Crime Time

Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.

A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)

Back from the land of Uncle Charley, let's make a quick stop in my former adopted country — more specifically in London, at 221B Baker Street, home of the most famous fictional detective of all time. The very same detective who, as suggested by the 9 of Diamonds this month, invites us to be patient and persistent in spite of obstacles and challenges. It also heralds the end of a cycle (represented by a coffin in the Lenormand oracle) and the beginning of a new phase.

Private Eye vs Blind Justice

It is often wrongly assumed that Sherlock Holmes, the legendary character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, was the first and original literary detective. Actually that title is held by Auguste Dupin, penned by Edgar Allan Poe in 1841 (in The Murders in the Rue Morgue). The following year saw the release of The Mysteries of Paris by Eugène Sue, in which crime investigation intertwines with the social background, and where the sleuth roams the filthy alleys of the city in an effort to restore justice.

Two opposing archetypes: the cerebral detective introduced by Poe as a logically-minded parlour investigator versus the ‘action’ investigator portrayed by Sue, immersed in the social fabric and the underworld, driven by some humanitarian or moral cause. One of them looks at clues from a rational perspective, while the other digs into the dirt of people's lives.

Poe's character inspired Inspector Lecoq (in The Lerouge Case) by Émile Gaboriau, the ‘father of detective fiction’ who, in turn, influenced Conan Doyle in the creation of Sherlock Holmes.

But if these fictional detectives managed to captivate generations of readers, it is above all because they borrowed from their flesh-and-blood counterparts who, in ‘real’ life, helped solve some of the greatest crimes in human history.

One of them is Eugène François Vidocq, often regarded as the first private eye in history (1833), followed by Allan Pinkerton, who started the first private investigation agency in the US (1850), and William John Burns, known as the ‘American Sherlock Holmes.’

The Hound and the Wolf

But what happens when the detective encounters his perfect opposite? When the bloodhound of the system, with his infallible flair and relentless logic, meets the elusive wolf with his ever-changing mask, acting only on instinct and playing with the law to better circumvent it? This is where Arsène Lupin, Maurice Leblanc's gentleman thief, steps in. Leblanc, whose pen occasionally challenged Conan Doyle's to the extent of reinventing Holmes as Herlock Sholmes (for legal reasons) for a memorable literary duel.

They measured each other with their eyes, now open enemies, avowed and quivering. Lupin, a little irritated, went on: “Several times, sir, I have met you on my way. That is several times too many; and I am tired of wasting my time in foiling the traps which you set for me."

The Blonde Lady, Maurice Leblanc (1908)

Their confrontation continued over time: four years after their first encounter, Lupin provoked the British detective in the press and burgled a hotel despite the presence of the latter, who nevertheless managed to recover the stolen items. Their clash highlights the incompatibility of their methods: faced with Sholmes/Holmes' deduction and relentless logic, Lupin relies entirely on his intuition and improvisational skills. With his casual attitude towards facts, he outsmarts his careful yet rigid analysis.

The dog's nose, however long, points in one direction at a time.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Thus, in Leblanc's stories, the English detective is always defeated in the end, not by violence, but by imagination, bravado, and elegant plot twists. Lupin symbolises vivacity of mind, adaptability, and cunning counter-power against rigid order.

A gentleman is simply a patient wolf.

Henriette Tiarks

He embodies the art of free trickery, the proverbial ‘side step’ of someone who moves their pieces around the game board, while Holmes just keeps feeding the loop without ever stepping out of line.

Murder Party

And when it comes to flair and intuition, what could be more natural than extending from literary duels to other playing fields? For whether in fiction or games, crime always follows the same set of rules: a murderer, a motive, and a weapon. Now the next step was to turn it into global entertainment.

So in 1949, nearly half a century later, was created the legendary Cluedo (a play on 'clue' and 'ludo', the Latin word for 'I play'). In the famous British murder mystery game — which has been adapted into a variety of formats (a film, television shows, video games, fiction and non-fiction books, escape games, etc.), the object is to determine who murdered the game's victim, where the crime took place, and which weapon was used.

You see, but you do not observe.

A Scandal in Bohemia, Arthur Conan Doyle (1891)

Nowadays, in an increasingly Orwellian society, the pervasiveness of the figure of the unfailing detective is hardly a surprise. The reason is that the matrix needs to perpetuate the classic narratives of good and evil. For the system, it is not a matter of morality but of survival. And whenever the polarity is reversed, it's all about either redemption or corruption.

It doesn't matter which 'side' you're on, as long as you don't break out of the cycle. Indeed, what would happen if, instead of turning the wheel, the guinea pigs decided to step aside and observe it? 

What do you think they might discover?

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