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History of the Mystery - for KidsSummary of mystery authors from Poe to the Present with links
 ystery and crime stories as we know them
today did not emerge until the mid-nineteenth century when Edgar
Allan Poe introduced mystery fiction's first fictional detective,
Auguste C. Dupin, in his 1841 story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." The acknowledged father of the mystery story, Poe continued
Dupin's exploits in novels such as The Mystery of Marie Roget
(1842) and The Purloined Letter (1845)."The Murders in the Rue
Morgue" is the most famous example of a mystery style known as the
locked room, in which "a murder victim is found inside an
apparently sealed enclosure and the detective's challenge is to
discover the murderer's modus operandi." (Crime Classics)Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first
to shift the focus of mystery stories from the description of
shocking events and eerie setting to a "study of the criminal's
mind." (Crime Classics)As important as his
contributions were to the genre, Edgar Allen Poe was influenced greatly by the
early work of Charles Dickens who, with his contemporary Wilkie
Collins, made major contributions to the genre as well. The rising
literacy rates combined with more leisure time contributed greatly
to the popularity of novels in general and mysteries in
particular.In 1878, with the
publication of The Leavenworth Case, Katherine Anne Greene
became the first woman to write a detective novel. This novel
introduced elements of detection later used to great effect by
writers of the English country house murder school, a style that
focuses on members of a closed group, often in a country house or
village who become suspects in a generally bloodless and neat murder
solved by a great-detective kind of investigator.Sherlock Holmes,
Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant detective, arrived on the mystery
scene in the late nineteenth century in A Study in Scarlet
(1887). Holmes possessed a singular style unlike any detective seen
before. With his distinctive style and his flair for deducing clues,
Holmes, with his ever-reliable sidekick, Dr. Watson, quickly became
indispensable to mystery readers everywhere.The 1920s ushered in the
Golden Age of mystery fiction. A time of growing prosperity in both
England and America, the popularity of mystery fiction was at an
all-time high. A writer emerged during this time whose name became
synonymous with Golden Age fiction.Agatha Christie wrote
more than 80 novels, spanning a career of 50-plus years, and is
today probably the best-known mystery writer in history. Christie
has "entertained more people for more hours at a time than almost
any other writer of her generation." (Great Detectives)During the height of
Golden Age fiction's popularity, London publisher Allen Lane came up
with an idea that further helped to expand the availability of
mysteries to the public. Along with his two brothers, he obtained
limited rights to hardcover books written by Dorothy L. Sayers and
other mystery writers. Their new paperback line was issued in 1935
with only ten titles and quickly expanded to seventy titles within a
year. Penguins, as they were called, were easily accessible to the
public due to their much lower cost and availability in department
stores, where most of the public shopped at the time. These
paperbacks helped to bring mysteries, along with other types of
fiction as well, to the public.Another type of crime
fiction, police procedural, surfaced in the 1940s, and its style
coincided perfectly with the advent of television. As its name
implies, it differed from other styles of crime writing because of
its realistic portrayal of police methods. The stories were always
presented from the point of view of the police, usually in a gritty,
realistic style.Just as mystery
throughout its history hasn't been limited to the page, it hasn't
been limited to one audience. Some of the most popular mystery
series have not been written for adults, but for children. The
continued popularity of such series as Nancy Drew, The
Hardy Boys, and Encyclopedia Brown, among others, attest
to the fact that mystery remains a beloved pastime for readers of
all ages. Current writers like Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine,
creator of the wildly popular Goosebumps series, sell in the
millions as well. The popular Parker Brothers game, Clue, is another
example of mystery's enormous appeal to children.The popularity of
mystery has a long and varied history and shows no sign of abating.
On the contrary, it remains as popular as ever and today's mystery
writers are as diverse and wide-ranging as ever.Mystery in all its forms
will undoubtedly continue to capture the public's imagination,
regardless of the medium, well into the future. Internet • school • home • your local bookstore |
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