Kurt Hunter, Special Agent in Charge of Biscayne National Park in my Backwater series is a thinking man. In truth he thinks a lot about the things I think about, but I don’t have the opportunity to solve crimes using them. I’ve used and written about The Razor Laws and The Overton Principle in several previous books and posts and may even have touched on undiscovery.
To discover is to find something. Historically it may be best known during the … Age of Discovery. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries we realized that the unknown outnumbered the known. Over several centuries the map quickly filled in as explorers sought new lands in every corner of the globe. There were some South Pacific islands that remained “undiscovered” but the major landmasses all had names and flags flying over them.
There was one suspected landmass that eluded the explorers. Mapmakers theorized that there had to be a large enough landmass in the southern hemisphere to counteract the size of the landmasses in the Northern hemisphere. The task fell to Captain James Cook
Almost half the globe was a mystery before James Cookbegan his voyages. By the time he was finished, it was clear that there were no large landmasses left to be discovered on the planet. He proved that the legendary southern continent, terra australis, did not exist and showed that there was no practical Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Cook also discovered Hawaii, New Caledonia, and many other remote islands. He was the first recorded individual to travel below the Antarctic Circle. His voyages made major contributions to science, especially botany, and helped establish good nutrition as the way to prevent scurvy.
By proving what didn’t exist he completed the map of the world.
In solving crimes, Kurt’s main tool is discovery. Using evidence, he pieces together motives, means, and opportunity in order to solve a case.
But what happens when the evidence doesn’t point in a particular direction?
A body should provide clues as to the cause of death, though some areas are vague. In Backwater Connection one of the main themes is drug overdoses and whether they should be classified as accidental deaths, suicide, or poisoning. The only way Kurt can find the answer is by undiscovery and removing the two that don’t fit the situation.