Editing Detective fiction (section)

== Subgenres ==

===Hardboiled===
{{Main|Hardboiled fiction}}

Martin Hewitt, created by British author [[Arthur Morrison]] in 1894, is one of the first examples of the modern style of fictional [[private detective]]. This character is described as an "'[[Everyman]]' detective meant to challenge the detective-as-superman that Holmes represented."<ref name="google2005">Rzepka, Charles J. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=iYq7D2VCmc0C ''Detective Fiction'']. Polity. {{ISBN|978-0745629421}}.</ref>

By the late 1920s, [[Al Capone]] and the [[American Mafia|American mafia]] inspired not only fear, but piqued mainstream curiosity about the American [[Organized crime|criminal underworld]]. Popular [[pulp fiction magazine]]s like ''[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]'' capitalized on this, as authors such as [[Carroll John Daly|Carrol John Daly]] published violent stories that focused on the mayhem and injustice surrounding the criminals, not the circumstances behind the crime. Very often, no actual mystery even existed: the books simply revolved around justice being served to those who deserved harsh treatment, which was described in explicit detail."<ref name="NDHB" /> The overall theme these writers portrayed reflected "the changing face of America itself."<ref name="google2005" />

In the 1930s, the private eye genre was adopted wholeheartedly by American writers. One of the primary contributors to this style was [[Dashiell Hammett]] with his famous private investigator character, [[Sam Spade]].<ref name="autogenerated2006">Messent, P. (2006). ''Introduction: From private eye to police procedural – the logic of contemporary crime fiction''</ref> His style of crime fiction came to be known as "[[hardboiled]]", a genre that "usually deals with criminal activity in a modern urban environment, a world of disconnected signs and anonymous strangers."<ref name="autogenerated2006" /> "Told in stark and sometimes elegant language through the unemotional eyes of new hero-detectives, these stories were an American phenomenon."<ref name="NDHB" />

In the late 1930s, [[Raymond Chandler]] updated the form with his private detective [[Philip Marlowe]], who brought a more intimate voice to the detective than the more distanced "operative's report" style of Hammett's [[The Continental Op|Continental Op]] stories.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beal |first1=Wesley |title=Philip Marlowe, Family Man |journal=College Literature |date=2014 |volume=2014 |issue=2 |pages=11–28 |doi=10.1353/lit.2014.0021 }}</ref> Chandler's stories were noted for their evokations of the American criminal underworld, including dark alleys and tough thugs, rich women and powerful men. Several feature and television movies have been made about the Philip Marlowe character. [[James Hadley Chase]] wrote a few novels with private eyes as the main heroes, including ''Blonde's Requiem'' (1945), ''Lay Her Among the Lilies'' (1950), and ''Figure It Out for Yourself'' (1950). The heroes of these novels are typical private eyes, very similar to or [[Plagiarism|plagiarizing]] Raymond Chandler's work.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pristed |first1=Birgitte Beck |title=Glasnost Noire: The Soviet and Post-Soviet Publication and Reception of James Hadley Chase |journal=Book History |date=2013 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=329–363 |doi=10.1353/bh.2013.0000 |s2cid=162401996 }}</ref>

[[Ross Macdonald]], pseudonym of [[Kenneth Millar]], updated the form again with his detective [[Lew Archer]]. Archer, like Hammett's fictional heroes, was a camera eye, with hardly any known past. "Turn Archer sideways, and he disappears," one reviewer wrote. Critics praised Macdonald's use of psychology and his prose, which was full of [[imagery]]. Like other 'hardboiled' writers, Macdonald aimed to give an impression of [[Literary realism|realism]] in his work through violence, sex and confrontation. The 1966 movie ''[[Harper (film)|Harper]]'' starring [[Paul Newman]] was based on the first Lew Archer story ''[[The Moving Target]]'' (1949). Newman reprised the role in ''[[The Drowning Pool]]'' in 1976.

[[Michael Collins (American author)|Michael Collins]], pseudonym of Dennis Lynds, is generally considered the author who led the form into the Modern Age. Like Hammett, Chandler, and Macdonald, Collins' protagonist was a private investigator,  Dan Fortune. However, Collins stories also involved an element of [[Sociology|sociological]] reflection, exploring the meaning of his characters' places in society and the impact society had on people. Full of commentary and clipped prose, his books were more intimate than those of his predecessors, dramatizing that crime can happen in one's own living room.

The "hardboiled" novel was a male-dominated field in which female authors seldom found publication until [[Marcia Muller]], [[Sara Paretsky]], and [[Sue Grafton]] were finally published in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Each author's detective, also female, was brainy and physical and could hold her own.<ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Nora|first=Martin|title="In the business of believing women's stories": Feminism through detective fiction (Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton)|date=1996|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University|url=http://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/3/|language=en|access-date=2011-10-04|archive-date=2012-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425045619/http://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/3/|url-status=live}}</ref> Their acceptance, and success, caused publishers to seek out other female authors.

=== Inverted ===
{{Main|Inverted detective story}}

An [[inverted detective story]], also known as a "'''howcatchem'''", is a [[murder]] [[mystery fiction]] structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning,<ref name=":0" /> usually including the identity of the perpetrator.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of literary themes and motifs|date=1988|publisher=Greenwood Press|others=Seigneuret, Jean-Charles.|isbn=978-0313263965|location=New York|oclc=15696167|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflite01seig}}</ref> The story then describes the detective's attempt to solve the mystery. There may also be subsidiary puzzles, such as why the crime was committed, and they are explained or resolved during the story. This format is the inversion of the more typical "[[whodunit]]", in which the perpetrator of the crime is not revealed until the story's climax.

===Police procedural===
{{Main|Police procedural}}

Many detective stories have [[police]] officers as the main characters. These stories may take a variety of forms, but many authors try to realistically depict the routine activities of a group of police officers who are frequently working on more than one case simultaneously. Some of these stories are whodunits; in others, the criminal is well known, and the detective must gather enough evidence to charge them with the crime.

In the 1940s the [[police procedural]] evolved as a new style of detective fiction. Unlike the heroes of Christie, Chandler, and Spillane, the police detective was subject to error and was constrained by rules and regulations. As Gary Huasladen writes in ''Places for Dead Bodies'', "not all the clients were insatiable [[Bombshell (slang)|bombshells]], and invariably there was life outside the job." The detective in the police procedural does the things police officers do to catch a criminal. Prominent writers in the genre include [[Ed McBain]], [[P. D. James]], and [[Bartholomew Gill]].<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://libguides.enc.edu/mysteryfiction/genres|title=LibGuides: Mystery Fiction and Film: Genres of Mystery and Crime Fiction|last=Hwang|first=Amy|website=libguides.enc.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-03-19|archive-date=2018-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320110032/http://libguides.enc.edu/mysteryfiction/genres|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Historical mystery===
[[File:Apteeker Melchior - 1 - Autor Robert Lang - 2728.jpg|thumb|Estonian writer [[Indrek Hargla]] is known for his [[Apothecary Melchior series|''Melchior the Apothecary'' series]], which takes place in medieval [[Tallinn]] and has also been adapted into films]]
{{Main|Historical mystery}}

[[Historical mystery]] is set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves the solving of a mystery or crime (usually murder). Though works combining these genres have existed since at least the early 20th century, many credit [[Ellis Peters]]'s ''[[The Cadfael Chronicles|Cadfael Chronicles]]'' (1977–1994) for popularizing what would become known as the historical mystery.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704804204575069371115999474|title=Historical Mystery Novels|last=Rivkin|first=David B. Jr.|date=2010-02-27|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2018-03-19|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=2018-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320171125/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704804204575069371115999474|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/43024-mysteries-of-history.html|title=Mysteries of History|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2018-03-19|language=en|archive-date=2020-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125143854/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/43024-mysteries-of-history.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

A variation on this is [[Josephine Tey]]'s ''[[The Daughter of Time]]''. In it, Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant—who considers himself a good judge of faces—is surprised to find that what he considers to be the portrait of a sensitive man is in reality a portrait of [[Richard III of England|Richard III]], who murdered his brother's children in order to become king. The story details his attempt to get to the historical truth of whether Richard III is the villain he has been made out to be by history. The novel was awarded the top spot in the Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time by the UK Crime Writers' Association<ref>{{cite web |title=Book awards: Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time - UK Crime Writers' Association |url=http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Top+100+Crime+Novels+of+All+Time+-+UK+Crime+Writers%27+Association |website=LibraryThing |access-date=2021-02-01 |archive-date=2021-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206114937/http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Top+100+Crime+Novels+of+All+Time+-+UK+Crime+Writers%27+Association |url-status=live }}</ref> and the number 4 spot in The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time Mystery Writers of America<ref>{{cite web |title=The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time Mystery Writers of America. |url=http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/The+Top+100+Mystery+Novels+of+All+Time+Mystery+Writers+of+America |website=LibraryThing |access-date=2021-02-01 |archive-date=2020-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220035429/http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/The+Top+100+Mystery+Novels+of+All+Time+Mystery+Writers+of+America |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Cozy mystery===
{{Main|Cozy mystery}}

Cozy mystery began in the late 20th century as a reinvention of the [[Golden Age of Detective Fiction|Golden Age]] whodunit; these novels generally shy away from violence and suspense and frequently feature female amateur detectives. Modern cozy mysteries are frequently, though not necessarily, humorous and thematic . Variations of the subgenre include culinary mystery, animal mystery, and quilting mystery, among others.

Cozy mysteries feature minimal violence, sex, and social relevance; a solution achieved by intellect or intuition rather than police procedure, with order restored in the end; honorable characters; and a setting in a closed community. Writers include [[Agatha Christie]], [[Dorothy L. Sayers]], and [[Elizabeth Daly]].<ref name=":0" />

===Serial killer mystery===
[[Serial killer]] mystery might be thought of as a variation of the police procedural. There are early mystery novels in which a police force attempts to contend with the type of criminal known in the 1920s as a homicidal maniac, such as a few of the early novels of [[Philip Macdonald]] and [[Ellery Queen]]'s ''[[Cat of Many Tails]]''. However, this sort of story became much more popular after the coining of the phrase "serial killer" in the 1970s and the publication of ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (novel)|The Silence of the Lambs]]'' in 1988. These stories frequently show the activities of many members of a police force or government agency in their efforts to apprehend a killer who is selecting victims on some obscure basis. They are also often much more violent and suspenseful than other mysteries.

===Legal thriller===
{{Main|Legal thriller}}

The legal thriller, or courtroom novel, is also related to detective fiction. The system of justice itself is always a major part of these works, at times almost functioning as one of the characters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sauerberg |first1=Lars Ole |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-40730-6_1 |title=The legal thriller from Gardner to Grisham : see you in court! |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-137-40730-6 |location=London |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-40730-6_1 |access-date=}}</ref> In this way, the legal system provides the framework for the legal thriller as much as the system of modern police work does for the [[police procedural]]. The legal thriller usually begins with the court proceedings following the closure of an investigation, often resulting in a new angle on the investigation, so as to bring about an outcome different from the one originally devised by the investigators. In the legal thriller, court proceedings play a very active, if not to say decisive part in a case reaching its ultimate solution. [[Erle Stanley Gardner]] popularized the courtroom novel in the 20th century with his [[Perry Mason]] series. Contemporary authors of legal thrillers include [[Michael Connelly]], [[Linda Fairstein]], [[John Grisham]], [[John Lescroart]], [[Paul Levine]], [[Lisa Scottoline]], and [[Scott Turow]].

===Locked room mystery===
{{Main|Locked room mystery}}

The locked room mystery is a subgenre of detective fiction in which a [[crime]]—almost always [[murder]]—is committed under circumstances which it was seemingly impossible for the perpetrator to commit the crime and/or evade detection in the course of getting in and out of the crime scene. The genre was established in the 19th century. [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s "[[The Murders in the Rue Morgue]]" (1841) is considered the first locked-room mystery; since then, other authors have used the scheme. The crime in question typically involves a [[crime scene]] with no indication as to how the intruder could have entered or left, i.e., a locked room. Following other conventions of classic detective fiction, the reader is normally presented with the puzzle and all of the [[Evidence|clues]], and is encouraged to solve the mystery before the solution is revealed in a dramatic [[Climax (narrative)|climax]].

===Occult===
{{Main|Occult detective fiction}}

Occult detective fiction is a subgenre of detective fiction that combines the [[trope (literature)|tropes]] of detective fiction with those of [[supernatural fiction|supernatural]] [[horror fiction]].  Unlike the traditional [[detective]], the [[occult]] detective is employed in cases involving [[ghost]]s, [[demon]]s, [[curse]]s, [[Magic in fiction|magic]], [[monster]]s and other [[supernatural]] elements. Some occult detectives are portrayed as knowing magic or being themselves psychic or in possession of other paranormal powers.

==='Whodunit'===
{{Main|Whodunit|}}

A '''''whodunit''''' or '''''whodunnit''''' (a colloquial elision of "Who [has] done it?" or "Who did it?") is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the audience is given the opportunity to engage in the same process of deduction as the protagonist throughout the investigation of a crime. The reader or viewer is provided with the clues from which the identity of the perpetrator may be deduced before the story provides the revelation itself at its [[Climax (narrative)|climax]]. The "whodunit" flourished during the so-called "[[Golden Age of Detective Fiction|Golden Age]]" of detective fiction, between 1920 and 1950, when it was the predominant mode of crime writing.