Q is for Questioning

 

There are rules for the police when it comes to questioning a suspect, and a suspect is entitled to legal representation while he/she is being questioned.

Joe, Sheila and Brenda, and every other sleuth in history suffer no such restrictions. They are free to ask what they want of whom they want.

This is not, however, the advantage it might at first appear. The suspect is just as free to ignore the question, and it’s fun putting this kind of obstacle in Joe’s path. It’s not difficult to get round, either. I simply put Joe alongside a police officer who insists that if the suspect doesn’t answer, then he will ask the same question, possibly under caution, and demand an answer.

It can also get Joe into quite a lot of trouble. He’s been threatened in a number of the titles, most notably The Chocolate Egg Murders. Joe may be afraid, but he is not fazed by it. He knows his friends from the Sanford 3rd Age Club will back him up when he’s in trouble.

He was also on the receiving end of it in My Deadly Valentine, when he is a suspect. I’m not about to give the game away, so I’ll say no more than that, except that, when he is suspected, he is at his most irritable, and some of his comebacks are downright insulting.

A salesman friend once told me that the best way of maintaining control in any situation is not to answer questions but ask them. It’s odd, but it seems to me that when Joe asks questions, it’s usually the signal for things to get out of control.

But as a private investigator, albeit only part time, that’s his job. It’s when he gets the answers to those questions that he finds the piece of the puzzle that don’t quite fit, and it leads him to the truth.

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