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Andrew Kwok
Professor Haas
Writing 39B
29 April 2014
Detective Novels and Their Lasting Popularity
People are naturally curious. That should come as no surprise, since humans have one of
the largest brain-to-mass ratios in the animal kingdom. This inquisitive attitude about the world
naturally influenced the development of the detective novel, although there were many other
compounding factors that led to the explosion in popularity of the genre beginning in the Late
Victorian Era. Arthur Conan Doyle is perhaps the most famous detective fiction writer of all
time, and he wrote many different Sherlock Holmes mysteries, most of them being short
stories. The Sign of Four was his second novel (of four, coincidentally) he had written, and it
introduced many different characters and tropes that would later become the blueprint for
future stories in the genre. According to Panek, Sherlock Holmes and the detective novels
became especially popular for a variety of reasons, one of which is the emergence of the short
story format (Beginnings 11). Dove also argues that stories in this genre became prolific thanks
to their organized, predictable structure (5). This predictability also extends to the characters,
where Holmes is the mostly unchanging but brilliant detective and Watson is the
characterization of the reader. Thus, the detective genre became popular during the Late
Victorian Era for a multitude of reasons, and then developed a set of conventions that would
set the stage for future adaptations well into the 21
st
century.
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Readers continue to be fascinated by the detective genre over 200 years after its
introduction thanks in part to its rather rigid format. This means that readers generally know
what to expect for example, the reader proceeds with confidence that the mystery will be
solved, presumably by the detective, and the reading is consequently relieved of the normal
stresses of problem-solving (Dove 18). When following along in a detective novel, readers are
presented with a choice. They can choose to be active participants, attempting to solve the
case before the characters in the story do, or they can be passive observers, reading along and
marveling at the genius of the protagonist. Another convention is that the protagonist must
have some sort of character flaw. For Sherlock Holmes, it is his perpetual cocaine habit. The
Sign of the Four starts and ends with him injecting his forearm, pockmarked with needle marks,
with a seven percent solution of the drug (Doyle 1). An otherwise normal Victorian male,
Holmes argues that it is necessary for his mental stimulation. Without this distinguishing
characteristic, Holmes would be a rather forgettable protagonist and the detective novel would
surely not have the following it does today.
The detective genre was invented during a period of rapid change and modernization
in Great Britain, and one of the positive outcomes of the Industrial Revolution was the
introduction of the middle class. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes novels
mainly for the emerging middle class male: a man who had the ability but not the time to
read the flowery, ornate novels of yore. To that end the short story was created, and the
format helped the detective genre become extremely popular because it removed all the
unnecessary details that books written only a few decades earlier might have. Panek argues
that because of its need for economy, compression, and consistency, the short story cannot
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afford the casualness of the romance. If the hero says at the end he saw or found something,
it had better be there in the story (10). In other words, everything that was needed to solve
the case was written somewhere in the story, and an astute reader would notice along the
way. Along with the knowledge that the case would be solved by the end, this gave the
reader a sense of pleasure without anxiety. The short story, argues Dove, also allows the
detective genre to be inherently recreational, intending to relax (2). This also helps explain
the sudden popularity of detective novels during this time previously, a family might only
own a Bible and an almanac, but now people could read more for leisure.
The Detective is not a character endemic to Arthur Conan Doyles stories. In fact, Doyle
adapted Sherlock Holmes from earlier detectives, such as C. Auguste Dupin from Edgar Allen
Poes The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which was written nearly 50 years before Holmes was
even conceived. This is not to say that Holmes is a carbon copy of Dupin, even though it is
obvious that Doyle originally intended to make his hero much more like Dupin--to create a
pure detective who would be little more than animated reason. (Binyon 10) Binyon argues that
Holmes was originally intended to be nothing more than the perfect detective with no
character traits or flaws to call his own. Doyle amends this in later novels and short stories, and
eventually Holmes develops human emotions and feelings. This is a distinction from earlier
detective stories that featured flat, unchanging protagonists, as opposed to the multi-faceted,
enigmatic Holmes. Doyle also draws inspiration for Holmes from real life. He wrote in his
autobiography that his former teacher, Joe Bell, had a curious way, an eerie trick for spotting
details (Panek 77). Motivating the creation of a fictional character by way of a real life person
is certainly not new, but at the time it had rarely been done. While he may be a pastiche of
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Poes Dupin and Gaboriaus Lecoq (by way of Holmes superior tracking ability), his main
distinction from the rest of those characters is that he has a sidekick and partner, Dr. James
Watson.
A discussion of Sherlock Holmes and his development would certainly not be complete
without at least a cursory mention of his longtime roommate and partner, Dr. James Watson.
Watson is introduced in A Study in Scarlet as a doctor who has recently returned from a war in
Afghanistan, and needs a roommate. Eventually, he and Holmes decide to live together, and
they go along solving cases. As Holmes partner, Watson narrates nearly all of the Holmes
canon. He is important because he represents the reader in the novels. Watson, being educated
but not having money or land, was the prototypical middle-class Victorian gentleman and he
would not have been too dissimilar to the readers of Doyles stories. Holmes is the
embodiment of the scientific, an ideal we could aspire to whereas Watson represents the
quick firing, intuitive thought process that everybody naturally chooses first (Konnikova 12).
This novel way of telling the story through Watsons eyes made Doyles stories famous, since
readers would instinctively put themselves in Watsons shoes. Also, it freed up room to make
Holmes intelligent beyond normal expectations.
Elements of detective fiction have been around since humans started writing long-form
narratives. Yet the detective novel couldnt have developed were it not for key developments
like the incompetent police force, or the growing middle class. It has been over 200 years since
Arthur Conan Doyle first penned the first Sherlock Holmes mystery, but we still see elements of
his stories today, in adaptations like the BBC TV series Sherlock and the myriad movies,
cartoons, and spinoffs that have been created. The detective genre might have been created
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two centuries ago, but its impression on popular culture and literature have far reaching
consequences, and we will likely see adaptations of Doyles character well into the 22
nd
century
and beyond.



















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Works Cited
Binyon, T.J. "Murder Will Out": The Detective in Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Print.
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Sign of the Four. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services, 2013. Kindle
eBook. Online.
Dove, George N. The Reader and the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press, 1997. Print.
Konnikova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. New York: Viking, 2013.
Print.
Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press, 1987. Print.