PrepTest 101, Section 4, Question 6
Wherever the crime novels of P. D. James(445 more words not shown)
It can be inferred from(13 more words not shown)
- Aconcern for the(6 more words not shown)
- Btransparent devices to(3 more words not shown)
- Cthe attribution of(4 more words not shown)
- Dthe straightforward assignment(5 more words not shown)
- Eattention to the(5 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The question asks about traditional detective fiction. Keep that separate from the descriptions of James's work: much of the discussion explains how her interests and methods depart from the usual detective story.
What we’re looking for
My first thought is attention to the crime itself—laying out the clues and developing the plot so we can follow the solution. Let's see which answer we can support as a feature of the tradition, rather than something attributed specifically to James.
Working the answers
- A
Characters' weaknesses and doubts are James's increasing focus. Paragraph 3 contrasts that focus with the “specifics of detection,” so this gives us the wrong side of the comparison.
- B
Obvious devices for moving the story along are a criticism of James's plotting. They aren't presented as a characteristic of traditional detective fiction.
- C
Intuitive crime-solving is another complaint about James: we sometimes can't see how her detective reached the truth. That doesn't establish how the tradition generally works.
- DCorrect
The last paragraph gives us a more specific feature than our initial prediction. James leaves ambiguity and distributes guilt among “the murderer, victim, and bystanders”; this rebels against the genre's “traditional neatness.” If distributing guilt is a departure, a more straightforward assignment of responsibility fits the tradition. The contrast supplies the inference.
- E
Morality and responsibility are among the abstract concerns associated with James's books. Their presence in her work doesn't make them a defining feature of the traditional detective story.
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