S is rich with
options for today’s post. I rejected sleuth
because I already detailed sleuths
on D-Day (the other D-Day). I also felt I had covered suspect enough in previous posts.
Suicide-by-cop
remained a possibility right up to the writing of this post. There are two
kinds of suicide-by-cop: the one you probably think of (a suspect who
draws/appears to draw a weapon on the police so they will kill him) and the
scenario of the police officer who kills himself. Since I recently wrote this post on suicide-by-cop, I decided not to take it on again so soon.
That left me with the two options in the title.
Sidekicks are
really important in certain subgenre mysteries. But even if not intimately
involved, almost all mystery and crime fiction has a sidekick, a counterpoint character necessary to the crime solving
or involving.
The sidekick
character (or sometimes characters) allows the sleuth to discuss the crime,
tries to hold the sleuth back from rash actions, and sometimes is the reason
the sleuth is involved at all.
We all know our sleuths strengths and limitations. We
designed them as specific personalities. When designing sidekicks for my culinary mystery series, I made a list of
personality traits and quirks and aspects for my detective. Then, next to each
I listed an opposite trait, when possible. That list of opposites is what I
mine when creating counterpoint characters, sidekicks, for my heroine, Alli.
The main sidekick
for all the books in the series is Gina, best friend since elementary
I also use other minor sidekicks
to illustrate other aspects, good and bad, of my detective’s personality. Alli
has a police officer on-again, off-again boyfriend. She makes friends with an
investigative reporter. She colludes with Gina’s mother and best friend behind
Gina’s back. Sidekicks allow for the
flawed detective to succeed.
I see my sidekicks
as completing the detective. They mesh, each satisfying things missing in the
other. Together the sidekick and
detective are better than each alone.
Subpoena is both
a noun and a verb. It is a writ (formal written command) ordering
someone/something to court or it summons someone/something to court. You can
get a subpoena or be subpoenaed. The term comes from Latin sub
poena which means “under penalty.”
The “b” is silent, and the “oe” is pronounced like the long
e in “keep”--suhpeenuh. Don’t ask me
why as I have no clue. In other sub-
words, the “b” is voiced.
A subpoena is
used to get someone to court to testify or it is used to compel evidence be
produced. The most common types of subpoenas
are subpoena
ad testificandum and subpoena
duces tecum. The first orders a person to testify or be punished. The
second requires physical evidence be produced or be punished.
Subpoenas are
issued by a clerk of the court (my son is currently clerking, so I know that
doesn’t mean a secretary) in the name of the judge. Court rules may also allow
attorneys, as officers of the court, to issue subpoenas to compel testimony. You’ve seen the scene dozens of
times: A process server posing as a floral delivery guy asks, “Are you Joe
Schmoe?” At the yes response, the delivery guy hands him the subpoena, not flowers, and says,
“You’ve been served.”
What is Frieda’s response to Mort’s bombshell?
She breathed a sigh of relief. There would
be no degradation. There was no “other woman”. She hadn’t expected of herself
that she would want to hold onto Mort. In fact, she thought of him so rarely
that she was frankly surprised she even wanted to figure out what was causing his
defection at this late stage. But at least she wouldn’t be humiliated by a replacement
woman one-third her age. Still, she had her image to consider. She willed her
fingers to relax and cradled one hand in the palm of the other as she considered
how to manage the situation. Because she would
manage this.
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