A mysterious murder, misleading evidence, an action-packed investigation… Almost everyone loves classic detective stories. Why? Mediator and cultural history author David Evans helps answer this question. According to him, secrets, like children’s fairy tales, take us away from fear to certainty.
We all love stories, and many of us are mostly drawn to murder mystery and tales of death and chaos.
Mediator and book author David Evans, citing publishing industry statistics, notes that in 2018, readers preferred murder mysteries — sales of such literature led by a significant margin. “But other fiction books have a lot of crime, murder and chaos,” he comments. What makes detective stories different?
Evans begins his analysis by considering the features of the genre. What is its specificity?
In fact, every classic detective story should include six elements:
1. Murder. The first requirement for a detective story is murder. Someone is killed early in the story, and that event is the engine that drives the rest of the story. It raises a big question that must be resolved in the finale.
2. Killer. If someone was killed, then who did it?
3. Detective. Someone undertakes to solve the crime and bring the killer to justice.
In literature and cinema, there is a wide, almost unlimited range of people who take on the role of «detective». This is the old maid Miss Marple and the eccentric Hercule Poirot, the middle-aged pastor Father Brown and the young handsome vicar Sidney Chambers, the fat man Nero Wolfe who does not leave his house and the active lawyer Perry Mason, the intellectual and handsome Erast Fandorin and the “king of detectives” Nat Pinkerton, girl -Teenager Flavia de Luce and experienced Detective Inspector Barnaby … And these are not all options!
When we come to the denouement, our reaction should be: “Oh, of course! Now I see it too!”
Detectives are the ones we readers most often identify with. They are not superheroes. They often have flaws and experience internal conflicts, hardships, and sometimes in great danger, which makes it seem that they will not be able to find the killer.
4. Circumstances and context. As in the case of choosing a detective, the range here is almost unlimited. The action can take place against the backdrop of the steppes or a noisy metropolis, in the snowy European outback or on a paradise island in the ocean. However, in a good classic detective story, believability is important. The reader must believe in the reality of the world into which he is immersed. No magical realism, David Evans emphasizes.
5. Process. The process by which the detective identifies the killer must also be absolutely believable. No magic or tricks. In a classic detective story, clues pop up all the time, but the writer or screenwriter, with the dexterity of a magician, diverts them into the shadows or makes them ambiguous.
And when we come to the denouement, our reaction should be something like this: “Oh, of course! Now I see it too!” After everything is revealed, the puzzle is formed — all the details are combined into a single logical picture, which should become obvious to us. Unraveling the mystery as the plot developed, we tried to use all the clues and even deduced a preliminary version of the development of events, but at that very moment the author drew our attention to a deceptive hint and sent us on the wrong path.
6. Igbekele. In the author’s opinion, this is the most important aspect of the classic detective story, a genre as archetypal as the Hero’s Journey.
It’s a journey from fear to certainty
In broad terms, the story begins when something terrible happens, causing confusion, uncertainty, and fear as those affected try to figure out how to react. Then someone significant shows up to take charge of solving the crime, whether it’s a professional detective or not.
According to David Evans, from that moment on, the investigator of the crime decides to «take a trip.» And thanks to this, he or they become our understudies: together with them, we ourselves go on a journey.
A few years ago, psychologists did important work. They suggested that fairy tales read to children had a beneficial effect on their emotional life. It turned out that fairy tales help children cope with fears and traumas and worry less about them.
We love murder mysteries because these stories always end in redemption.
And classic detective stories, in turn, can act as «fairy tales for adults.»
We live in a world full of wars, violence and disasters. But detective books and films dedicated to solving mysteries and murders can give us hope. They tell stories that begin with terrible events, but then unite the efforts of people, many of whom are ready to take risks and exploits in order to defeat evil with considerable effort.
We love murder mysteries because these stories always end in redemption, giving hope and helping to move from fear to certainty.
About the Author: David Evans is a mediator and author of books on cultural history.