Crime fiction

Crime fiction is a genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred. It has several sub-genres, including detective fiction (including the whodunnit), legal thriller, courtroom drama, and hard-boiled fiction.

History of crime fiction.

Main article: History of crime fiction

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Crime fiction began to be considered as a serious genre only around 1900. The earliest inspiration for books and novels from this genre came from earlier dark works of Edgar Allan Poe (eg. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (1842) and "The Purloined Letter" (1844)). The evolution of locked room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries, probably based upon Auguste Dupin, are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge popularity in this genre.

Related Topics:
Genre - Edgar Allan Poe - The Murders in the Rue Morgue - The Mystery of Marie Roget - The Purloined Letter - Locked room mysteries - Sherlock Holmes - Auguste Dupin

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The evolution of the print mass media in Britain and America in the latter half of the 19th century was crucial in popularising crime fiction and related genres. Literary 'variety' magazines like Strand, McClure's, and Harper's quickly became central to the overall structure and function of popular fiction in society, providing a mass-produced medium that offered cheap, illustrated publications that were essentially disposable.

Related Topics:
Mass media - Britain - America - 19th century - McClure's - Harper's - Popular fiction - Mass-produced

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Like the works of many other important fiction writers of his day — Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens — Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories first appeared in serial form in the monthly Strand magazine in Britain. The series quickly attracted a wide and passionate following on both sides of the Atlantic, and when Doyle killed off Holmes in The Final Problem, the public outcry was so great and the publishing offers for more stories so attractive that he was reluctantly forced to resurrect him.

Related Topics:
Wilkie Collins - Charles Dickens - Strand

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Later a set of stereotypic formulae began to appear to cater to various tastes.

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