The map and the mask.

This may be the overarching metaphor for this book.

The mask: Chambers, The King in Yellow, and True Detective ("Who Goes There?" and the unmaskings in Chambers)

The map: Lovecraft and True Detective (palimpsest)

(source: radarman.deviantart.com/art/Hastur-the-King-in-Yellow-42177576)

Back to the paper outline:

Brief review of detective fiction and tropes

The investigator in HP Lovecraft

The artist-investigator

    defined

    epistemology of investigation

Brief review of Chambers's artists as detectives

Brief review of HP Lovecraft's investigators as detectives

Aesthetics

    aesthetics of crime

    aesthetics of redemption

The artist-investigator in True Detective

After another glass of Sauvignon blanc and a few more minutes' thought, here's an improved outline:

Review of detective fiction

   gentleman-investigator/consulting detective

   gumshoe

   investigator as failed investigator/criminal

   impossibility of solving crimes/escaping criminal

Tropes

   visual metaphors

   priest/criminal/community as dominant figure

   concealment metaphors

   palimpsest metaphors

   atonement metaphors

Artist-investigator

   Chambers: artist as gumshoe

   epistemology of investigator: investigation as a way of knowing

HP Lovecraft's investigators

   artistic sensibilities

   investigators as artist types

Aesthetics

   aesthetics of crime defined

   aesthetics of redemption defined

   aesthetics of investigation -> artist-investigator

True Detective

   artist-investigator defined

   Chambers in True Detective

   HP Lovecraft in True Detective

Conclusion