Origin and Evolution of the Mystery Genre

 By Kathryn Lane

When I’m about to start writing a new Nikki Garcia mystery, I take time to look back, like traveling through a time capsule, to the origin of the genre.

Most literary historians place the origin of mysteries in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Murders in the Rue Morgue. He invented devices of suspense fiction still in use, such as the subconscious motivation of his characters.

Poe also used kernels of truth in his fiction. Murders in the Rue Morgue is set in Paris. Since I like to place my novels in foreign countries, I wondered why Poe used Paris as his setting. It turns out that the first known private investigative firm was founded in that city by François Vidocq, a former criminal who became a criminologist and was also instrumental in organizing the Sûreté that became part of the national police force with Vidocq as its first director.

Apparently, Poe created the first fictional private investigator, Dupin, based on what Poe knew about Vidocq. I doubt Poe ever anticipated the reading public’s enduring fascination with suspense and mysteries, which have also evolved into thrillers.

The next big innovator, Arthur Conan Doyle, borrowed from other genres, including humor and romance, to spice up his Sherlock Holmes series, a trend some current authors tend to follow.

Agatha Christie invented the husband-and-wife team and moved her stories to the country, thus inventing the cozy mystery. She dropped clues in her stories so the reader could figure out whodunit.

A lot of experimentation followed in the genre, creating hard-boiled crime, spy thrillers, psychopathic and serial killers, and the psychological thriller.

Readers who enjoy mysteries often prefer stories full of twists and turns with memorable characters and plots that keep them turning the pages.

After I go down memory lane in my time capsule, I enjoy reflecting on specific ideas that might help me in my next project, such as creating more tension between characters, perhaps experimenting with an unstable character, or seeing how some of my favorite authors have used foreign locations to make the story more satisfying.

As a reader, what do you anticipate in a new mystery? 

Or, as a writer, do you look at the work of other authors, either current or past, to inspire you?

***

Kathryn’s books – The Nikki Garcia Thriller series and her short story collection – Backyard Volcano. All available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082H96R11

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two decades, she left the corporate world and plunged into writing mystery and suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/

Photos:

Crow, Investigator with Pipe, and Fingerprint – Public Domain

Kathryn’s books – designs by Bobbye Marrs

Five Things You Might Not Know About Agatha Christie

 By superfan Shari Randall

 

September 15 marked the 130^th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s birth and I've been celebrating all week. Please join me in raising a cup of tea in a toast to Dame Agatha, one of the most influential and successful novelists of all time. Her genre, the traditional mystery, has remained popular with readers since she published her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920.

 

Most are familiar with the biography of Agatha Christie. The mega-selling (over two billion copies) author’s work is rediscovered by every generation and celebrated with a splashy, star-studded movie (the latest, Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile, is slated for October). Born to a wealthy family in Torquay, England, she was homeschooled and taught herself to read at age five. She had an ill-fated whirlwind marriage to Royal Flying Corps aviator Archie Christie and her disappearance when she discovered his affair caused a sensation. Her work in pharmacies during the war gave her a wonderfully deep and useful knowledge of poisons. Her happy second marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan, and their travels, inspired some of her most popular books.

 

Her work continues to delight, inspire, and yes, confound 44 years after her death – from natural causes - in 1976 at age 85.

Here are a few lesser known facts about the Queen of Mystery:

 

Dame Agatha had a rose named after her: “Agatha Christie” is a “Beautiful rich, pink Hybrid Tea shaped blooms that are lightly fragrant. A strong growing disease-resistant climber with outstanding dark-green, glossy foliage. Repeat Bloom.”

 

She is the only female dramatist to have had three plays – Spider’s Web, Witness for the Prosecution, and The Mousetrap - running simultaneously in London’s West End.

 

She owned many dogs and her favorite breed was the terrier. Her first dog was named George Washington. Her favorite was a short-haired terrier called Peter that she wrote into Dumb Witness as “Bob.”

 

In 1922, Archie was asked to tour several areas of the British Empire to promote the British Empire Exhibition. He and Agatha stopped in Hawaii and the couple learned to surf, possibly becoming two of the first Europeans to master the sport.

 

Her daughter Rosalind, fiercely private like her mother, had one son, Matthew Prichard, with her first husband. Mathew received the sole rights to The Mousetrap for his ninth birthday.

 

There’s a misspelling on her gravestone. See if you can spot it.

https://cemeteryclub.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/a-visit-to-agatha-christies-grave/

 

 

What’s your favorite Agatha Christie book? Mine’s Murder on the Orient Express.

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series. Her debut, CURSES, BOILED AGAIN, won the Agatha Award (yes, named for Agatha Christie) for best first novel. You can see what's new with her at https://www.facebook.com/sharirandallauthor or see her mermaid obsession on Instagram @sharirandallauthor.