It is nearly 170 years since the appearance of what is widely considered to be the first detective fiction story, ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue‘ written by Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849), and published in 1841.
Today, crime writing is like a city that has grown into a huge international metropolis. World famous edifices, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), the creator of Sherlock Holmes, and Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976), who gave us Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, still stand tall alongside dozens of more contemporary, well-known authors like Ian Rankin and P D James. In addition, hundreds of crime books are published each year from the sprawling suburbs of newbie writers. It is an exciting and thriving genre feeding an insatiable readership.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
‘Crime writing’ is, of course, a euphemism. Stealing a packet of sweets from the corner shop is technically a crime, but as a plot the theft would no doubt leave readers feeling somewhat shortchanged (no pun intended). But stealing a packet of sweets then gunning down the shop owner and going on to slaughter every other corner shop owner in the area. Now we have crime. Make no mistake, most crime writing is about murder, whether it’s packaged as a whodunnit, legal, forensic or police procedural, spy novel or psychological suspense thriller. Whatever the category, somebody usually has to die.
But the murder is only half the story. A good crime needs to be solved and whether it is a book, film or television series, it is the puzzle within the plot that hooks, enthralls and keeps us guessing. Even if it is an ‘open crime’ in that we are privy to the identity of the murderer, we are still happy to watch the clues unfold. We might know what the picture looks like, but watching the jigsaw being assembled by our favourite detectives continues to fascinate. Readers and viewers are keen for new twists and turns as writers create an endless variety of murderous motives and opportunities for their villians in the quest to portray the ‘perfect crime’. But in the end the resolution by our hero detectives of even the most violent and heinous crimes completes the arc and we go away comforted that, from disturbing chaos, order has once again been restored and good has conquered evil.
Agatha Christie in 1963
All new crime writers stand on the shoulders of giants, even Conan Doyle’s immortal character of Sherlock Holmes was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe’s original gentleman detective ‘C Auguste Dupin’. And it is the strength and depth of these remarkable characters that provides the corner stone of the success of the genre. Whether it is Holmes, Marple, Poirot, Rebus, Morse, Wexford, Dalgliesh or Dalziel and Pascoe, to name just a high profile few, we learn to love them, even with all their idiosyncrasies and weaknesses. We want them to succeed, solve the plot and vanquish the bad guy.
Over the years, our hero detectives, though so often flawed, become cherished family friends that are recreated and reinvented every decade or so. The most recent great detective reincarnation is a new Sherlock Holmes, who is already in the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘most portrayed movie character’, with over 70 actors playing the part in over 200 films. In this latest, and no doubt controversial, reinterpretation Holmes is played by the talented Robert Downey Jr. with Jude Law as his Dr. Watson, both of whom can be seen in the Warner Brothers trailer below. I wonder what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have thought?