MURDERON THE ORIENT

EXPRESSANALYSIS

Jackson Mathews

Patrick Nimon

Tom Idowu

VOCAB

• Hymeneal: adj. of or pertaining to marriage

Ex. My brother gave a hymeneal request to his girlfriend on Saturday.

• Suffice: v. to be enough or adequate, as for needs or purposes

Ex. No simpler flavor than chocolate will suffice to quench my icy hunger.

• Expenditure: n. the act of spending something

Ex. My expenditure should be more controlled if I want to purchase a new car.

• Irremediably : adj. not admitting of remedy cure or repair

Ex. I almost lost my mind when I irremediably cracked my iPhone.

• Culpability: adj. blameworthiness

Ex. The culprit’s culpability was untested during the trial.

VOCAB CON.

• Verisimilitude: n. appearance or resemblance of truth

Ex. The verisimilitude of the criminal’s testimony was undeniably reasonable.

• Delineation: n. a description

Ex. The delineation of the protagonist was amusing.

• Cavorting: v. prancing about

Ex. The flamboyant man was cavorting

• Hoodwink: v. to deceive or trick

Ex. The man would always hoodwink his wife up until the messy divorce.

•Ineptitude: n. quality or condition of being awkward, clumsy, or foolish

Ex. My brother’s ineptitude was so apparent that he could never get a girlfriend.

VOCAB CON.

• Ineptitude: n. quality or condition of being awkward, clumsy, or foolish

Ex. My brother’s ineptitude was so apparent that he could never get a

girlfriend.

• Shouldered: v. to assume as a responsibility

Ex. William Wallace shouldered the duty of the leader of the Scotts.

• Commission: n. the act of committing or giving in charge

Ex. The king put the knight into commission.

• Indignation: n. strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, or

insulting

Ex. My indignation of the election was so strong that I had to speak my mind.

• Onus: n. a difficult or disagreeable obligation, task, burden, etc.

Ex. Squidward was very displeased with the onus of taking out the trash.

VAN DINE'S 20 RULES

1: The reader should be given as many chances as the detective does to solve the

mystery, and any type of clues should be clearly stated to be so.

2: The reader cannot be fooled in any way, except if the criminal is playing a trick

on the detective.

3: The reader should not be distracted by pointless plots, such as a love story,

where the reader is drawn into that plot and out of the main plot.

4: In NO circumstances can the detective himself be the guilty party. It is dishonest

to the reader.

5: The criminal cannot be found by accident, it is cheap and a waste of the reader's

time.

VAN DINE'S 20 RULES CONT.

6: A detective novel always has a detective. The detective gathers clues to reveal

the criminal, and discovers who the criminal is by reaching a conclusion based on

the clues he found..

7: The crime must need to have a murder, which displays the height of all evils.

8: The crime must be solved by using brainpower and logic.

9: A detective novel can have one and only one detective solving the crime.

10: The criminal must be a somewhat significant character.

VAN DINE'S 20 RULES CONT.

12. There must always be one final victim in the story. There can be many

murderers and(or) even crimes but there must always be one mastermind in

charge of the whole murder mystery, and the reader must focus on an evil

single act committed by the main culprit.

11. A servant in the book cannot be found as the culprit or criminal, because it is found as a simple solution and easy answer to the mystery or case. The culprit must be one with the least suspicion, or someone who wouldn't normally be interpreted to be the victim.

VAN DINE'S 20 RULES CONT.

13. Secret societies should have no place in a murder. The detective should

not have a leaning post, but single-handedly portray himself to be capable

to maturely accounting for the case he has approved of for himself.

14. All of the evidence collected must be rational, and realistic. The

method that the detective comes up with the truth must be the same, as

well as all aspects of the crime itself. The crime must not be unrealistic, or

the author loses the reader to the realm of fantasy.

15: The truth of the problem must be apparent at all times throughout the

mystery. The reader must be able to spot the explanation for the crime, and

if possible, commit to solving the case before the final part of the story

unfolds, but most often, the reader does not solve the mystery before the

detective.

VAN DINE'S 20 RULES CONT.

16: There should be no unnecessary plot points, the plot should be about only

the mystery, not the character's lives.

17: The guilty party cannot be a known criminal, such as a serial killer or

famous burglar. The criminal must be someone unexpected, who is both a

surprise and a plot twist to the reader. The criminal should never be bothered

with crime, the police departments etc. are supposed to administer justice to

the known victim.

18: The murder must be a murder, and not a suicide or accident. This would

defeat the purpose of the mystery novel and in result, waste the reader's time.

VAN DINE'S 20 RULES CONT.

19: All the crimes in mystery novels should be personal, with no payed

jobs. There can be no motivation from an type or war-related affairs.

20. Using cigarettes to determine a suspect identity, scaring a suspect

into revealing himself, a forged fingerprint, dummy-figure alibis, dogs not

barking revealing a familiar intruder, pinning the crime on a look-alike or

relative, knockout medicine, committing a crime in a room the police have

broken into, a word association test for guilt, and a coded letter, are all

overused and unoriginal parts of a detective story.