(名詞/口語) (以追查犯罪地點為主軸的) 謀殺案推理小說 (murder mystery or mystery novel) 或偵探小說 (detective story)。亦寫成 where-dunit。
顯然地,這個字是仿效 whodunit (以追查兇手為主軸的推理或偵探小說) 所創造的。事實上,英文以 wh- 做開頭的 5 個疑問代名詞 (who, what, where, when 和 why -- 亦叫做 5 W) 都已跟字尾 -dunit (= done it;這裡的 done 為 did 之誤,但用久了也就習以為常了) 構成不同類型的偵探小說,除 whodunit, wheredunit 外,還有 whatdunit (以追查殺人情節為主軸的偵探小說)、whendunit (以追查殺人時間為主軸的偵探小說) 和 whydunit (以追查殺人原因為主軸的偵探小說)。wheredunit 這個字最早出現在 1990 年,而 whodunit 可追溯到 1930 年,至於 whatdunit, whendunit 和 whydunit 首次出現的時間分別在 1948 年、大約 1957 年和大約 1947 年。
引句:
At the police station, Young-min readily and surprisingly owns up to his gruesome crimes, and Jung-ho sets out to find Mi-jin. "The Chaser" is less whodunit than wheredunit, perversely withholding the location of Young-min's home from everyone but the viewer, who gets to know Seoul's Mangwon district quite intimately as Jung-ho, his bumbling sidekick Meathead (Koo Bon-woong) and other cops run around it in infuriating circles.
—Justin Chang, "The Chaser," Daily Variety, June 9, 2008
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