Dear Michael, I guess you are mixing things up. If you are interested in the basics of narratology and film, read Seymour Chatman f.e.. Screenwriting manuals are not scholarly literature and I doubt that most manual writers have ever heard the term structuralism. There are of course tons of books How to write a crime film. And there is interesting scholarly work on crime film, beyond their narrative structure, f.e. 

Leitch, Thomas. Crime Films. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002 or Thompson, Kirsten Moana. Crime Films: Investigating the Scene. London: Wallflower, 2007

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Claus Tiber, thanks :) I will certainly have a look at Chatman. Thanks for the other tips as well. I am focusing on the narrative and the plotting for now. I must take things slowly. 

The reason for mentioning the hollywood script gurus is because they propose theories on acts, set up, structure and how long each part should be. All this is rigid old fashioned stuff, I know, but really useful to someone who is trying to write something, and who might not be "a natural" writer. 

I will look into chatman. 

Thanks, Nicoletta. This is a good time to remember Eco, too. However, i always avoided him because I was afraid he would be too difficult for me. There were parts of The Name of the Rose and Fouccault's Pendulum that i found a little hard to read. I see that the obituaries in some newspapers refer to him as "the man who knew everything". 

I think Todorov's essay " The typology of detective fiction" would prove to be an interesting work to consider in this regard.  Todorov basically discusses the way genre fiction differs from other forms of literature because of its adherence to the rules of the genre. If the work transcends or expands upon those rules instead, then it will turn into literature. In other words, popular literature depends on following of structures while high art depends on defying the plots and structures. When Todorov elaborates upon whodunit, suspense and thrillers he talks about the way these works are structured. I think they might give an insight into how plots work..

Another book that takes up plots of various works and analyses those is by Peter Brooks "Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative". It gives a psycho-narratological perspective on plots.

You could also have a look in the detective film chapter in Bordwell's Narration in the fiction film

Jerry Palmer's Thrillers: Genesis and Structure of a Popular Genre, although a little old now, is a straightforward analysis of the genre conventions of the thriller. Not specifically structuralist but you may find it useful.

Following up the reference to Todorov, there is also his book The Poetics of Prose which, if I remember correctly, explores in one chapter how detective fiction reproduces many of the structural features of the Grail myth.