Detective genre in literature. The detective genre in English-language literature

Detective (English detective, from Latin detego - I reveal, expose) - a literary genre whose works describe the process of investigating a mysterious incident in order to clarify its circumstances and solve the riddle. Usually, such an incident is a crime, and the detective describes its investigation and definition guilty, in this case the conflict is built on a clash of justice with lawlessness, culminating in the victory of justice.

The main feature of the detective as a genre is the presence in the work of some mysterious incident, the circumstances of which are unknown and must be clarified. The most frequently described incident is a crime, although there are detective stories that investigate events that are not criminal.

An essential feature of the detective is that the actual circumstances of the incident are not communicated to the reader, at least in their entirety, until the investigation is completed. Instead, the reader is led by the author through the process of investigation, having the opportunity at each stage to build their own versions and evaluate known facts. If the work initially describes all the details of the incident, or the incident does not contain anything unusual, mysterious, then it should already be attributed not to a pure detective story, but to related genres (action movie, police novel, etc.).

Important property classic detective - the fullness of the facts. The solution of the mystery cannot be based on information that was not provided to the reader during the description of the investigation. By the time the investigation is completed, the reader should have enough information to base their own decision on it. Only a few minor details can be hidden that do not affect the possibility of revealing the secret. Upon completion of the investigation, all riddles must be solved, all questions must be answered.

“The world of the detective is much more orderly than the life around us,” such was the opinion of N. N. Vasiliev about the genre of “detective”.

What is often found in the detective genre:

Ordinary environment. The conditions under which the events of the detective story take place are generally common and well known to the reader (in any case, the reader himself believes that he is confidently orientated in them). Thanks to this reader, it is initially obvious what is ordinary from what is being described, and what is strange, beyond the scope.

Stereotypical character behavior. The characters are largely devoid of originality, their psychology and behavioral patterns are quite transparent, predictable, and if they have any prominent features, then those become known to the reader. The motives of actions (including the motives of the crime) of the characters are also stereotyped.

The existence of plot construction rules that do not always correspond to real life. So, for example, in a classic detective story, the narrator and the detective, in principle, cannot turn out to be criminals.

Another restriction is noted, which is almost always followed by a classic detective story - the inadmissibility of random errors and undetectable matches. For example, in real life, a witness may tell the truth, may lie, may be mistaken or misled, or may simply make an unmotivated mistake (accidentally, mix up dates, amounts, names). In the detective story, the last possibility is excluded - the witness is either accurate, or lying, or his mistake has a logical justification.

Genre evolution

The first developers of the genre were such famous writers, as E. A. Poe, G. K. Chesterton, A. Conan Doyle, G. Leroux, E. Wallace, S. S. Van Dyne, D. Hammett, E. Quinn and others.

Perhaps the first theorist of the detective as a special genre was G. K. Chesterton, who spoke in 1902 with the article “In Defense detective literature". In his essay, Chesterton emphasizes that "a detective novel or short story is perfectly legitimate literary genre". “The most important advantage of the detective is that it is the earliest and so far the only form popular literature, which expressed a certain sense of poetry modern life» .

At the beginning of the 20th century, attempts were made to develop norms in accordance with which works would be created. detective genre. So, in 1928, the English writer Willard Hattington published his collection literary rules, calling it "20 rules for writing detective stories».

Among modern researchers of the detective should be A. Adamov, G. Andzhaparidze, N. Berkovsky, V. Rudnev, A. Vulis. Their works trace the history of the genre, analyze its poetics, and study artistic parallels in the works of different authors.

Detective according to V. Rudnev, this is “a genre specific to popular literature and cinematography of the 20th century. Rudnev explains the peculiarity of the detective genre by the fact that “the main element as a genre is the presence in it of the main character - a detective detective (usually private), who solves (detects) a crime. The main content of the detective is, therefore, the search for truth.

Let's go back to the definition of genre:

DETECTIVE (lat. detectio - disclosure of English detective - detective) - piece of art, the plot of which is based on the conflict between good and evil, realized in the disclosure of a crime.

It turns out that the educational and psychological moment comes to the fore in the detective story: the detective story must show the triumph of good, the inevitability of punishment for evil, and it also makes it possible to reveal the nature of the crime. How is a person motivated to commit a crime? How does this happen: is the environment to blame for everything, or is he leaning towards it himself?

The detective shows a person in a rare situation - during a personal or social drama. Detective is an intense fight, whether it's intellectual combat, interrogation, chase, shooting or hand-to-hand combat.

The Weiner brothers noted that prerequisite detective is sociality. And since the matter of the detective is a crime, then “he takes a slice of life in which explosive forces have accumulated, in which the “negative sides” have broken through the social foundations of morality and legality. It is the detective writers who resolutely and mercilessly uncover the sores and festering of society.

Charles P. Snow wrote that detective fiction is a sign of civilization and the investigation of a crime is a symbol of everything positive that is in modern world, romance in the full sense of the word. This feature of the detective is especially valuable now, at a time of acute shortage of true romance, a dangerous fight against evil, its exposure and punishment.

Speaking of the detective story, one cannot ignore the writer who revolutionized the genre by immortalizing the classic detective story. It is, of course, Agatha Christie! She introduced the world new concept prose, proclaiming the rule of law and the triumph of reason, protecting society as a whole and individuals in the private against the threat of someone else's encroachment on other people's rights and freedoms. The genius Edgar Allan Poe, who founded the detective as such, gravitated towards mysticism, and therefore did not form the “idea of ​​Nemesis”, justice for criminals, which Christie later discovered; a significant contribution to the development of this genre was made by Arthur Conan Doyle, who proposed a universal image of the hero - the legendary Sherlock Holmes, famous for his logic and determination; questions of morality were repeatedly considered by the respected Keith Gilbert Chesterton, through his main character - Father Brown - turning to the attentive reader. But it was the woman who was destined to lead the victorious march of the detective, who in the 1920s and 1930s became a confident representative of the Western middle class. Putting near-ideal justice and the inevitability of punishment for a criminal as a leitmotif in her works, Christie did not forget about literature directly, winning the trust of readers with piercing simplicity, heating up the intrigue to the limit and painting everyday collisions of good old Britain.

Analysis of the work of Agatha Christie

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"

For analysis, the novel "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was taken, recognized at one time as one of the best works of Agatha Christie and a masterpiece of the genre.

The novel is set in the fictional English village of Kings Abbott. The story begins with the death of Mrs. Ferrar, a wealthy widow who is rumored to have murdered her husband. The villagers believe that the widow committed suicide, until Roger Ackroyd, a widower who was about to marry Mrs. Ferrar, dies.

Arrived at the scene, Hercule Poirot begins an investigation, having around a lot of suspects - Ackroyd's relatives and friends, each of whom was interested in his death. One of them - the last one who saw Ackroyd alive - Dr. James Shepard - is the narrator of the story and follows Poirot's actions step by step, acting as a kind of "Doctor Watson" - an assistant and biographer of a professional detective. Here and there in the text of the novel, "keys" to the mystery are scattered - hints, reservations, details - capable, upon careful reading, of opening one's eyes to what is happening long before the denouement of the story.

The key word, which, in our opinion, is the basis of the novel is the word "weak will". It is first uttered in chapter 17 by Dr. Shepard and then by his sister Caroline to himself.

“We started talking about Ralph Paton.

He is a weak-willed man, I insisted, but not vicious.

AND! But weakness, where does it end?

That's right, - said Caroline, - at least take James as soft as water. If I wasn't there to look after him

My dear Caroline,” I said irritably, “could you not get personal?

You're weak, James," she continued, completely unmoved by my remark, "I'm eight years older than you. Oh! I don't mind if Monsieur Poirot knows about it."

It is weakness of will that leads to dramatic consequences: blackmail, driving to suicide, killing a person and betraying a friend for the sake of personal interests. Here is how Hercule Poirot puts it:

"- Let's take a man - himself ordinary person who has no intention of killing. But somewhere in the depths of the soul there is a certain tendency to weak-willedness. Nothing affects her, and she does not manifest herself. Maybe she will never show herself, and the person will go to the grave honest and respected by all. But suppose something happened. He gets into a predicament. Or not even that. He accidentally learns some secret, a secret on which someone's life or death depends. His first impulse is to tell about it, to honestly fulfill his duty as a citizen. And then his tendency to weak will manifests itself. He sees that money can be made – big money. And he needs money, he craves it. And it's so easy. He doesn't have to do anything to get them. He just needs to be silent. This is the beginning. But the passion for money is growing. He needs more and more! He is intoxicated by the discovery of a gold mine at his feet. He becomes greedy, and in his greed outsmarts himself."

Who knows how many more murders could have followed if the perpetrator had not been stopped? The closest people could also be hit.

“But Caroline scared me the most. I thought she could figure it out. She spoke in a strange way that day about my tendency to weak will.

The most notable technique, the use of which has led to much discussion, is the use of an unreliable narrator who ends up being the killer. In his final confession, Dr. Sheppard tries to justify himself from possible accusations of lying:

“I am quite pleased with myself as a writer. What could be more precise, for example, the following words: “The letter was brought at twenty minutes to nine. It remained unread when I left at ten minutes to nine. With my hand on the doorknob, I hesitantly stopped and looked around, wondering if I had done everything. Without inventing anything, I went out and closed the door behind me.

Agatha Christie's intention was that Dr. Sheppard does not hide the truth and does not lie - he just keeps quiet. In particular, he "forgets" to mention what happened between 20.40 and 20.50, when Roger Ackroyd was actually killed.

Events take on new meaning in the eyes of the reader when the killer becomes known. Dr. Sheppard himself is amazed at his duplicity, the complexity of the investigation, and the fact that so many people were under suspicion. On the one hand, he is overcome by fear of exposure, on the other hand, he admires and is proud of his cunning, that he can circle such a famous detective like Poirot!

Even after being exposed, the killer does not regret what he did, about the ruined lives, believing that they received a well-deserved punishment, retribution. He doesn't even feel sorry for himself. He is dejected by one thing: that Hercule Poirot has appeared there.

“And then what will happen next? Veronal? It would be like retribution from above, something like poetic justice. I do not hold myself responsible for the death of Mrs. Ferrars. It was a direct consequence of her own actions. I don't feel sorry for her. I don't even feel sorry for myself. So let it be veronal. But it would be better if Hercule Poirot never retired and did not come here to grow pumpkins.

So, based on the above, we can draw the following conclusions

1. Having worked out the definition of the “detective” genre and examining the evolution of this genre, we found out that the distinctive feature of the classic detective story is its moral idea or morality. So, in the novels of A. Christie, the case always turns into the punishment of the criminal and the triumph of justice.

2. In detective stories, you can catch a lot of upbringing and even warning, situations are given that are associated with universal human vices. Usually, the characters are placed in very extreme situations, which helps the author to reveal hidden personality traits in outwardly prosperous people.

What do we see in Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?

Betrayal loved one for profit

Betraying a friend for personal gain

And what is the result?

Easy money that doesn't bring happiness

Driving to suicide

Killing a man

Constant fear of exposure

But why, one wonders, does a person need some additional problems, because life is already full of various troubles. Driven into a dead end, financial lack and other problems gradually break a person, and soon he succumbs to vices, sinking, for example, to theft or blackmail. Then comes a moment of overwhelming fear, and as a result, another, more serious atrocity must be committed in order to avoid punishment for the first.

Does a person at this moment think that he is doubling his situation? Evil corrodes a person, one vice pulls another, and easy money goes only to ashes, how easily they get it, so easily they leave.

In this work main character begins to write a novel about everything that happens. Why write about your own crime? It's all about the incredible confidence of a man who competently built himself an alibi and hoped to send this book to Hercule Poirot as the first unsolved crime in his practice. And what didn't work out in the end?

People should not forget that any crime does not go unpunished, and if the verdict is not pronounced by the court, then life, more severe and merciless, will endure it.

Knowing the world, people become wiser and cleaner. A detective novel is also a kind of knowledge - through observation to "illumination", to the discovery of truth. Human dramas in the novels of Agatha Christie are not brought to the fore, they always remain in depth, which is why they produce such strong impression. As if in pursuit of an entertaining story, you pass by human destinies.

The materials of this study can be used in carrying out extracurricular activities in literature, in the classroom when studying foreign literature 20th century as additional material.

A good detective story will have charming characters, an exciting intrigue and a puzzle that will not let you stop reading. But writing a really worthwhile detective story, especially if you haven't done it before, can be difficult. With help proper preparation, brainstorming, planning and editing, and character development, you can write detective story to which they will be read.

Steps

Part 1

Understand the difference between the detective genre and the thriller. Detectives always start with a murder. Main question in a detective story or novel, who committed the crime. Thrillers usually start with a situation that leads to major disaster, such as, for example, terrorist act, Bank robbery, nuclear explosion And so on. The main question in the thriller is whether the main character will be able to prevent a catastrophe.

• In detective stories, the reader does not know who committed the murder until the end of the novel. Detectives are built on logical chains of searching for crime targets or on a puzzle.
• Detective stories are written in the first person, while thrillers are usually written in the third person and cover multiple points of view. In detective stories, the passage of time is usually more measured, as the protagonist/detective tries to solve the crime. Also, detective stories tend to have less action sequences than thrillers.
• Due to the slower pace of time in detective stories, characters tend to be more deeply written and versatile in detective stories than in thrillers.

1. Read examples of detectives. There are many great detective stories and novels out there that you can learn how to write a detective story with. good plot and developed characters.

   Identify the main character in the presented stories and novels. Think about how the author introduces the main character and how he describes him.

2. Determine the place and setting of the story-example. Think about how the author shows the place and time of the story.

   • For example, in the second paragraph of the first page deep sleep Marlow places the reader in the place and time of the narrative: "The main hall of the Sternwoods had two floors."
   • The reader understands that Marlowe is in front of the Sternwood house, and that it is a large house, most likely rich.

3. Think over a crime or a puzzle that the main character has to solve. What crime or puzzle will the protagonist have to deal with? It could be a murder, a missing person, or a suspicious suicide.

   • AT deep sleep General Sternwood hires Marlowe to "take care" of a photographer who blackmails the general with scandalous photographs of his daughter.

4. Determine the obstacles and problems that the main character may have. A good detective will captivate the reader with the difficulties that the protagonist will face while fulfilling his mission (crime detection).

   • AT big dream Chandler complicates Detective Marlowe's pursuit of the photographer by killing the photographer in the early chapters, as well as by the suspicious suicide of the General's chauffeur. So Chandler introduces two murders into the story for Marlowe to solve.

5. Consider solving the crime. Think about how the crime is solved at the end of the detective story. The disclosure of a crime should not be too obvious or far-fetched, but it should also not be implausible or come from nowhere.

   • The disclosure of a crime should surprise the reader without confusing him. One of the perks of the detective genre is that you can build the pace of your story so that the revelation comes gradually rather than in a rushed manner.

6. View the first draft copy. Once you've drafted your detective story, go through the story, looking for key points such as:

   • Plot. Make sure your the story goes according to plan and has a clear beginning, middle and end. You should also note the changes in your main character at the end of the story.
   • Heroes. Are your characters, including the main one, unique and bright? Do all your characters behave in a similar way or are they different? Are your characters original and charming?
   • The pace of history. The pace of a story is how quickly or slowly the events in your story unfold. A good pace will be invisible to the reader. If everything seems to be moving too fast, pay more attention to the sensations to highlight the emotions of the characters. If you seem to be bogged down in details, cut the scenes down to the most essential information. good rule is to always end an episode earlier than you think you should. This will help keep the tension from episode to episode, allowing the story to progress at the right pace.
   • Turn. A turn can either destroy or make the whole detective story. It's up to the writer, but a lot of good detective stories have a twist at the end. Make sure your turn isn't too cheap. The more unique the twist, the easier it will be to describe. When you write a hackneyed twist, like "and here they woke up," you have to be a great writer for that twist to work. A good twist can make a fool of not only the reader, but the hero himself. Hint at a twist throughout episode scenes so that when the reader starts to remember previous parts of the story, they are surprised how they could have missed it. However, try not to make the turn explicit too soon.

The first works of the detective genre are usually considered stories written in the 1840s, but elements of the detective story were used by many authors earlier.

For example, in the novel by William Godwin (1756 - 1836) "The Adventures of Caleb Williams" (1794), one of the central characters is an amateur detective. E. Vidocq's Notes, published in 1828, also had a great influence on the development of detective literature. However, it was Poe who created the first Great Detective - the amateur detective Dupin from the story "Murder in the Rue Morgue". Then came Sherlock Holmes (C. Doyle) and Father Brown (Chesterton), Lecoq (Gaborio) and Mr. Cuff (Wilkie Collins). It was Edgar Allan Poe who introduced into the plot of the detective story the idea of ​​rivalry in solving a crime between a private investigator and the official police, in which the private investigator, as a rule, takes over.

The detective genre becomes popular in England after the release of W. Collins' novels The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868). In the novels Wilder's Hand (1869) and Checkmate (1871) Irish writer C. Le Fanu detective is combined with a gothic novel.

The founder of the French detective is E. Gaborio, the author of a series of novels about the detective Lecoq. Stevenson imitated Gaboriau in his detective stories (especially in "The Diamond of the Raja").

Usually, a crime acts as an incident in a detective story, the author describes its investigation and the identification of the perpetrators, and the conflict is built on a clash of justice with lawlessness, culminating in the victory of justice.

The main feature of the detective as a genre is the presence in the work of a certain mysterious incident, the circumstances of which are unknown and must be clarified. The most frequently described incident is a crime, although there are detective stories that investigate events that are not criminal (for example, in the Sherlock Holmes Notes, which belongs to the detective genre, there are no crimes in five stories out of eighteen).

An essential feature of the detective is that the actual circumstances of the incident are not communicated to the reader in their entirety until the investigation is completed. The reader is guided by the author through the process of investigation, getting the opportunity at each stage to build their own versions and evaluate known facts.

Detective contains three main plot-forming elements: crime, investigation and solution.

Features of the classic detective genre:

- completeness of the facts (by the time the investigation is completed, the reader should have enough information in order to independently find a solution on its basis)

- the routine of the situation (the conditions in which events take place are generally common and well known to the reader)

- stereotyped behavior of characters (actions are predictable, and if the characters have any prominent features, then those become known to the reader)

- the existence of a priori rules for constructing a plot (the narrator and the detective cannot turn out to be criminals)

A distinctive feature of the classic detective story is the moral idea, or morality, marking to varying degrees all the works of this genre. The detective ends with the punishment of the criminal and the triumph of justice.

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Subtitles

Definition

The main feature of the detective as a genre is the presence in the work of some mysterious incident, the circumstances of which are unknown and must be clarified. The most frequently described incident is a crime, although there are detective stories in which events that are not criminal are investigated (for example, in Notes on Sherlock Holmes, which certainly belongs to the detective genre, there are no crimes in five stories out of eighteen).

An essential feature of the detective is that the actual circumstances of the incident are not communicated to the reader, at least in their entirety, until the investigation is completed. Instead, the reader is led by the author through the process of investigation, having the opportunity at each stage to build their own versions and evaluate known facts. If the work initially describes all the details of the incident, or the incident does not contain anything unusual, mysterious, then it should already be attributed not to a pure detective story, but to related genres (action movie, police novel, etc.).

According to famous author detectives Val McDermid, the detective as a genre became possible only with the advent of a judicial process based on evidence.

Genre features

An important property of a classic detective story is the completeness of facts. The solution of the mystery cannot be based on information that was not provided to the reader during the description of the investigation. By the time the investigation is completed, the reader should have enough information to base their own decision on it. Only a few minor details can be hidden that do not affect the possibility of revealing the secret. Upon completion of the investigation, all riddles must be solved, all questions must be answered.

A few more signs of a classic detective story were collectively named by N. N. Volsky hyperdeterminism of the detective's world(“the world of the detective is much more orderly than the life around us”):

• Ordinary environment. The conditions under which the events of the detective story take place are generally common and well known to the reader (in any case, the reader himself believes that he is confidently orientated in them). Thanks to this reader, it is initially obvious what is ordinary from what is being described, and what is strange, beyond the scope.
• Stereotypical character behavior. The characters are largely devoid of originality, their psychology and behavioral patterns are quite transparent, predictable, and if they have any prominent features, then those become known to the reader. The motives of actions (including the motives of the crime) of the characters are also stereotyped.
• The existence of a priori rules for constructing a plot that do not always correspond to real life. So, for example, in a classic detective story, the narrator and the detective, in principle, cannot turn out to be criminals.

This set of features narrows the field of possible logical constructions based on known facts making it easier for the reader to analyze them. However, not all detective subgenres follow these rules exactly.

Another restriction is noted, which is almost always followed by a classic detective story - the inadmissibility of random errors and undetectable matches. For example, in real life, a witness may tell the truth, may lie, may be mistaken or misled, or may simply make an unmotivated mistake (accidentally mix up dates, amounts, names). In the detective story, the last possibility is excluded - the witness is either accurate, or lying, or his mistake has a logical justification.

Eremey Parnov points out the following features of the classic detective genre:

Edgar Allan Allan Poe stories written in the 1840s are usually considered the first works of the detective genre, but elements of the detective story were used by many authors earlier. For example, in the novel by William Godwin (-) "The Adventures of Caleb Williams" (), one of the central characters is an amateur detective. A great influence on the development of detective literature was also made by E. Vidok's Notes, published in. However, it was Edgar Poe who, according to Yeremey Parnov, created the first Great Detective - the amateur detective Dupin from the story "Murder on Morgue Street". Dupin subsequently begat Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown (Chesterton), Lecoq (Gaboriau) and Mr Cuff (Wilkie Collins). It was Edgar Allan Poe who introduced into the plot of the detective story the idea of ​​rivalry in solving a crime between a private investigator and the official police, in which the private investigator, as a rule, takes over.

The detective genre becomes popular in England after the release of the novels by W. Collins "The Woman in White" () and "Moonstone" (). In the novels "Wilder's Hand" () and "Checkmate" () by the Irish writer Sh. Le Fanu, the detective is combined with a gothic novel. The golden age of the detective in England is considered to be the 30s - 70s. 20th century. It was at this time that the classic detective novels of Agatha Christie, F. Biding and other authors were published, which influenced the development of the genre as a whole.

The founder of the French detective is E. Gaborio - the author of a series of novels about the detective Lecoq. Stevenson imitated Gaboriau in his detective stories (especially in "The Diamond of the Rajah").

Twenty Rules for Writing Detectives by Stephen Van Dyne

In 1928, the English writer Willard Hattington, better known under the pseudonym Stephen Van Dyne, published his set of literary rules, calling it "20 Rules for Writing Detectives":

1. It is necessary to provide the reader with equal opportunities with the detective to unravel the mysteries, for which purpose it is necessary to clearly and accurately report all incriminating traces.

2. With regard to the reader, only such tricks and deceit are allowed that a criminal can use in relation to a detective.

3. Love is forbidden. The story should be a game of tag, not between lovers, but between a detective and a criminal.

4. Neither a detective nor any other person professionally involved in the investigation can be a criminal.

5. Logical conclusions should lead to exposure. Random or unsubstantiated confessions are not allowed.

6. A detective cannot be absent in a detective who methodically searches for incriminating evidence, as a result of which he comes to solve the riddle.

7. Mandatory Crime in detective - murder.

8. In solving a given mystery, all supernatural forces and circumstances must be excluded.

9. Only one detective can act in a story - the reader cannot compete with three or four members of the relay team at once.

10. The perpetrator must be one of the most or least significant actors well known to the reader.

11. An impermissibly cheap solution in which one of the servants is the culprit.

12. Although the perpetrator may have an accomplice, the main story should be about the capture of one person.

13. Secret or criminal communities have no place in the detective.

14. The method of committing the murder and the methodology of the investigation must be reasonable and justified with scientific point vision.

15. For a smart reader, the clue should be obvious.

16. In a detective story there is no place for literature, descriptions of painstakingly developed characters, coloring the situation with means fiction.

17. The criminal can never be a professional villain.

19. The motive for a crime is always of a private nature, it cannot be a spy action seasoned with any international intrigues, motives of secret services.

The decade that followed the promulgation of the terms of the Van Dyne Convention finally discredited the detective story as a genre of literature. It is no coincidence that we know the detectives of previous eras well and each time we turn to their experience. But we can hardly, without getting into reference books, name the figures from the Twenty Rules clan. The modern Western detective has evolved in spite of Van Dyne, refuting point by point, overcoming the limitations that have been sucked from the finger. One paragraph (the detective must not be a criminal!), however, survived, although it was violated several times by the cinema. This is a reasonable prohibition, because it protects the very specificity of the detective, his core line ... In modern novel we will not see any traces of the "Rules"...

The Ten Commandments of Ronald Knox's detective novel

Ronald Knox, one of the founders of the Detective Club, also proposed his own rules for writing detective stories:

I. The perpetrator must be someone mentioned at the beginning of the novel, but it must not be the person whose thought the reader has been allowed to follow.

II. As a matter of course, the action of supernatural or otherworldly forces is excluded.

III. It is not allowed to use more than one secret room or secret passage.

IV. It is unacceptable to use hitherto unknown poisons, as well as devices that require a long scientific explanation at the end of the book.

V. A Chinese person must not appear in the work.

VI. The detective should never be helped Lucky case; nor should he be guided by an unaccountable but sure intuition.

VII. The detective doesn't have to turn out to be a criminal himself.

VIII. Having come across this or that clue, the detective must immediately present it to the reader for study.

IX. The detective's foolish friend, Watson in one form or another, must not hide any of the considerations that cross his mind; in their own way mental ability it should yield a little - but only a little - to the average reader.

X. Indistinguishable twin brothers and doubles in general cannot appear in a novel unless the reader is properly prepared for it.

Some types of detectives

Closed Detective

A subgenre usually most closely aligned with the canons of the classic detective story. The plot is based on the investigation of a crime committed in a secluded place, where there is a strictly limited set of characters. There can be no stranger in this place, so the crime could only be committed by one of those present. The investigation is conducted by one of those at the scene of the crime with the help of other heroes.

This type of detective is different in that the plot basically eliminates the need to search for an unknown criminal. There are suspects, and the detective's job is to get as much information as possible about the participants in the events, on the basis of which it will be possible to identify the criminal. Additional psychological stress is created by the fact that the perpetrator must be one of the well-known, nearby people, none of whom, usually, looks like a criminal. Sometimes in detective closed type there is a whole series of crimes (usually murders), as a result of which the number of suspects is constantly decreasing.

Examples of closed type detectives:

• Edgar Poe, Murder in the Rue Morgue.
• Cyril Hare, "Purely English Murder".
• Agatha Christie, "Ten Little Indians", "Murder on the Orient Express" (and almost all works).
• Boris Akunin, "Leviathan" (signed by the author as "sealed detective").
• Leonid Slovin, "Additional arrives on second path".
• Gaston Leroux, The Mystery of the Yellow Room.

Psychological detective

This type of detective story may somewhat deviate from the classical canons in terms of the requirement of stereotypical behavior and the typical psychology of the characters and is the intersection of the genre with the psychological novel. Usually, a crime committed for personal reasons (envy, revenge) is investigated, and the main element of the investigation is the study of the personality characteristics of the suspects, their attachments, pain points, beliefs, prejudices, clarifying the past. There is a school of French psychological detective.

• Dickens, Charles, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
• Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
• Boileau - Narsezhak, “She-wolves”, “The one that was gone”, “Sea Gate”, “Outlining the Heart”.
• Japrizo, Sebastien, "Lady with glasses and with gun in car".
• Kalef, Noel, "The Lift to the Scaffold".
• Ball, John, "A Stuffy Night in Carolina".

historical detective

Historical work with detective intrigue. The action takes place in the past, or an ancient crime is being investigated in the present.

• Eco, Umberto "Name Rose"
• Robert van Gulick, Judge Dee series
• Agatha Christie "Death comes at the end", "The Five Little Pigs"
• John Dixon Carr "Newgate Bride", "Devil in Velvet", "Captain Cut-Throat"
• Ellis Peters, Cadfael series
• Ann Perry, series Thomas Pitt, Monk
• Boileau-Narcejac "In the Enchanted Forest"
• Quinn, Ellery "The Unknown Manuscript of Dr. Watson"
• Boris Akunin, literary project"The Adventures of Erast Fandorin"
• Leonid Yuzefovich, Literary project about detective Putilin
• Alexander Bushkov, The Adventures of Alexei Bestuzhev
• Igor Moskvin, cycle Petersburg detective 1870-1883

Ironic detective

The detective investigation is described from a humorous point of view. Often, works written in this vein parody and ridicule the clichés of a detective novel.

• Agatha Christie, Partners in Crime
• Varshavsky, Ilya, "The robbery will take place at midnight"
• Kaganov, Leonid, "Major Bogdamir saves money"
• Kozachinsky, Alexander, "Green Van"
• Westlake, Donald, The Cursed Emerald ( hot stone), "The bank that gurgled"
• Joanna Khmelevskaya (most works)
• Daria Dontsova (all works)
• Yene Reite (all works)

fantasy detective

Works at the intersection of fantasy and detective. The action can take place in the future, an alternative present or past, as well as in a completely fictional world.

• Lem, Stanislav, "Investigation", "Inquiry"
• Russell, Eric Frank, "Daily Job", "Wasp"
• Holm van Zaychik, cycle " bad people No"
• Kir Bulychev, cycle "Intergalactic Police" ("Intergpol")
• Isaac Asimov, cycles Lucky Starr - space ranger, Detective Elijah Bailey and robot Daniel Olivo
• Sergei Lukyanenko, Genome
• John Branner, Squares of the chess city (eng. The Squares of the City,; Russian translation -)
• Brothers Strugatsky, Hotel “At the Dead Alpinist”
• Cook, Glenn, fantasy detective series about detective Garrett
• Randall Garrett, a series of fantasy detectives about the detective Lord Darcy
• Boris Akunin "Children's book"
• Kluger, Daniel, a cycle of fantasy detectives "Cases of magic"
• Edgar Alan Poe - Murder on street Morgue
• Harry Turtledove - The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump

political detective

One of the genres quite far from the classic detective. The main intrigue is built around political events and rivalry between various political or business figures and forces. It also often happens that the protagonist himself is far from politics, however, while investigating the case, he stumbles upon an obstacle to the investigation on the part of the "powers that be" or reveals some kind of conspiracy. Distinctive feature political detective is (though not necessarily) the possible absence of completely good characters, except for the main one. This genre rarely found in pure form, however, may be an integral part of the work.

• Agatha Christie, Big Four
• Boris Akunin, State Councilor
• Levashov, Victor, "Conspiracy of Patriots"
• Adam Hall, "Berlin Memorandum" (Quiller Memorandum)
• Nikolai Svechin, "The Hunt for the Tsar", "The Demon of the Underworld"

Spy detective

Based on the narrative of the activities of intelligence officers, spies and saboteurs both in wartime and in peacetime on the "invisible front". In terms of stylistic boundaries, it is very close to political and conspiracy detectives, often combined in the same work. The main difference between a spy detective and a political one is that in a political detective the most important position is occupied by the political basis of the case under investigation and antagonistic conflicts, while in espionage the attention is focused on intelligence work (surveillance, sabotage, etc.). A conspiracy detective can be considered a variety of both espionage and political detective.

• Agatha Christie, “A Cat Among Pigeons”, “A Man in a Brown Suit”, “Hours”, “Baghdad Meetings” (and most of the works).
• John Le Carré, "The Spy Who Came Out of the Cold"
• John Boynton Priestley, The Mist Over Gretley (1942)
• James Grady, Six Days of the Condor
• Boris Akunin, "Turkish Gambit"
• Dmitry Medvedev, "It was near Rovno"
• Nikolay Daleky, "The Practice of Sergei Rubtsov"

As independent genre Literature detective has more than a century and a half history, and all these century and a half, he was very popular. Him main secret The fact is that the reader not only follows the adventures of the protagonist, but solves the crime on a par with the detective - speculates, singles out suspects, thinks through motives. The most important feature of any detective story is the game between the reader and the author, so if you don't know how to write a detective story and build interesting game with your audience, then this article will help you figure it all out.

Think over the crime

A crime is where to start writing a detective story, its basis, so the crime must be worked out as carefully as possible. In most works we are talking about murder, but not always - a story can be built on an attempted murder, on threats received by the victim, on a robbery committed under strange circumstances, or on other extraordinary events. In fact, the case that will form the basis of your story or comic, does not necessarily have to violate the criminal code- it just has to represent some kind of mystery, which the heroes and readers will come to unravel at the end. However, for simplicity, we will call such a secret a crime, respectively, its "culprit" - a criminal, and the one who tries to find a clue - an investigator or a detective.

If you want to write a detective story high level, then it is desirable that the crime be intriguing, however, even a “simple” murder in a dark alley can be the beginning of an excellent detective story. Already at this stage, it is important not only to come up with some mysterious event, but also immediately identify a guess for yourself and at least dottedly outline how events will develop.

Answer questions that will help you come up with a plot for the detective: what evidence and clues will the investigator get, what theories will he build, how will the investigation progress? Are there any witnesses? Who will be the first suspect, who will be the second, etc.? What will the offender do, will he commit other crimes and for what reasons (covers his tracks or achieves some goal)?

File the crime nicely

The “introduction” of the crime is one of the most important scenes in a detective story: it is the beginning of your game with the reader, and it is necessary that this game draws him in. You can show directly the commission of a crime (murder on dinner party), give a story about him (the client came to a private detective for advice) or, for example, give the scene. It is important that the reader, like the investigator, after the "input" has some clues - starting points, on the basis of which he will build his guesses. Give enough details, include a few witnesses and/or suspects.

Make the story engaging, but not overbearing

For those who decide to write a detective novel, it is important to feel for a fairly thin line that separates an exciting plot from an implausible plot. Events, clues and clues should not be forced and far-fetched, and the reader should not stand in the pose of Stanislavsky and repeat to himself "I do not believe." Of course, you should not make the crime too simple, as well as use templates or a large number of details borrowed from other detectives - this makes the story predictable.

Talking about detective comics, then at one time they fought with them no worse than with real crime. The content of such books was strictly controlled, for example, villains were always to be detained before committing a crime, and their craft was in no case to be shown as something attractive. Thus, detective comics turned out to be boring and lifeless. Fortunately, now the situation has changed, and you can give free rein to your imagination.

Complete your story

Whatever your secret is, at the end you must definitely give a guess, explain the motives of the criminal and answer all the questions that the characters (that is, the reader) have accumulated in the course of the action. The reverse is permissible only for David Fincher in the film "Zodiac" (including because in this case the perpetrator was not found). Basically detective is not the genre where welcome open final and the mystery may remain undiscovered. Think for yourself: your game with the reader must end, and if you do not give answers, your “opponent” will not know if his guesses are correct, respectively, from the game he will have a feeling of dissatisfaction that you absolutely do not need.

Also, the reader should not be left disappointed, and therefore never explain everything by coincidence or fatal accident. If the story is based on suicide, it must be forced - and in the end it will turn out who and why forced the unfortunate victim to jump from the roof. Do not attribute the crime to the action of higher / otherworldly forces, if earlier the work did not imply anything mystical. The reader solves the riddle, starting from the data that you gave him. How was he to know that in your universe, demons kidnap people in broad daylight?

In any case, it is better to let the ending be slightly predictable than to cause sincere bewilderment and disappointment. It is difficult to say in advance which of the readers will immediately guess your riddle, and who will remain intrigued to the end. However, almost a hundred years ago it was determined that the goal of a real detective is to challenge the audience, but at the same time allow you to guess the rebus a little earlier than the detective. It is believed that by the time the cards are opened, the reader should have all the information in order to figure out who the criminal is.

Choose the right criminal

As we have already said, you should know who exactly committed the crime at the beginning of work on the detective. Who is better to choose? As a rule, Mr. or Mrs. X becomes one of the most prominent characters, or, on the contrary, less prominent ones. The first option is preferable, as it poses a greater challenge to the reader - you seem to show that here he is, the criminal, was in sight all the time. In any case, your intruder should not go unnoticed in the text - give the reader a chance to catch on to him.

A move in which in all respects positive hero turns out to be the main villain, is used quite often, so we would not advise resorting to it, especially several times.

In at least four of Dan Brown's books, the killer turned out to be the most positive character, which, of course, already with the second story is perceived ambiguously.

On the other hand, identification of the offender - a wide area for playing with the reader: as an author, you can hint at one person several times in the course of the plot, make another one the main suspect of the investigator, and make the third the actual killer. The main thing is that all this logically fits into the text.

Create an interesting detective

Whether your detective is a professional investigator or a novice, a private investigator, a merry fellow or a victim suspected of a crime, the work will impress the reader much more if you create a living person who is curious to observe. Therefore, in addition to the crime, think over the image of the one who will solve it. If your story involves a confrontation between a detective and a criminal, also carefully consider the image of the antagonist. At the same time, it is believed that the detective story is not the genre where it is necessary to carefully, in detail think through the characters in the spirit of Tolstoy and prescribe mental anguish, as Dostoevsky did.

One of the simple tricks on how to make the character noticeable - give the hero some interesting feature, select a few features and rest on them. It is not necessary to create characters as eccentric as Sherlock Holmes or Nero Wolfe, who never leaves the house and devotes 4 hours a day exclusively to orchids. Make the hero an eternally scoffing merry fellow or, on the contrary, a gloomy melancholic; a connoisseur of fine wines and the fair sex, or classical music and literature; a person with an IQ of 180, or someone who imagines every crime as a chess game and loses various combinations at home.

Check details

Always carefully check the facts mentioned, including the correspondence between the calibers and models of weapons (as well as sizes - it is very difficult to hide an AK-47 in a jeans pocket), the effect of selected poisons (some substances cease to be poisonous when mixed with a particular food, while others You have to take too much to really get poisoned).

If you are writing about a specific time period, such as the 1920s in the United States with their Chicago gangsters, then try to learn as much information about that time as possible.

You should be very careful with "high-tech" evidence, for example, with how the braking distance from tires on asphalt really looks; what is the difference between a trace and a rope around the neck of a hanged and strangled person; how a three-day stay in water affects a corpse, etc. You cannot do without such subtleties if you want to write for real good detective. Remember: a detective is a competition of minds, and a reader who senses a catch will not want to compete with you in quick wits and may lose all interest in history.