TYPICAL DETECTIVE STORIES
ELEMENTS Hero: Main character/eccentric detective, who often prefers privacy and wants to separate self from rest of human race. Structure: Many begin stories with impact of crime, then work backwards to reconstruct crime. Crime of choice: Murder Fair Play: Reader must have all clues the detective has Conclusion: Explanation/Unsolved problems answered. Presence of “Community” of characters
ORIGIN First Detective Story: “Murders in Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe Set standards for all future detective fiction writers
SIR CONAN DOYLE ( ) Medical Doctor Created world’s best known fictional detective: Sherlock Holmes Character modeled after Dr. Joseph Bell (Doyle’s professor of surgery at Edinburgh University) Doyle was impressed with his snap diagnosis or an unexpected conclusion based on logical “detection”
SHERLOCK HOLMES Created late 1880’s One of most famous literary characters of all time (Doyle made him so real) Science methodology: One of Victorian Era’s characteristics Holmes: Master of applying scientific methodology to solving criminal cases
SHERLOCK HOLMES’S STORIES 60 written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Took place between (40 years) Maturation of Sherlock Holmes
AS YOU READ THINK ABOUT….. What is it about the character of Sherlock Holmes that makes him so enduring? How does “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” fall into the category of a detective story?