The Women's Murder Club is Born

In the beginning of 1st to Die (Patterson, 2001), the main character, Detective Lindsay Boxer asks her friends to help her to solve a serial murder case. The two friends, Claire, a medical examiner and Cindy, a reporter agree and the "Women's Murder Club" is born.

Boxer thinks to herself: "...I knew it could work. We could reassemble whatever clues came out of the official investigation, share what we had, cut through the political cover-your-ass and the bureaucracy. Three women, who would get a kick out of showing up the male orthodoxy. More important, we shared a heartfelt empathy for the victims" (p. 140).

Note the mention of sharing information,  "male orthodoxy" and "empathy for the victims." 

Later in 1st to Die (p. 174), while sipping beers at Susie's, a regular meeting place for the club (at least in the novels), Lindsay thinks to herself: "The Women's Murder Club. This was good. No men allowed."

In Chapter 73 a new member joins the club, Jill Bernhardt, assistant district attorney. Before Jill officially joins the group, Lindsay notes:

Claire had met her [Jill] a few times when she testified at trials. They had developed a mutual respect for each other rise through their male-dominated departments. (p. 278)

Note: The novel is told in first person from Lindsay's perspective.


After Jill officially joins the group she asks what is the group named.  At this point in the novel Lindsay has not voiced out loud what she has thinking -- "Women's Murder Club."

Lindsay says: "We're sort of a murder club."

Jill suggests: "The Margarita Posse."  Margaritas seem to be their favorite drink at Susie's.

Clarie suggests: "Bad-ass Bitches."

Cindy says: "One day, we're all gonna be running things... Homicide Chicks... That's who we are.  That's what we do."

Lindsay echoed this in thought: "we were bright, attractive, take-no-shit women.  We were going to run things -- some day" (p. 280).

When comparing the novels to the TV series, we don't see this talk of the "male orthodoxy" in the TV series.  I wonder why?  :)  This seems to be safe for a novel, but not TV.  What is it about TV that would not allow this sort of talk to air?

Video Games 2009: Stats and Stories

In his review of 2009 video games, Mike Snider at USA TODAY, brought up some interesting points.  These points further confirm the importance of video games as an area of study and as a form of storytelling.

• "About two-thirds of Americans now play on traditional game systems, cellphones, websites or social networking sites, according to market trackers at The NPD Group. And six out of 10 U.S. households now own at least one console system, consulting firm Deloitte says."
• "Games not only looked bigger, but they also told bigger, more complex stories. 'The storytelling got really great,' Keighley [Geoff Keighley of Spike's GameTrailers TV] says. 'Batman: Arkham Asylum and Uncharted set the high bar in terms of storytelling.'"
• "Sci-fi role-playing game Mass Effect 2 (Jan. 26, Xbox 360 and PC) has a 'very convoluted narrative with a lot of morally ambiguous choices left open, (and) no two games will play alike,' he [Scott Steinberg of DigitalTrends.com] says. 'Now that developers have the power to tell that deep, more absorbing narrative and create a sense of personalization for every player, they are going to continue to tap into that.'"

* Sources for this post at Delicious.

Patterson Writes Mysteries?

Earlier tonight I dropped by my local Barnes and Noble to see what James Patterson books they had.  I first searched the mystery section of the store, but didn't find any Patterson there.  I asked the salesperson at the information desk where I'd find Patterson's work and why.  Well, I actually knew the where.  It was in the "Literature and Fiction" section.   

It was the answer to the why-question that was more interesting.  The salesperson said the publisher decides (at least in B&N's case) what section of the store in which the book is placed.  The salesperson mentioned also just a few weeks ago the publisher told B&N to move Patterson's teen novels to the "Literature & Fiction" section. However, they moved the teen novel back because, I assume, sales went down.

What section should Patterson's Cross and WMC novels be placed?  Mystery?  Are these mysteries novels?  What is a mystery?

To be continued...

Abstract/Proposal for Paper (Draft 2)

Abstract/Proposal

Transmedia Narratology, the Mystery Novel and Video Games
by William Hart and Akeem Caffee


By means of narrative criticism this paper aims to answer the following questions: (1) How do mystery narratives change when being adapted from novels to video games? (2) How should mystery video games be designed?

The specific texts analyzed are the Women’s Murder Club series of novels written by James Patterson and the four recently released Women’s Murder Club video games (3 PC and 1 DS). In the past three years Patterson’s books have sold 170 million copies worldwide, more books than any other author. In addition, Patterson has had nineteen consecutive #1 New York Times bestselling novels. However, there is very little scholarly analysis of Patterson’s work compared to the work of Stephen King, for example.

While video games have been around since the 1970s, only in the past decade has video game studies carved out a niche of its own. Within the growing video game studies literature there is some general study of adaptation, however, there is little attention given to adaptation within specific genres. Given that the mystery genre is especially defined by “rules” for how best to construct a mystery, adaptation from a mystery novel to a mystery video game is especially challenging. Thus, a study of how Patterson’s mystery novels have been adapted to mystery video games is worthy of some attention.

The paper concludes with some theoretical insight for transmedia narratology and some practical advice on mystery video game design. Additionally the paper gives some insight on the narratology-ludology debate found in the video game studies literature.

(Note: This paper will be written over the next couple of months.)

26 Million People Play Farmville on a Daily Basis

According to software developer, Zynga, 26 million people play Farmville, the Facebook-based farm simulation game, on a daily basis. There are 65 million users total. My 2 youngest daughters are 2 of the 65 million users.

Online casual video games deserve some attention, yes?

(Gamasutra)

Legends & Legacies: James Patterson (YouTube Video)

A 4 minute + video giving some good background on James Patterson.

Call to Attention: The Call of Duty Video Games

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2According to a recent Activision press release the six video games in the Call of Duty franchises have sold over 55 million units worldwide. After you do the math that is $3 billion in retail sales worldwide.

We need some points of comparison. The Call of Duty sales do not, for example, match the total world-wide box office earnings for the 6 Star Wars films or the 6 Harry Potter films but, they are getting closer. The Call of Duty franchises does, however, surpass the 3 Pirates of the Caribbean films or the 3 The Lord of the Rings films in gross sales world-wide (see top grossing film franchises).

Also, according to the press release, the latest installment in the series, Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2, earned $550 million in world-wide sales in the first five days, "the biggest entertainment launch in history." As another point of comparison, the recent release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon only reached $338 million in world-wide sales in 8 days.* New Moon is "the third highest-grossing opening behind only The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3."
More interestingly, Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, Inc. said "If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history."

With numbers and statements like these, video games deserve some attention, yes?

An extra: A Video Review of Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2


* In fairness, New Moon was not released in all countries on the same day. However, even considering this staggered release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is at least comparable.