In “The Crazy Woman and the Tale of the Crime”, the combination of Piglia’s unconventional take on crime fiction alongside the implementation of Borges’ rules allows readers to better understand the influence that the totalitarian government had on the media in late ‘70s and early ‘80s Argentina. First, though he includes seven main characters as opposed to the recommended six, they each provide a clear contribution to the plot and are distinct enough to stand out from other characters (though I found myself confusing Rinaldi and Renzi at times!). As per rule B, Piglia establishes the circumstances of the crime before introducing our protagonist⁠, who then goes on to confront the state-imposed limits on the press at the time. There is no typical reveal in the conclusion, since the victim and the murderer are introduced even before we meet Renzi, who fills the role of the detective, and the focus of the story is not on apprehending the true murderer but rather on the percepticide Renzi experiences. In this way we can see Piglia following Borges’ rule C by having the police play the villain, which is much more thematically fitting. The subsequent two rules⁠—prioritizing plot advancement over character development and minimizing death⁠—are also applied. Because the focus is on the interaction between journalists and the state, who tries to suppress the truth when it isn’t in their favour; instead of being on the investigation of the murder itself, our attention is drawn towards the Argentine government censorship and repression. Though it doesn’t focus specifically on how the murder happened or the intentions behind it, the story is still very plot-driven, managing to lay out a complex plot in just five pages without relying too heavily on any sort of gore. Finally, the resolution is complex and unique while remaining consistent and plausible within the story. Altogether, the incorporation of Borges’ rules in this unorthodox story provides us with better insight into Argentine society in that era.