Abstract

The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship between the lone man, the Vice, and the Power: the contribute focus is to highlight the philosophical component and the universal implications of this conflict. The clash is set up as already lost, the truth will never be officially recognised and this inevitable outcome compromises the very statute of the detective novel. However, although aware of the defeat of reason and justice, the Vice must carry out to the extreme consequences what he perceives as a moral imperative.