Detective Fiction

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Detective Fiction

• And The Murders in the Rue Morgue

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In every story, we know that a crime is going to
be committed and that someone is going to solve
it.

• So if we already know what is going to happen,
  why bother reading it?

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Because we want to know how.

• How does a criminal commit a crime in a locked
  room? 
• Or a detective solve a mystery without leaving
  the comfort of their arm chair?

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Detective Fiction is a genre made up of
variations to basic formulas.

• Formulas create the basic structure for a writer
  to create something original. 

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Think of formulas as recipes for a great mystery. 

• Any one who has eaten home-cooked food has had
  the experience of variations in basic meals. 
• Chili is chili, yet there are Chili cook-offs
  were cooks compete under categories like most
  original, most unique, and most likely to burn
  your esophagus. 
• Each cook has a secret twist to their recipe, 
  yet it is all chili. 

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Ice cream is the same.

• You take the basics (eggs, milk, sugar, ect.) and
  then add flavors and treats  until you come up
  with vastly different kinds of ice cream. 

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The formula for detective fiction dictates that a
crime is committed in a certain and must be
solved in a certain way, but the author always
adds their distinct secret ingredient to make it
surprising, original, and delectable. 
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Most mysteries fall under one formula, but often
writers combine formulas in order to give the
plot a fresh,  unexpected twist.
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Means, Motive,  Opportunity
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Means, motive, and opportunity form the basis for
any prosecution

• Motive Does the suspect have a reason to commit
  the crime?
• Means Would the suspect be able to commit the
  crime?
• Opportunity Was the suspect there when the crime
  was committed?

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"The Murders in the Rue Morgue," by Edgar Allan
Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be a founding
father of detective fiction.
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His detective, C. Aguste Dupin,  and the un-named
narrator form the template for many other
detectives

• such as
• Miss Marple
• Hercule Poirot. 
• Agatha Christie

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Sherlock Holmesby Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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Miss Marple

• By Agatha Christie

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Hercule Poirot
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"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is considered to
be the first locked room formula used in a short
story. 
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Formula The Locked Room

• Definition A crime is committed in a room,
  sealed from the inside or under constant
  scrutiny.

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The questions that must be answered are

• How could the culprit
• get in?
• commit the crime?
• then escape?

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• Edgar Allan Poe is credited with the first locked
  room scenario in the short story, "Murders in the
  Rue Morgue," but many mystery writers have used
  this formula since. 

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The ideas behind the locked room mystery are very
much grounded in the 19th century's fascination
and belief in the Scientific method.
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This idea, as Poe demonstrates in the first two
pages of his short story, is that through
observation and analytical thinking, any mystery
can be untangled into one logically explained
series of events. 

• All doors, walls, and floors are solid and
  impenetrable. 

• There are no ghosts or magic. 

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Also, crossing the moral line between socially
acceptable behavior and crime was thought to be
explained by three predetermined causes

• 1. Economics
• 2. Childhood Trauma 
• 3. Genetics

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1. Economics
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2. Childhood Trauma
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3. Genetics
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In the story, a terrible double homicide has been
committed in Paris.

•  The police are stumped because of the horrific
  nature of the murders and the apparent ability of
  the two suspects to seem to disappear from the
  locked crime scene. 

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• Dupin and the Narrator go to the scene, observe
  the room and the bodies, go home, and the next
  day Dupin tells the narrator to get a gun because
  he is expecting the culprit to arrive any
  minute. 

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How did Dupin figure it out? 

• Observation and analysis, of course. 
• And poor Dupin is forced to explain everything to
  the dumbfounded narrator. 

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Clues upon Close Observation

• Non-human hair
• Ribbon on the Lightning rod
• Spring-operated window sills
• Broken Nail in the window sill
• Size of the hand  print bruised  on the
  daughter's neck
• Testimony of the two voices heard in the room

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Analysis No Motive

•  Dupin rules out robbery,
• the bags containing 40,000 francs are still on
  the floor
• even though the drawers are riffled through, the
  most valuable things are still present. 
• These women had no enemies, being that they lived
  a solitary life and barely left the house.

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Analysis No Means

• - Means Nobody could have performed the murders
  in they gruesome way the women were found. 
• How could one man shove the daughter up the
  chimney if it took four men to get her down? 
• How could an average person be able to nearly
  sever the head of the mother with just a razor? 
• How could a man leave a hand print that big?

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Analysis No Opportunity

• - Opportunity The room was locked
• who would have been able to get in and out with
  apparent ease?

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Surprisingly happy