Another mystery plot. This one I like to call The Two Cases.
- Crime #1 occurs.
- Crime #2, a minor/funny crime, occurs.
- The solver tries to track down one of the two crimes, but it’s no good.
- They run into something from the one crime that reminds them of the other crime.
- Wait wait both these crimes are related.
- Switching from one crime to the other reveals both. Wrapup, the end.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Inspector Montalbano mysteries lately. Like that. This seems like a good Police Procedural template, because it’s easy to believe they’re juggling multiple things at once. They aren’t as limited by location as a cozy, but they do have to center around one location (their district), so this is a good way to jerk the reader around realistically by overwhelming them with two sets of clues.