Lacan reminds us that the truth is on the surface, and so to pay attention to "superficial forms." This applies in detective fiction as it is a trivial detail that allows the crime to be solved. Rushing also points out "the stain of the real": that thing that is out of place, that thing that indicates that "all is not well with the world."
Rushing also argues that addiction is a "trope in classic detective fiction." Sherlock Holmes and his famous seven-percent solution. But also the reader: the reader is addicted to the books because just as the junkie can predict the path of his high, the detective fiction reader can predict the arc of the story.
I found Resisting Arrest fascinating. It is a bit academic and used psychoanalytic jargon that required me to keep a list of words to look up on the internet, but the style is not dry. Then again, I am a long-time fan of the genre and — not ashamed to admit -- addicted to reading and watching mysteries. And because I am also a fiction writer, it was interesting to study the novel structure from the perspective of psychoanalysis.
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