F is for Frame up, or Facts or...

F is For Frame up or Facts or Fin, Fur and Fatal

Frame up is an interesting term. You frame up a picture to compliment what is contained inside the four walls of that frame—a painting or a portrait, a picture or a collage of keepsakes. But in mystery fiction when someone is framed, the frame up is to point clues, evidence, fingers and detectives to a fall guy [a person to take the hit or who the crime falls on as the perpetrator]. The fall guy is someone who is drummed up to take the heat, the persecution for whatever crime is being perpetrated.

Fin, Fur and Fatal

In Fin, Fur and Fatal, innocent animals are used to deliver a drug cartel's contraband, but that is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  Things are not as they seem. Abandoned puppies, mistreated animals destined for the slaughter house, does it matter? It does to our sleuth, but does it cover up—or—frame up something that isn't truth?

Frame ups usually deal with crime families, Mafia types, because every day people don't have the capabilities or the necessary muscle and resources to carry a frame up out realistically—perhaps—but not always.

Be on the lookout for misdirection at the hands of a clever artist who may be adept at creating the perfect frame (up) for her mystery. 

Frame up, an interesting term: Casing, structure, framework, support, agenda. Each word has its own subtle nuances or implications; all could lead you to uncover a frame up if you are alert and a true mystery buff. Do you sense a challenge here? Are you up to it?

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