wolfierOk. For the sake of others still on this thread, this is my RECAP, i.e. no new question. Correct if you find anything missing or wrong.
This is all fundamentally correct, just a few bits to clear up and a few hints which may help. Thank you for taking the time to write this recap.
Joel and George, both are writers, used to be friends. At that time, George was not a writer, and OTRT-ishly a "detective".
The 'ish' is a big 'ish' and 'detective' may mislead.Sometime in the past, Joel committed a crime (not victimless). He killed a person (although it is not established yet whether it is the same crime that's being referred to).
It is Another person also died, of disease. George was somehow involved in that crime but he did not take part in it.
George was involved as part of his former profession.George became an author, who wrote a novel involving a crime, with characters based on these 2 dead persons and Joel. George is famous writer, he got famous yopishly for Joel's work.
The 'yope' derives from the fact he used Joel as the basis for his character - this should be explored.At one point Joel read the book George wrote, recognised himself and the crime he committed in the book, thus George became an enemy of Joel, this forms the motive of why Joel killed George, out of hatred. However, George did not know what Joel did (it is not established what George did not know, but so far it points to Joel's other murder.
George knew about Joel's first murder. The person who was killed by Joel died in real life and was also in the novel)
George visited Joel's house, was poisoned by Joel through a spike in his drink. George was also drunk at some point in Joel's house.
This is the same event - all that is relevant here is that George was killed by a slow-acting poison in his wine. George (who did not realise he was dying) got back home and died sometime later due to the slow-acting poison. Joel was killed by blunt force a short while after George had left, by someone who had access to his place. Joel's killer was present when George was in Joel's house but only yopishly present when George was poisoned. The motive of this murder is somewhat related to love, and George's visit confirmed a suspicion that the Joel's killer had, thus the decision to kill Joel. Joel knew his murderer, who is HAF (although HAM probably works). This murderer was not romantically related to Joel, but it is something worth exploring. This murderer is not present in the novel and did not read the novel. This murderer is closely related to the person who died of disease. Joel did something to this person (but it was not a crime).
If the book were not written, neither George nor Joel would be killed.
Joel would possibly still be killed.Elliott the police detective read the main body of the novel and figured out what happened. He knew neither Joel nor George personally. Elliott did not deduce it based on what George said about the novel, nor did he handle the crime depicted in the novel.
I had to add a question here: did what Joel did to the person who died of disease, although not a crime, caused the disease?
Yes! Was a misunderstanding involved around this by Joel's killer?
NotreborIs the reason for George's visit to Joel's place relevant?
Yes Was he there to apprehend Joel?
No Was George involved in the investigation of Joel's previous murder? Was he involved in the legal part of it? Was George a lawyer? If so, was he Joel's defence? The prosecutor? Had Joel previously gone on trial? Was George a member of the jury? Was he the judge? Was George a reporter covering the case? Had Joel previously been tried for murder? And found not guilty? Guilty? Been acquitted?
No to these Is George's book a sort of fictionalized true crime thing? ("If I Did It", or something like that?)
Not really - no one apart from Joel and George are aware of Joel's involvement in it.Is Joel's murderer the widow of the person who died of disease?
No but very much OTRT A blood relative?
Yes Is the exact disease relevant?
Yes Did Joel's first murder victim have something to do with the disease?
No With the treatment of the person who had it?
No With funding (for research, etc.)?
No Insurance?
No Were they a doctor? Nurse? Another health care worker?
Who is 'they'?