Essay on Detective Novel
UNIT-V
DETECTIVE NOVEL
A novel or short story
in which the plot is based on the solution, by a detective, of the mystery
surrounding a crime that has been committed.
1. Introduction
Detective Novel is a
story in which the principal action and focus of interest is the investigation
of a crime by a detective figure, either professional or amateur. The emphasis
in these stories lies upon the actions of a crime's perpetrator or victim.
Conventionally, the crime
should be an especially baffling case. It requires the uncommon ingenuity of
the detective to find a solution. He should also be able to identify or pin the
blame on the true perpetrator who commonly has an apparently safe alibi or has
left a false trail incriminating others. Various kinds of crimes are possible
subjects, although murder and perfectly multiple murder involving the
elimination of witnesses to the original crime, has been found to be the most
interesting to the readers who enjoying reading such detective novel. The superior
insight of the detective is often contrasted with the gullibility of others in
the story, usually unimaginative police officers self-blinded by routines and
habitual assumptions.
Detective novel comes
in two sizes: the short story the short or mid-length novel. From the origins
of detective fiction in the mid-19th century until 1920s, the short story
tended to be more important from Edgar Allan Poe's founding tale The Murders in
the Rue Morgue" (1841) and Arthur Conan Doyle's stories in the Strand gazing
collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) and several later
volumes, to the Father Brown Stories (1911-36) of G.K. Chesterton. The
detective fiction grew in importance in the early 20th century with the success
of such as Agatha Christie from her first novel, The Mysterious Afair at
Styles, 1920. Hercule Poirot's Murder on the Orient Express (1934) is one of
the most widely read detective novel.
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An apparently
perfect crime or murder is committed which leaves the police baffled. The
unsolvable nature of the crime keeps the reader interested.
●
A sense of
mystery is created, sometimes accompanied by tension or a sense of danger.
●
The novel takes
the reader through the process of the investigation of the crime by the
protagonist, who eventually zeroes in on the culprit.
●
The protagonist
may be a professional or an amateur detective. Very often, the detective is an
eccentric character with idiosyncratic mannerisms.
●
The detective
may have a confidant.
●
The police and
other authority figures are metimes depicted as being either uncooperative or
dim-witted.
●
Multiple
probable suspects are common features.
●
The resolution
is usually startling and unexpected. The detective explains how he logically
arrived at the right solution.
The continuing
popularity of the detective novel is undoubted. The fact that is a popular form
that engages the mind rather than the emotions has always given it degree of
respectability.
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