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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44751
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44751
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

> Victim and suspect are both unknown and unrelated to my protagonist.

It's because of this that the answer is maybe.

Sometimes a prologue (not Chapter 1) with unrelated characters helps set the tone of the book. The reader knows in the back of her/his head "this is a crime novel" (or mystery, or detective, whatever it is). Then, when the protagonist's life intersects with the murder, it won't come out of the blue.

An example of this type of foreshadowing comes from _Game of Thrones_, the first novel in the Song of Ice and Fire series. The prologue is about 3 men who encounter monsters in the forest. Two die horribly and one escapes.

Then the book turns to the everyday life of the Stark family. Chapter one includes the punishment of the aforementioned survivor for deserting his post (but as an uncommon event, not as unordinary). The characters don't know why he did it, but the reader does, though we don't understand it yet. But really, it's about normal life, the give and take of the characters. The 3 men from the prologue aren't important.

This sets the book up as fantasy with a horror element. We learn straight off that something terrible is lurking and dangerous, even many miles away. But we don't dwell on it. In fact, by the time it comes up again—much much later—we have already forgotten it. Learning about it anew reawakens our memory and the insider knowledge we have allows us to look at the characters a different way. We know it's real. We know it's important. They don't.

Prologues can serve another purpose. They allow the novel to break free of the usual point of view character(s) to show something that character/narrator could never know. Information that is hidden from the MC. In my own novel, I have a prologue about the childhood of the MC's grandmother. While the family knows the outline of what happened to her, she never talks about it. I use the prologue not just to tell her story but to inform the reader of the history all the characters deal with on some level.

I've seen novels like what you describe: They start with a murder or other crime/significant even then turn to unrelated characters. Later—sometimes much later—the crime becomes important.

This can work well if done carefully. If it's there just to be a hook, forget it. But if it's to help frame the story, then it can be useful.

Original score: 1