Criminal investigation as a football match in the novel «Putting the boot in» by Barnes-Kavanagh

The article analyses the third detective novel by Julian Barnes «Putting the Boot In» written by him under the assumed name Dan Kavanagh. Exhibiting a postmodern game with the genre, reflected in his well-known novels, J.Barnes transforms the criminal investigation in a sports game (a football match) on the levels of content, structure and style. The novel also deviates from the formula of the classical detective because at the end of the investigation the culprit is not caught and not punished. There is no simple notion on the scale and gravity of offences, or on the extent of culpability of the characters. Parodying the genre of the American hard-boiled detective, J.Barnes continues to conceptualize harsh rules of the «fiddle city» with bitter sarcasm.