Perfect murder (fiction)

Perfect murder (fiction)

The perfect murder is a murder which benefits the murderer, but also has no negative consequences for him or her; usually, this simply means that the murderer is never caught. Several factors might contribute to the perfect murder:

* The murderer has an impeccably trustworthy witness who provides an , which no other witness contradicts.
* The murderer had no apparent motive to commit the crime, and thus is not suspected by investigators.
* The murderer does not retain incriminating items or leave physical evidence of his presence at the crime scene.
* At no stage in planning, committing or covering up the crime does the murderer take another person into confidence on any suspicious or illegal matter.

The concept of the perfect murder is closely connected with detective fiction and often crops up in the whodunit and the locked room mystery. In the latter case, the murderer usually tries to make their crime 'perfect' by creating the illusion that there is no physically possible way they could commit the crime. For example, the victim is found dead in an empty room with its only door locked from the inside. The murderer, of course, has used some clever method to lock the door after departure, and a verdict of suicide means that foul play is not suspected.

The idea of a "motiveless" perfect murder is explored in the novel "Strangers on a Train" by Patricia Highsmith, famously adapted into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock. The scheme is for two strangers who both want someone dead to meet randomly and "trade murders," each doing the other's dirty work so they each have no discernible motive for their respective crimes.

A perfect murder could involve making it appear that the person one kills is oneself. The film "The Whole Nine Yards" features a perfect murder in which a hitman kills someone and blows up his body, making facial identification impossible. Knowing the police would check the body's dental records, the killer has a dentist insert dental implants to modify the victim's teeth to match his own.

A perfect murder could also be made to appear as an accidental or natural death.

A less common alternative of a perfect murder is a murder that cannot be punished because of a loophole in applicable law. An example of this is Gardner's "The Bigger They Come" (1939) in which the hero confesses to a murder (which he did not commit), while presenting case law (then valid also in reality) that disallows his punishment.

"The Crow Road" by Iain Banks, contains a modern perfect murder using a car.

ee also

*Perfect crime


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Perfect murder — may be:*Perfect murder (fiction), the fiction sub genre *Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (film), 2000 film documenting the events behind and following the JonBenet Ramsey murder *A Perfect Murder, 1998 remake of the 1954 film Dial M for Murder *A… …   Wikipedia

  • The Perfect Murder (film) — Infobox Film name = The Perfect Murder image size = caption = director = Zafar Hai producer = Ismail Merchant writer = HRF Keating (screenplay) narrator = starring = Stellan Skarsgård Naseeruddin Shah Ratna Pathak Madhur Jaffrey Amjad Khan music …   Wikipedia

  • Perfect crime — A perfect crime is a crime committed with sufficient planning and skill that no evidence is apparent, and the culprit cannot be traced. The term can also refer to a crime that remains undetected after commission, or sufficiently unsubstantiated… …   Wikipedia

  • Murder in Mesopotamia —   …   Wikipedia

  • Murder on the Rising Star — Battlestar Galactica (1978) episode Episode no. Season 1 Episode 18 Directed by Rod Holcomb …   Wikipedia

  • Murder on the Orient Express — For other uses, see Murder on the Orient Express (disambiguation). Murder on the Orient Express   …   Wikipedia

  • Murder of Meredith Kercher — Patrick Lumumba redirects here. Not to be confused with Patrice Lumumba. Murder of Meredith Kercher Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, known as Mez Born 28 December 1985(1985 12 28 …   Wikipedia

  • Murder, She Wrote — This article is about the television series. For the reggae song, see Chaka Demus. Murder, She Wrote The end of the original opening title sequence. Format Murder mystery, Procedural drama …   Wikipedia

  • Dial M for Murder — theatrical release poster by Bill Gold Directed by Alfred Hitchcock …   Wikipedia

  • Pulp Fiction — This article is about the Quentin Tarantino film. For the film s soundtrack, see Pulp Fiction (soundtrack). For the fiction magazine genre, see Pulp magazine. For other uses, see Pulp Fiction (disambiguation). Pulp Fiction …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”