"Murder Mysteries" is a fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...

 later collected in his collection

Short story collection

A short story collection is a book of short stories by a single author, as distinguished by an anthology of fiction by more than one author. The stories in a collection can share a theme, setting, or characters and sometimes can also include work of poetry. Notable collections include Nine Stories...

 Smoke and Mirrors. The bulk of the story is an account of the first murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

 in the history of the universe, before even Cain and Abel

Cain and Abel

In the Hebrew Bible, Cain and Abel are two sons of Adam and Eve. The Qur'an mentions the story, calling them the two sons of Adam only....

, recounted in first-person hardboiled

Hardboiled

Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...

 detective fiction

Detective fiction

Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...

 style by Raguel

Raguel (angel)

Raguel is one of the seven archangels mainly of the Judaic and Islamic traditions. His name's meaning is considered to be "Friend of God".Raguel is referred to as the archangel of justice, fairness and harmony...

, the angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

 who investigated it. In a frame narrative

Frame story

A frame story is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories...

, the angel is shown to be telling the story to a young man in 20th-century Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, for reasons which escape the young man but which gradually become clear to the reader as the story progresses.

It was adapted by the author into an audio drama, which was produced by Seeing Ear Theatre in 2000, starring Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy

Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...

 and narrated by Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...

 (best known as Ben in the television series Lost

Lost (TV series)

Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

). (Gaiman and Seeing Ear Theatre went on to collaborate on an adaptation of another story, "Snow, Glass, Apples

Snow, Glass, Apples

"Snow, Glass, Apples" is a 1994 short story written by Neil Gaiman. It was originally released as a benefit book for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and was reprinted in the anthology Love in Vein II, edited by Poppy Z...

", and the two adaptations have been released together on CD under the title Two Plays for Voices

Two Plays for Voices

Two Plays for Voices is a sound recording of two of Neil Gaiman's short stories, "Snow, Glass, Apples" and "Murder Mysteries"."Snow, Glass, Apples" relates the traditional tale of Snow White from the non-traditional point of view of the Queen. In the story, no character is without their flaws,...

.)

In 2002 it was adapted into a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 by P. Craig Russell

P. Craig Russell

Philip Craig Russell , also known as P. Craig Russell, is an American comic book writer, artist, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards...

, and published by Dark Horse

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

 Books.

The depiction of the angels and their city is similar to the depiction in Gaiman's earlier The Sandman series of the Silver City

Silver City (comics)

The Silver City is a fictional location in stories published DC Universe. It is the home of beings known as Angels and of the The Presence, the primary deity of Judeo-Christian theology in the DC Universe...

 and its angelic inhabitants, but there is nothing to say that the two are the same. (Particularly in light of the fact that the subsequent comic-book adaptation of "Murder Mysteries" was published by a different company.) Also, in this story Azazel

Azazel

Azazel or Azazael or Azâzêl is a term used three times in the Hebrew scriptures, and later in Hebrew mythology as the enigmatic name of a character....

 is presented as an angel, but in Sandman it is strongly implied that Azazel is a demon who was never a fallen angel. However, the events in the story provide a rationale for Lucifer

Lucifer (DC Comics)

Lucifer is a DC Comics character that starred in an eponymous comic book published under the Vertigo imprint, whose entire run was written by Mike Carey...

's eventual revolt against the Presence. At the end of the story Lucifer leaves is dissatisfied with the justice of the conclusion.