You probably have heard of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie, two of the infamous mystery fiction writers of all time. Have you already considered knowing what the popular mystery fiction genre is all about? We’ll here’s everything that you need to know about this genre!
Introduction to Mystery Fiction
Mystery fiction is an offspring of fiction that commonly revolves around a peculiar death or crime that has to be solved. Each story in this genre is frequently associated with a closed circle of culprits where every culprit has a sound motive and a fairly good chance to commit the horrendous crime. The protagonists of mystery fiction tales are usually detectives or regular people who happen to become a detective. They soon put the pieces together and solve the puzzle by logical deduction from evidences and facts shown to the readers.
This genre is also associated with detective tales that emphasize the mystery or a particular suspense ingredient and its reasonable solution, take whodunit for example. It can also differ from hardboiled detective tale that center on action and bold realism. Moreover, mystery fiction goes beyond what is expected for it also includes in its scope a supernatural peculiarity. It is where the answer to the mystery doesn’t have to be something rational and there is also no misdeed contained.
Brief History of Mystery Fiction
Mystery book genre is considered as an early form of literature that has emerged since the early nineteen hundreds. The gradual development of literacy started during the English Renaissance; so, as individuals learn to read, they also started to have an independent thinking. Their self-reliance and individualism paved the way for them to enhance their own reasoning and problem-solving skills.
The probable reason why mystery fiction didn’t really become popular in the 18th century was because of the insufficient true forces of the cops. Prior to the Industrial Revolution movement, a lot of places would opt to have a police officer and a watchman. The officer would become aware of each person in the particular place, and crimes in the place were commonly solved swiftly or remain unsolved. However, as humans start to come into big cities, the police started to create a structured system and that is when they realized that they also need not just cops but also detectives. That, my friend, is when mystery books were birthed.
Among the earliest modern mystery fiction books is the novel by E.T.A. Hoffmann which is Das Fräulein von Scuderi. It is also the work that greatly affected the pieces The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe and Zadig by Voltaire. In 1860, Wilkie Collins published his book The Woman in White that is subcategorized as an epistolary novel. Moreover, the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle presented the remarkable detective off all-time named Sherlock Holmes in 1887, and is being read until today.
Mystery fiction has become a widely patronized genre just about the turn of century along with the enhancement of dime books and pulp magazines. Novels became extremely helpful to mystery fiction considering that several authors write about mystery and detective fiction books during the 1920s. Among the significant works in the 1920s were the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series. These series were being widely read by both kids and kids at heart until today. It is also in the 1920s when Dame Agatha Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan also known as Agatha Christie rose. Her books Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and more gained popularity.
Categories under Mystery Fiction
The literary genre is a broad corner to delve into for there are a lot of categories that appear and need to be known. Mystery fiction is among the genres that contain a wide variety of sub-genres. So if you want to know more about its sub-categories, please see list below:
Detective novels – this genre encompasses the crime books that revolve around detectives, regardless if
- Cozy mysteries
- Police procedural
- Caper stories
- Hardboiled mystery fiction
- Legal thriller
- True crime
- Police procedural
- Softboiled mystery fiction
- Heist
- Espionage
- Inverted mystery
In today’s time, there have been thousands of mystery fiction novels that were being published; some of them are conquering the bestseller lists while others are moving lives of the readers. Among the prominent mystery fiction authors of all-time are Agatha Christie, Marry Higgins Clark, Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Gillian Flynn, JB Clemmens, Tana French, Dan Brown, and more. Most of their books have been adapted into film and other forms of adaptations because of their greatness.
Indeed, mystery fiction has proven itself to be one of the remarkable and all-time favorite genres in the world of literature. So if you are a sucker for mystery fiction or you want to dig into this genre, ready your curious mind because you can play Sherlock or Nancy in no time!
Oliver’s Twist 