Patron Saints of Nothing is a skewed murder mystery that deconstructs the elements and expectations of the traditional murder mystery as part of Jay’s education in the real world, which does not always make sense and cannot be tidily solved into reassuring clarity.

When Jay first learns about his cousin’s death, he is intrigued by his father’s refusal to clarify the circumstances of the sudden death of the 17-year-old. The mystery hits Jay hard—like a “heavy, oversized bolt lodged in my center that I have no idea how to remove” (17)—and his determination to fly halfway across the world is largely driven by his need to solve the mystery. In video games and other fiction, there must be villains and heroes. Jay goes to the Philippines in the role of self-appointed detective. He is certain that given sufficient data, Jun’s death can be solved, the mystery can be coaxed into solution. When Jay discovers that Jun’s letters are missing during his first night at his uncle’s house, Jun’s death seems to suddenly become some elaborate drawing room murder mystery.

Jay just wants answers. Indeed, traditional detective narratives offer exactly that sort of reassuring movement to closure. Detective stories exist in a tidy artificial world where clues can be confusing, even misleading, but the detective ultimately gathers sufficient evidence to solve the mystery and identify the killer.