![]() ![]() The contemporary Whodunit takes notes from the genre’s history, taking influences from the past and adding new twists to make the ideas fresh again. Popular classic writers of this genre include Dashiell Hammett, James M. While the Golden Age of mysteries in Britain was at its peak in the 1920s and 1930s, hard-boiled crime fiction really took off in the mid-1930s through the 1950s. ![]() While the general storyline still followed the conventions of a classic Whodunit, hard-boiled crime fiction added a little edge and darkness to a genre that was maybe getting a bit more polite than any murder mystery has a right to be. These Whodunits were louder, more violent, and more emotionally raw. Think of hard-boiled crime fiction as America’s answer to the polite British Whodunit. And so from this period of tried and tested mystery tropes arose a new type of Whodunit: hard-boiled crime fiction. But the more stories continued to be written in this formula, the more people began to push away from the expected. Yes, there is a certain pleasure and comfort in the fact that these Whodunits from the GoldenĪge had a predictable formula. Mysteries from the Golden Age became so ubiquitous that certain patterns and tropes began appearing: a cast of questionable characters, a cozy country home as a setting, locked rooms, red herrings, and so on. Contemporary cozy mysteries are still very much inspired by this important period in the history of Whodunit stories. Some of the most enduring mystery writers come out of this time period, including Dorothy L. The Golden Age of mystery fiction happened in the 1920s and 30s, and many of the authors of these Whodunits were British (or were inspired by British authors). And Gordon couldn’t have come up with a more apt term any sooner, because as he was writing and defining what a Whodunit is, the world was right in the middle of the Golden Age for mystery fiction. In his review of the detective novel Half-Mast Murder, News of Books reviewer Donald Gordon used the term “Whodunit” to describe the story. Many of these crime stories used Chicago as their backdrop, and to this day, Chicago remains a classic setting for Whodunits and mystery stories.Īlthough Whodunits were being written and voraciously read long before 1930, this is when the term “Whodunit” was officially coined. Mystery suspense stories continued to rise in popularity through the late 1800s, mostly with the distribution of crime stories in dime novels. And for so many readers, that’s why this genre never gets old.īut where did Whodunit stories come from? Detective fiction dates all the way back to the mid-1800s when Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Murders of Rue Morguein 1844, and shortly after, in 1868, Wilkie Collins wrote the first detective novel, The Moonstone. But looking back, we realize we had all the puzzle pieces to fit the case together, and that’s thrilling and satisfying. In the end, we as readers might not have been able to figure out the culprit of the case before our gifted investigator did so. We as readers are presented with all of the clues just as the characters in the story see them, which means we have all the tools to crack the case along with our main character.Ī good Whodunit story offers up a mystery like a puzzle that is complicated to solve but not impossible. But the true appeal of the Whodunit is that the readers become just as involved in solving the crime as the investigators themselves. From there, an astute investigator, either amateur or professional, is called in to solve the case. Stick around!Ī typical Whodunit story presents a crime of some sort right at the start. But what is a Whodunit mystery? Where did the genre come from and how did it become so popular? And what are the best Whodunit stories out there? I’m here to answer all of your questions about Whodunits: what they are, where they came from, and where to find them. The Whodunit mystery is a genre that has appealed to readers for centuries. ![]()
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