Editing Whodunit (section)

==History==
According to [[mwod:whodunit|Merriam-Webster Dictionary]], the term "WhoDunIt" was coined by [https://books.google.com/books?id=h3okAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22news+of+books%22+donald+gordon&pg=PA165 ''News of Books''] reviewer Donald Gordon in 1930, in his review of the detective novel ''Half-Mast Murder'' written by [[Milward Kennedy]].  Journalist Wolfe Kaufman claimed that he coined the word "whodunit" around 1935 while working for ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine.<ref name=1946wolfe>{{cite news|last=Kaufman|first=Wolfe|title=Bits of Literary Slang|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gRoaAAAAIBAJ&pg=3821%2C4432702|access-date=April 27, 2013|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=June 10, 1946}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> However, an editor of the magazine, [[Abel Green]], attributed it to his predecessor, [[Sime Silverman]].<ref name=1985words>{{cite news|last=Morris|first=William & Mary|title=Words... Wit... Wisdom|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oj9PAAAAIBAJ&pg=5656%2C3661243|access-date=April 27, 2013|newspaper=Toledo Blade|date=Jun 3, 1985}}</ref> The earliest appearance of the word "whodunit" in ''Variety'' occurs in the edition of August 28, 1934, in reference to a film adaptation of the play ''[[Recipe for Murder (play)|Recipe for Murder]],'' as featured in the headline, "U's Whodunit: Universal is shooting 'Recipe for Murder,' [[Arnold Ridley]]'s play".<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |title=U's Whodunit: Universal is shooting 'Recipe for Murder,' Arnold Ridley's play|date=August 28, 1934 |url=http://www.varietyultimate.com/search?search=whodunit&searchType=&startYear=1906&endYear=2013&searchDate=8%2F28%2F1934 |page=19}}</ref> The film was eventually titled [[Blind Justice (1934 film)|''Blind Justice'']].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/blind-justice-v85351|title=Blind Justice (1934) - Bernard Vorhaus &#124; Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related &#124; AllMovie|via=www.allmovie.com}}</ref>

The "whodunit" flourished during the so-called "[[Golden Age of Detective Fiction]]", between the [[World War I|First]] and [[World War II|Second World Wars]],<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Crime Fiction|last=Scaggs|first=John |publisher=Psychology Press|year=2005|isbn=0415318254|location=New York|page=35}}</ref> when it was the predominant mode of crime writing. Many of the best-known writers of whodunits in this period were [[United Kingdom|British]] – notably [[Agatha Christie]], [[Nicholas Blake]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Christianna Brand]], [[Edmund Crispin]], [[J. I. M. Stewart|Michael Innes]], [[Dorothy L. Sayers]], [[Gladys Mitchell]] and [[Josephine Tey]]. Others – [[S. S. Van Dine]], [[John Dickson Carr]] and [[Ellery Queen]] – were American, but imitated the "British" style. Still others, such as [[Rex Stout]], [[Clayton Rawson]] and [[Earl Derr Biggers]], attempted a more "American" style. During the Golden Age, the genre was dominated by female authors.<ref name=":4" /> In addition to Christie, Brand, Sayers, Mitchell, and Tey, major writers also included [[Margery Allingham]] and [[Ngaio Marsh]].<ref name=":4" /> 

Over time, certain conventions and [[clichés]] developed which limited surprise on the part of the reader – vis-à-vis details of the plot – the identity of the murderer. Several authors excelled, after successfully misleading their readers, in revealing an unlikely suspect as the real villain of the story. They often had a predilection for certain casts of characters and settings, with the secluded [[English country house]] at the top of the list.

One reaction to the conventionality of British murder mysteries was American "[[hardboiled|hard-boiled]]" crime fiction, epitomized by the writings of [[Raymond Chandler]], [[Dashiell Hammett]] and [[Mickey Spillane]], among others. Though the settings were grittier, the violence more abundant and the style more colloquial, plots were, as often as not, whodunits constructed in much the same way as the "[[cozy mystery|cozier]]" British mysteries.