History of the Detective Story

The changing cultural mythology of crime has given rise to many different popular genres. Some of these genres have been essentially adventure stories or melodramas, but one of the most prominent embodies the cultural mythology of detectives, criminals, police, and suspects in a classic form that is almost pure mystery. Edgar Allen Poe first noticeably expressed the traditional detective story in the 1840s, but it did not become a widely popular genre until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This rise in popularity of the detective story coincided with the success of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Sherlock Holmes is widely regarded as the most famous of all fictional detectives and is known for his intellectual prowess and reasoning skills. Although Doyle’s works are the most popular of detective fiction, Poe is responsible for originating the formula for what is commonly known as the detective story. Frenchman Francois-Eugene Vidocq, in his Memoirs of Vidocq, introduced the idea of detection and the figure of the detective that would eventually stand at the center of the genre in the early nineteenth century. Vidocq was a confidant of at least two famous contemporary French writers and an inspiration for many others around the world. Having served as a soldier, privateer, smuggler, inmate, and secret police spy, Vidocq, at age twenty-four, credited himself with a duel for every year of his life. The Paris police accepted his offer for his "security services" in 1812, and shortly thereafter, he established his own department, the Surete, which became the French equivalent of the American F.B.I. In a typical year, William Ruehlmann reports, "Vidocq had twelve men working for him, and between them they made 811 arrests, including fifteen assassins, 341 thieves, and thirty-eight receivers of stolen property."[1] When Vidocq published his Memoirs in France in 1828, they were immediately popular and translated into English. Victor

Bibliography: Carlson, Eric W. A Companion to Poe Studies. London: Greenwood Press, 1996. Fiedler, Leslie. Love and Death in the American Novel. New York: Criterion Books, 1960. Gruber, Frank. The Pulp Jungle. Los Angeles: Sherbourne Press, 1967. Hutchisson, James M. Poe. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2005. McCullough, David Willis. City Sleuths and Tough Guys. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Morn, Frank. The Eye That Never Sleeps: A History of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1982. Nyman, Jopi. Men Alone: Masculinity, Individualism, and Hard-Boiled Fiction. Amsterdam: Rodopi Bv Editions, 1997. Pearson, Edmund. Dime Novels. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1929. Pinkerton, Allan. The Molly Maguires and the Detectives. New York: Haskell House Publishing, 1972. Roth, Marty. Fair and Foul Play: Reading Genre in Classic Detective Fiction. Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1995. Ruehlmann, William. Saint with a Gun: The Unlawful American Private Eye. New York: New York University Press, 1974. Turner, Frederick Jackson. The Significance of the Frontier in American History. New York: H. Holt and Co., 1921. Westlake, Donald E., and J. Madison Davis. Murderous Schemes: An Anthology of Classic Detective Stories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. ----------------------- [1] William Ruehlmann, Saint with a Gun: The Unlawful American Private Eye (New York: New York University Press, 1974), 22. [2] David Willis McCullough, City Sleuths and Tough Guys (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989), 30-32. [3] Donald E. Westlake and J. Madison Davis, Murderous Schemes: An Anthology of Classic Detective Stories (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 5. [7] James M. Hutchisson, Poe (Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2005), 298-99. [9] Frank Morn, The Eye That Never Sleeps: A History of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1982), 14-22. [11] Allan Pinkerton, The Molly Maguires and the Detectives (New York: Haskell House Publishing, 1972), 17. [13] Eric W. Carlson, A Companion to Poe Studies (London: Greenwood Press, 1996), 139-42. [14] Edmund Pearson, Dime Novels (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1929), 21. [22] Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History (New York: H. Holt and Co., 1921), 9. [23] Leslie Fiedler, Love and Death in the American Novel (New York: Criterion Books, 1960), 476. [24] James M. Cain, “Man Merriwell,” Saturday Evening Post (June 11, 1927): 45-51. [25] Marty Roth, Fair and Foul Play: Reading Genre in Classic Detective Fiction (Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1995), 6-10. [28] Frank Gruber, The Pulp Jungle (Los Angeles: Sherbourne Press, 1967), 40. [29] Jopi Nyman, Men Alone: Masculinity, Individualism, and Hard-Boiled Fiction (Amsterdam: Rodopi Bv Editions, 1997), 271.