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Bryan Lam
Dr. Haas
Writing 37
06.November.2014
Conventions of the Detective Genre
Sherlock Holmes, a name so commonly associated with detectives nowadays. People
over the years have read and loved Conan Doyles stories of the unstoppable duo of a detective
and his sidekick breaking case after case. But what made Sherlock Holmes and the detective
genre so popular with the public? Many literary scholars believe that it is the structure of the
detective genre that appeals to the people and draws them to read detective stories. They believed
that there was a specific formula that writers, such as Conan Doyle, used to create these very
popular stories. While there are many elements to what goes into creating a detective story, there
are two main conventions that makes the detective story so popular to readers: the detectives
amazing observation abilities to introduce the case and the readers interaction with the story.
Detective stories usually begin with the detective showing off his observation skills, and
comes up with many different conclusions on what the object being examined came from, who
owned it, etc. Panek, an author who writes about the detective story and crime fiction, describes
this as a curtain raiser in which Holmes demonstrates his powers of observation and analytical
skill (Panek 84). This amazing feat of observation draw readers in, as it made Holmes an
interesting character to read about and according to Panek, fascinating and valuable (Panek
85). In his book, Murder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction, English scholar T.J. Binyon
writes how the introductions are always the same in every Sherlock Holmes story and its
popularity with readers. Binyon writes that, These showy displays of what, so Conan Doyle
informs us, has come to be known as Sherlockholmitos in South America are most often

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irrelevant to the matter at hand; but they work marvelously well as introductions to the stories.
(Binyon 11). Similar to what Panek said, Binyon suggests that this remarkable feat of
observation by Sherlock Holmes in every story sets the reader up to what is to come later in the
story. A main purpose of the Sherlockholmitos is to try to create an interesting setting to try to
capture the readers attention and to have them read on. In the story The Red Headed League,
Holmes was able to identify what exactly Jabez Wilson did, and information about his
background. In the story, Holmes notices Watson trying to examine their client, and then tells
Watson that, Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he
takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a
considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else (The Red Headed League). As
Binyon writes, this observation of Jabez Wilson introduces the character in a very special way to
the readers, and leads them into the main case. Almost every detective story written by Conan
Doyle follows this particular formula, which has Holmes making an observation, to introduce the
client who has a case for Holmes to solve.
To keep readers interested in the story, detective stories are set up so it is like a game for
readers to play along and try to solve the mystery along with the detective in the story. In his
book, The Different Story, George Dove, an author of many books on the detective genre,
compares detective stories as a game, where the reader is playing the game of guessing who the
culprit is as he or she reads on. Dove believes that this is an important part of the detective genre
itself and writes, The reader cannot be excluded from the definition of the tale of detection
(Dove 1). The reader should always be aware of everything that happens in the story, since most
of the time it foreshadows something later in the story. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, there
are many places where the story is setting up elements of foreshadowing for the reader to notice.

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One of them is when Stapleton runs off, Miss Stapleton uses Stapletons absence to tell Watson
to Go straight back to London, instantly (loc.1960). At this point, the reader should be
suspicious why Miss Stapleton would give this kind of warning when Stapleton is away. Dove
goes on and writes that the detective fiction is rich in blanks, but in this case the blanks are not
only stated but are, as a result of conventionalization, supplied with suggestions regarding later
developments (Dove 7). The authors of detective genres give clues but also give readers many
large gaps of information for the readers to fill in as they read on. Panek also realizes that Doyle
wanted readers to make the wrong guesses [which] heightened the surprise at the end of the
story. (Panek 94). Doyle wanted the readers themselves to play along with the detective story,
to try to answer the Who done it question before the detective figures it out in the story. Dove
and Panek write that the reason why stories of the detective genre were so interesting to readers
was because the stories acted as an interactive game for the reader to follow along.
During Doyles time, the detective genre reached its classical stage of genre
development, where the conventions of the genre are very noticeable and the reader of story
knows what to expect as he or she reads on in the story. According to Panek and Binyon, the
detective genre must be able to draw readers in with a very interesting introduction and keep
them reading on, as the introduction always leads into the case. Most of the time, this is achieved
by the detective making a great observation on an object and deduces many conclusions which
lead to the character who comes in with a case for the detective to solve. On top of that, Panek
also writes that the detective story has to be set up like a game, for the readers to be constantly
engaged in the story and give the readers entertainment. Dove supports that claim and writes that
the reader cannot be excluded from the definition of the tale of detection (Dove 1). The

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conventions and the structure of the detective genre has made it one of the more popular genres
throughout its history.

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Works Cited

Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services, 2013.
Kindle eBook. Online.
Delamater, Jerome and Ruth Prigozy, eds. Theory and Practice of Classic Detective
Fiction. New York: Praeger, 1997. Print.
Dove, George N. The Reader and the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press, 1997. Print.
Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press, 1987. Print.