Elements Of Crime Fiction

The crime fiction genre has been growing in popularity since its apparitions in the early 1840s. Indeed, the interest for this literary genre is comprehensible, given the entertainment one gains from reading a detective novel, the thrill of the plot and action and, of course, the constant desire of figuring out the solution before the detective himself does. As with most literary genres, crime fiction has clear conventions that contribute to making it recognizable and enjoyable to the readers. These conventions evolved with the years and eventually became implicit elements that actually make a novel or story deserve the appellation of crime fiction. Between Edgar Allan Poe, the famous American writer who is considered to be the founder of the …show more content…
Indeed, crime is a key word in the notion of crime fiction, which clearly shows that the nature and presentation of the crime itself is essential to the way that the readers will perceive the plot and to its literary value. Generally, crime fiction novels or stories tend to focus on murder or at the least theft. This can be seen in Poe’s stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter. The first story is the one that really made Poe recognized as the founder of crime fiction, while the second one is very admirable in its use of deduction and this very unusual approach of unveiling the guilty before reconstituting the circumstances of the crime. In The Murders in The Rue Morgue, the violence of the murders committed and the incomprehension of possible motives, along with the witnesses ‘difficulty of identifying the murderer’s voice makes the crimes complex and interesting. The identity of the murderer, a Ourang-Outandg, apart from being sordid, makes the reader feel like the plot is well build and consistent enough to have lead to …show more content…
We can see that, just minutes before he decided to investigate on Nick’s case, Poirot refused the case of the Home Secretary. When he takes Nick’s case, he says: “he made a grave mistake ,that would-be murderer… when he shot at his victim within a dozen yards of Hercule Poirot” (Christie 24) This built-up of tension and the latter elements that add to the complexity of the crime, such as the discovery of the missing gun contribute to giving the crime a significant scope. This is emphasized by the readers’ lack of awareness concerning the motive. We wonder who would want to kill Nick Buckley and why? Hence, the crime has to be of a quite important scope, which makes it important enough to be written about and gives the plot enough complexity to make the story interesting and of literary