Editing Detective fiction (section)

==Detective Commandments==
Several authors have attempted to set forth a sort of list of “Detective Commandments” for prospective authors of the genre.

According to "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories," by [[Van Dine's Commandments|Van Dine]] in 1928: "The detective story is a kind of intellectual game. It is more—it is a sporting event. And for the writing of detective stories there are very definite laws—unwritten, perhaps, but nonetheless binding; and every respectable and self-respecting concocter of literary mysteries lives up to them. Herewith, then, is a sort of credo, based partly on the practice of all the great writers of detective stories, and partly on the promptings of the honest author's inner conscience."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/vandine.htm |title=Twenty rules for writing detective stories (1928) by S. S. Van Dine |publisher=Gaslight.mtroyal.ca |access-date=2013-02-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113070900/http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/vandine.htm |archive-date=2013-01-13 }}</ref> [[Ronald Knox]] wrote a set of ''Ten Commandments'' or ''Decalogue'' in 1929,<ref name=":4" /> see article on the [[Golden Age of Detective Fiction]].

A general consensus among crime fiction authors is there is a specific set of rules that must be applied for a novel to truly be considered part of the detective fiction genre. As noted in "Introduction to the Analysis of Crime Fiction",<ref>{{Cite book|last=Milda|first=Danytė|date=2011|title=Introduction to the analysis of crime fiction : a user-friendly guide|url=https://eltalpykla.vdu.lt/handle/1/225;jsessionid=0031AA6D5371C55A12C9211F3AD3D94E|language=en|isbn=9789955126980|publisher=Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas|access-date=2018-03-22|archive-date=2018-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322082209/https://eltalpykla.vdu.lt/handle/1/225;jsessionid=0031AA6D5371C55A12C9211F3AD3D94E|url-status=live}}</ref> crime fiction from the past 100 years has generally contained the following key rules to be a detective novel:
* A crime, most often murder, is committed early in the narrative
* There are a variety of suspects with different motives
* A central character formally or informally acts as a detective
* The detective collects evidence about the crimes and its victim
* Usually the detective interviews the suspects,  as well as the witnesses
* The detective solves the mystery and indicates the real criminal
* Usually this criminal is now arrested or otherwise punished