Detective Stories: Definition, History, and Types

Vocabulary flashcards defining key terms, literary genres, and foundational concepts from the lecture notes on detective stories.

Detective Story

A genre of crime fiction centered on an investigation aimed at detecting the perpetrator of a crime introduced at the beginning of the work.

Whodunit

A category of classical detective fiction structured as a brief, suspenseful report on a murder investigation, challenging the reader to deduce the culprit from provided clues before the detective reveals their identity.

Gong'an fiction

The earliest known subgenre of Chinese detective stories, literally meaning 'case records of a public law court,' which features government magistrates solving criminal cases.

Bao Gong An

A Ming Dynasty Chinese literature collection recounting stories of Song dynasty minister Bao Zheng, who was responsible for solving, judging, and sentencing criminal cases.

Di Gong An

A Chinese detective story collection based on Tang court magistrate Di Renjie, translated into English by Dutch sinologist Robert Van Gulik as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee.

Inverted Detective Story

A narrative structure in which the criminal, their crime, and motives are introduced at the very beginning of the story rather than presented as a puzzle for the reader to solve.

Hardboiled stories

A type of detective fiction depicting a dark demi-world of gangsters, drug dealers, and low-life residents, characterized by brutal language and frequent violence.

Psychological thriller

A detective subgenre focused on character study, internal psychological obstacles, insinuations, and building suspense as characters move toward their own destruction.

International thriller

A large-scale thriller set across several countries, focusing on major crimes, war events, and investigations driven by a desire for justice or revenge.

Espionage thriller

A thriller subgenre dealing primarily with betrayal, half-truths, and intricate motives rather than a basic crime, featuring character introspection over pure action.

Political thriller

A thriller subgenre centered on the Machiavellian behavior, dense intrigue, and unyielding political ambition of its characters, which can entirely omit a crime motive.

The Three Apples

An early archetype of detective fiction narrated by Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights, in which a vizier uses reasoning to solve the murder of a woman found in a chest.