The History of the Mystery

Today the science of detection is large in scope. Detectives use modern means of travel and advanced technology. Communication enables rapid transmission of information. Authors write fast moving stories about solving crimes in numerous places and time periods. They describe detectives who are specialists, knowledgeable in many professions and hobbies. They are in professional fields, on the police force, talkative hair dressers in a salon , exotic dancers, and aging widows in a nursing home. Their mission, however, as not changed. They solve crimes. The reality the readers require is established by the conditions the author sets up. Authors make crucial choices, beginning with a description of the detective he/she chooses for the important task of finding the criminal. Consider some words for detective that have evolved over time.

Detectives - The word detective appeared in English in 1843 as an adjective describing something fitted for or used in detecting something, for example, a device for coal gas. The detective helped prevent trouble. In 1850 the word was being used to indicate one employed in detecting lawbreakers or in getting information that is not readily available. It was derived from the Latin detectus, the pp of detergere, to uncover, to discover the true character of, to discover the true existence, presence, or fact of something. (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary). Edgar Allen Poe's detective Dupin explained how he used his intellect to determine who was guilty. Dupin was the first of the long line of amateur detectives whose varying relationships with the police are part of the tension within the story.

Professional detectives working in a police force are specialists who take on lead positions in solving crime in police procedural mysteries. These detectives are bound by the rules and regulations of the agencies, and they can call upon the resources of modern crime fighting forces.

The principal investigator is a technical term that may be used to identify the professional detective in charge of the case. If the investigator is a detective in the police, using the techniques of the force, then the novel can be classified as a police procedural. Inspector is another word; it usually indicates a professional police officer with a high rank who is in charge of investigations.

The American PI is a term referring to a private investigator who has a small,usually dingy office, in a poor section of a city where violent crime occurs. In 1920 the writing of Dashiell Hammett introduced the American PI. A private eye should have a license in today's complex society. Private investigators are numerous, classifying them depends somewhat on how violent the scenes are and how rough the language is. The traditional dividing lines of gender, age, race and ethnic background do not apply. Not even being confined to a wheelchair limits a determined investigator from searching out the perpetrator.

Shamus is another word for a crime solver, it is derived from the Yiddish shames, probably from the �jocular comparison of the duties of a sexton and those of a store detective� (1929). It is a more lighthearted term. Another such word is sleuth; a sleuthhound in Middle English was a creature that followed the scent of an animal or person. By 1901 the short form sleuth was used for a detective.

The word �dick� is in the Dictionary of American Slang (1967). The date given is 1930, the example sentence refers to the more ambitious policeman who attends the Detective Bureau and becomes a dick. The word is the result of shortening and altering the word detective.. Slang may indicate a novel set in a dangerous inner city environment, which may be a hard-boiled mystery. If the story has a dark atmosphere, with frightening shadowy figures, it may be classified as a noir novel. ,P> Gumshoe when used as a verb indicates someone who walks as if wearing rubber-soled shoes. In 1927 the word took on the meaning of working as a police detective when it was used by Dashiell Hammett in Blood Money, "He thought gumshoeing would be fun."

Scope of Modern Mysteries - Subgenres Writers deal with modern crimes and modern criminal techniques. Environmental issues came to the attention of mystery writers in the 1960s. For example, the growth in population with resulting destruction of natural areas is treated in many novels set in Florida. Mike Ashley uses the term ï¿ecological crime.� Computer crimes Modern criminals communicate with each other and prey on victims via high-speed computers. Modern police forces have computer experts to solve such crimes and to track criminals using data bases.