Policing the Monstrous

Ashley Szanter is an adjunct instructor of English at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Her research focuses on monsters, monstrosity, popular culture, and media studies.

“This pioneering collection sheds new light on what happens when television’s familiar crime procedural lures us down a dark alley resistant to ordered understanding. Wielding an impressive array of critical approaches, Policing the Monstrous traces the shifting paradox of logical crime solving and elements of myth, magic, and the supernatural often embedded in the crime. As screens continue to showcase the “Stranger Things” happening across “Lovecraft Country,” this useful volume investigates a hybrid television genre that subverts convention to pose profound questions of moral ballast and human failing.”—Christine A. Jackson, professor emeritus, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, author of The Tell-Tale Art: Poe in Modern Popular Culture

• Table of ContentsIntroduction: Following the Eerie, Formulaic Steps of the Supernatural Crime ProceduralAshley SzanterDeceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate: ­Post-Structuralism and the Staggered Retirement of Fox MulderAdam James SmithThe Owls Are Not What They Seem: Uncanny Doubles in Twin PeaksMark YatesSherlock Holmes: The Intersection of Magic and Science in Crime DetectionMichelle D. MirandaPlaying Detective: Gothic Perspectives and Police Procedurals in the CW’s SupernaturalMary GoingEvil Is a Metaphysical Condition: Undead Melodrama, AIDS and the Crime ProceduralTeresa ­Cutler-BroylesThe ­Hard-Boiled Detective Gone Soft: Moonlight, Vampire Noir and the Detective in Search of HimselfSimon BaconTrue Resonance: The Intersection of the Noosphere, Spirituality and the Supernatural in True Detective—SeasonPhil FitzsimmonsPushing Daisies, Forensic Fairy Tales and Supernatural Crime ProceduralsScott Rogers“Magic’s a nasty game”: John Constantine as the Trickster DetectiveShawn EdreiRunnin’ with the Devil: The Procedurals from HellCynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van RiperAmateur Hour: Professional Competency in Supernatural Crime ProceduralsLynn KozakAbout the ContributorsIndex