Literary Genres (10): Mystery

 

The mystery genre is a genre of fiction that follows a crime (like a murder or a disappearance) from the moment it is committed to the moment it is solved. Mystery novels are often called “whodunnits” because they turn the reader into a detective trying to figure out the who, what, when, and how of a particular crime. Most mysteries feature a detective or private eye solving a case as the central character.

Types of Mystery

Fiction Mysteries

Fictional mysteries are stories that can be realistic or fantastic in nature, but are not specifically based on true events. They overlap with other literary genres, such as fantasy (most commonly to create gothic fiction), thrillers, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, and even science fiction. Detective fiction, which explicitly features a detective solving a crime, is perhaps the most popular form of fictional mystery, however, it is nowadays considered a separate genre of literature.

Nonfiction Mysteries

Nonfiction mystery books cover a wide range of topics that address true events, often involving mysteries of history, science, religion, magic, the supernatural, or the afterlife. For example, there are many works on unsolved crimes, unexplainable disappearances of people or groups of people, strange sightings like Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster, and UFOs, or mysterious places that seem to be haunted. Nonfiction mysteries are also a very popular genre for documentary and reality television shows, often focusing on mysteries that remain unsolved or unexplainable.

*An important difference between fiction and nonfiction mysteries is that fiction mysteries almost always end with the mystery being solved, while nonfiction mysteries typically exist to address mysteries that remain unsolved.

Examples of Mystery in Literature

Example 1
The Hound of Baskerville

The late 1800’s gave rise to the iconic fictional character Sherlock Holmes, a detective who is featured in a series of mystery novels and short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Most of the stories are told from the perspective of Dr. Watson, Holmes’s assistant and companion. Holmes is an independent detective based in London with eccentric personality and highly logical reasoning skills. Below is a short selection from the novel The Hound of Baskerville:

Another item had been added to that constant and apparently purposeless series of small mysteries which had succeeded each other so rapidly. Setting aside the whole grim story of Sir Charles’s death, we had a line of inexplicable incidents all within the limits of two days, which included the receipt of the printed letter, the black-bearded spy in the hansom, the loss of the new brown boot, the loss of the old black boot, and now the return of the new brown boot. Holmes sat in silence in the cab as we drove back to Baker Street, and I knew from his drawn brows and keen face that his mind, like my own, was busy in endeavouring to frame some scheme into which all these strange and apparently disconnected episodes could be fitted.

Here, Watson is running through some of the clues to the victim’s death in his head. He also expresses his familiarity with Holmes’ character and skills by telling the audience that he knows the detective is finding the connections between all of these clues in his mind; which will inevitably lead to the solving of the mysterious murder.

Example 2
Southern Vampire Mysteries

The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as The Sookie Stackouse Novels, are a bestselling series of mystery romance novels by mystery author Charlaine Harris. As alluded by its title(s), the series is narrated by the protagonist Sookie Stackhouse and follows her relationship with vampires and other supernatural beings. The novels also inspired provocative HBO television series True Blood. The plot takes place in present day Louisiana, and often references popular culture, as in the selection below:

“Bubba” is supposed to be Elvis, who Bill claims was turned into a vampire on the night he died decades before. Harris lets the audience in on little secrets like this and references them throughout the series. Each novel Sookie faces a new mystery, and she always plays a substantial role in solving it. Like many mystery series, each Southern Vampire Series book could essentially exist as its own standalone story, as it introduces and solves a new mystery in each novel; however, the true popularity lies in the following of Sookie and her life.

Importance of Mystery

Mysteries began to gain popularity in the Victorian era, mostly in the form of gothic literature, which was primarily for women. Since then it has developed in both form and reach, and has become a widely read genre among male and female readers of all ages. Mysteries are important because they feature topics that are usually both fascinating and troubling to the human mind—unsolved crimes, unexplained questions and events in natural and human history, supernatural curiosities, and so on.