Snapshot!

As I was reading the first few pages of the novel I came to the actual scene of the crime that is described in great detail. I thought that it would be necessary to pay attention to all the small details that are mentioned because in mysteries sometimes the small clues end up being the big picture. Although this passage seemed to be very important to the book, it also stuck out a lot because the detail of the scene was so intense that it actually forced me to read closely and see if maybe even I noticed anything in the scene that was different. Because the situation and the plot is still developing it’s almost impossible to see any significant clues, but more or less they all could be significant.

In the beginning of the novel the crime scene of the mysterious murder of Emanuel Lasker is almost taken as a snapshot in the mind of Meyer Landsman. As the scene is describes in great detail, Landsman seems to take every bit of the scene in so he might understand what has happened a little better. I found it very interesting how detailed the crime scene was and how Landsman noticed every little detail that is odd about the situation. As the murder is depicted, so far the only thing I know as the reader is that this was definitely a murder set up as a suicide, and there is no sign as to who has done it. I think that this passage about the crime scene will end up being very important because most cases I usually hear of have to do with all of the clues found on the scene. Landsman notices little details that do not seem to be of any significance such as a chess board which seemed to be in the middle of a game, the arrangement of burnt out light bulbs, the window opened only an inch.
These small details might not seem like much but may be important in the end.

As I read further in the book this scene seems to be even more significant because Landsman keeps going back to the scene a progressively finding more clues that are probably more worthwhile that the ones he had originally found. In the following chapters Landsman approaches and investigates the scene again finding a couple of books inside the bedside table of the room and also a small black box called “tefillin” which usually has small parchment of Jewish scriptures and Lasker’s had none. The book that Landsman find are probably going to play an active part in the rest of the novel because he pays close attention to this book about chess because in his mind the set up chess board seemed to be of significance. One of the other detective finds this tefillin which is usually wrapped around the head and arms in a special pattern with a small box dangles from the part wrapped around the head. They figured out since nothing is in the box that wrappings were used to dilate the vein in his arm.

Every time Landsman goes back to the crime scene there is always something new that is found so I think that this scene from the very start of the novel will progressively become more and more important.