Have You Read the Classics? A Quick History of the Mystery

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Do you ever go back and read classic mysteries? I try to sprinkle in some every so often to make sure I’m varying my reading habits. The best class I took as an undergraduate was “The History of the Mystery in American and British Fiction.”

These books are time capsules to a different era. Here are some interesting tidbits I came across when I was researching a presentation on the topic.

  • “Three Apples” in Arabian Nights is often cited as the first mystery story. (However, the hero didn’t solve the murder.)

  • Edgar Allan Poe is often called the Father of the Modern Detective Story. (If you’ve never been to the Poe Museum in Richmond, you need to add it to your bucket list.)

  • In 1868, Wilkie Collins wrote Moonstone, which is credited as being the first English detective novel.

  • Anna Katherine Green is the Mother of American Detective Fiction. She wrote The Leavenworth Case in 1878.

  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes in 1890.

  • The Golden Age of detective fiction in Great Britain was roughly 1914-1945.

  • Agatha Christie published The Mysterious Affair at Style in 1920, and she earned $125.

  • Winnie the Pooh creator, A. A. Milne, wrote The Red House Mystery in 1922 for his father.

  • In 1928, a group of detective fiction authors (including Christie, Sayers, and Chesterton) created the Detective Club to define the rules for fair play in mysteries.

  • After World War II, the police procedural as a subgenre became popular. This is often attributed to the surge of patriotism and the return of the war heroes in uniform.

Here’s alist of classic mystery and detective fiction authors you should check out. They’re in no particular order.

  • Edgar Allan Poe

  • Anna Katherine Green

  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  • Agatha Christie

  • Dorothy L. Sayers

  • G. K. Chesterton

  • E. C. Bentley

  • Margery Allingham

  • Freeman Wills Croft

  • Josephine Bell

  • Philip MacDonald

  • Dashiell Hammett

  • Raymond Chandler

  • Ellery Queen

  • Erle Stanley Gardner

  • Mickey Spillane

  • Rex Stout

  • Carroll John Daly

Who would you add to the list?