Beginning of Mystery
Crime and Mystery stories have been around for a while all the way to the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible.
The mystery genre that we know and love today began in the mid-nineteenth century with the creator the detective branch of mystery, Edgar Allan Poe.
His detective stories were usually short stories that were usually posted in newspapers and magazines.
The first short story that was considered a mystery was published in 1841 and entitled, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which was about young man Dupin and his partner the narrator who begins to investigate the double murder of Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter after reading about it in the local newspaper, and the police arresting the wrong person. He was able to figure out that an orangutan was the actual thing that killed both victims.
Poe created the genre but what a Scottish Physician by the name of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle changed the genre forever.
The mystery genre that we know and love today began in the mid-nineteenth century with the creator the detective branch of mystery, Edgar Allan Poe.
His detective stories were usually short stories that were usually posted in newspapers and magazines.
The first short story that was considered a mystery was published in 1841 and entitled, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which was about young man Dupin and his partner the narrator who begins to investigate the double murder of Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter after reading about it in the local newspaper, and the police arresting the wrong person. He was able to figure out that an orangutan was the actual thing that killed both victims.
Poe created the genre but what a Scottish Physician by the name of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle changed the genre forever.
An Icon is Born
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle began his career as a medical physician, and after a failed attempt of a medical practice with his friend, he decided to create his own practice. During quiet times, Doyle would write short stories, and eventually wrote a novel called The Mystery of Cloomber which told the story of a General who feared that he offended someone while he was involved in the Indian War.
In 1886 Doyle found a publisher who was willing to take his novel called A Study in Scarlet and in 1887 the novel published. This novel featured a detective by the name of Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. John Watson. Sherlock Holmes was a consulting detective with Scotland Yard, and has knowledge of Chemistry, geology, and botany. He has an uncanny ability to look at crime scenes and murders in a way that detectives do not. Doyle wrote his Sherlock Holmes novels in a completely different way that has ever been written, it is even different by today's standards. Doyle introduced the murder of the books when he was arrested of murder, the readers never figured out who the murderer was until the very end. Doyle became annoyed with Holmes at the end, and did something that shocked readers, he killed Sherlock Holmes. By doing that readers protested and Doyle had to bring him back to life.
Sherlock Holmes started off as an idea from a doctor, and by today he is one of the most famous detectives today.
In 1886 Doyle found a publisher who was willing to take his novel called A Study in Scarlet and in 1887 the novel published. This novel featured a detective by the name of Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. John Watson. Sherlock Holmes was a consulting detective with Scotland Yard, and has knowledge of Chemistry, geology, and botany. He has an uncanny ability to look at crime scenes and murders in a way that detectives do not. Doyle wrote his Sherlock Holmes novels in a completely different way that has ever been written, it is even different by today's standards. Doyle introduced the murder of the books when he was arrested of murder, the readers never figured out who the murderer was until the very end. Doyle became annoyed with Holmes at the end, and did something that shocked readers, he killed Sherlock Holmes. By doing that readers protested and Doyle had to bring him back to life.
Sherlock Holmes started off as an idea from a doctor, and by today he is one of the most famous detectives today.
Women enter the Mystery World
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie Agatha Christie grew up an admirer of mystery novels, she especially loved the Sherlock Holmes series and decided to write her own detective novels. Her first novel was entitled The Mysterious Affair at Styles and was published in 1920 that introduced detective Hercule Poirot. Poirot was a Belgian officer who was displaced in England due to World War One and he helps with Scotland Yard to solve murders. Poirot became a staple in Agatha Christie's novels, he was in about 30 novels and 50 short stories. She like Doyle grew tired of Poirot, but she did not choose to kill of Poirot like Doyle did to Holmes. With Agatha Christie, her novels all followed the same format, it was a classic whodunit novel. Members of British middle and upper societies, where detectives stumble upon murders, and the detective interrogate the suspects, review the crime scene, and making notes of the clues. From having all that information in the book, Christie wanted the readers to feel like they were taking part in solving the crime. This is why Agatha Christie is the best selling novelist of all time having sold more than four billion copies of her novels and short stories.