Before I begin posting about the history of the detective genre (not exhaustively; other websites do that), I figured it would be good to review the 'rules of the game' that have largely guided writers and readers in the field since the 1840s.
Beginning with Poe, detective fiction developed ‘rules of
the game’ so that writers would ‘play fair’ with readers who wanted a shot at solving the
puzzle (but still in their hearts wanted to be misled). Some of these ‘rules’
developed into fairly rigid codes for other writers to follow. Monsignor Knox
of Britain had his “Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction” found here (among
many other places online): https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/tips-masters/ronald-knox-10-commandments-of-detective-fiction
. American author S. S. Van Dine offered 20, found here (and other places,
of course): https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2019/01/s-s-van-dines-twenty-rules-writing-detective-stories/
The British “Detective Club” had a list; even Raymond Chandler
chimed in: https://www.mysterytribune.com/raymond-chandler-10-tips-writing-detective-novel/
The rules boil down to these 5:
1.
In its basic structure, the detective story must
never vary from being completely logical.
2.
An unpardonable sin is the substitution of
accident, chance, or coincidence for logical deduction.
3.
The story must always play fair: clues must be
fairly presented; no evidence can be known to the reader which remains unknown
to the detective, and vice-versa.
4.
All action must proceed from the central theme
of the crime and the pursuit of the criminal.
5.
No human frailties, like stupidity or a poor
memory, can change or prolong the plot in any way.
There are some secondary rules:
1.
The crime must be murder (robberies, heists,
cons and such are ‘capers’, not detective stories)
2.
The killer’s motive must be strong enough to
induce even an amateur to commit murder
3.
All suspects must be real suspects, the killer
must be one of the suspects (ie, don’t bring in a new character at the end)
4.
The killer should be an intelligent, competent
amateur, the crime elegantly planned which, except for the brilliant detective,
would go unsolved
5.
The murder
must be premeditated, or if it is a crime of passion, or unintended, it must be
ingeniously covered up
6.
The detective is not superhuman but uses
reasoning to fit the clues together
These are not rules, but nice to have:
1.
The detective is fun if unusual, fallible, and
has personal problems (Monk, anyone?)
2.
Lead characters should grow and change (some
never change and readers don't want them to change: Holmes, for example, whose last story is in 1926, refuses to
acknowledge radio, planes, automobiles, fingerprinting and WWI and remains his
eccentric, gaslighted, Hansom Cab driven self).
3.
The detective should have a profession that
allows him or her to spend time, money, and energy on the crime (homicide cops,
obviously, are paid to do this and have cases routinely come their way;
retirees take it on as a hobby of sort, like Hercule Poirot; Brother Cadfael is
a non-cloistered monk; Jessica Fletcher writes mysteries for a living).
4.
Don’t
treat police as idiots (like Dupin and Holmes do; by the 1940s/50s, with
advances in lab forensics, this disdain became an anachronism)
5.
Don’t make the victim an angel or the killer
thoroughly evil (even Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the James Bond master villain, loves
his cat)
6.
The killer must be an amateur who hasn’t killed
before and does not plan to kill again (well: this was a guideline in the genteel
Golden Age but the genre more recently has had its fill of serial killers,
gangsters and psychos).
7.
The story moral must be BAD is punished, GOOD
rewarded, and the universe is restored to balance (well: ‘Law and Order’ made
us all comfortable with ambiguity).
8.
In the classic whodunnit, the killer must be
near the victim and use an ordinary means
9.
It is desired for the murder to happen early in
the story so that the puzzle is ‘whodunnit’ and not ‘when will the writer get
down to business’
It helps if there’s a ticking clock, a deadline to
beat, although this is a hallmark of the 'thriller,' mystery's cousin.
OK, so these ‘rules’ are bent all the time and some of them
famously (as Agatha Christie did) but they remind us that readers/fans have
certain expectations and writers ought to deliver – or surprise delightfully.
The reader only has 2 rules:
1.
Don’t read the end
2.
Don’t tell anyone whodunnit
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