yen for good mystery and crime fiction. Any ideas?

British mystery TV shows/movies?

gentle — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:26:51 -0800

Great British mystery television shows/movies? My girlfriend and I are both rabid fans of good, old-fashioned British whodunnits. Nothing like a rainy Sunday curled up in the sofa to watch an insufferable amateur detective line up a bunch of eccentric upper-class Brits by the fireplace to expose their innermost red herrings: Poirot, Miss Marple, Jonathan Creek, Cadfael, Inspector Alleyn, Sherlock Holmes, Gosford Park -- we have pretty much watched them all, including numerous Agatha Christie movie adaptations. What else is out there? Must be British, or feature mainly Brits; extra points for smoking jackets, quaint little villages in Dorset, vintage automobiles and funny little Frenchmen. (We don't like modern police procedurals that much, though; Inspector Morse is all right, but not quite our cup of tea.)

Book of Gal Pal Detectives with Salami-Loving Dog, with Crime Scenes with Clue Arrows?

emptybowl — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 10:07:07 -0800

I have a vague, sketchy recollection of a book series I used to read in 2nd and 3rd grade (20 years ago). It was about two young girls, friends, who solved mysteries together. They also had a dog that loved salami. I believe the were normal books, not comic books, but each book had cartoony pictures of "crime scenes" and such, with little arrows pointing out certain clues (kinda like Bernie Mac, except funny). Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?