Part Four

“The perfect criminal is a superman. He must be meticulous in his technique: unseen, unseeable, a Lone Wolf. He must have neither friends nor dependents. He must be careful to a fault, quick of brain, hand and foot.⁠ ⁠… But these are nothing. There have been such men.⁠ ⁠… On the other hand, he must be a favored child of Fate⁠—for circumstances over which he cannot have the remotest control must never contrive his downfall. This, I think, is more difficult to achieve.⁠ ⁠… But the last is most difficult of all. He must never repeat his crime, his weapon or his motive!⁠ ⁠… In all my twoscore years as an official of the American police I have not once encountered the perfect criminal nor investigated the perfect crime.”

From American Crime and Methods of Detection,
by Richard Queen