The History of the Mystery

Black Mask magazine began publishing crime fiction in the United States in 1920, the year that Agatha Christie published The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The stories in Black Mask emphasized believable characters who often reacted violently to the cruel crimes they encountered. The action was set in dark city streets, bars, and seedy offices. A tough, lonely male figure, sometimes seen as the urban counterpart to the strong frontiersman or the tough, lonely western hero, is a crusader who must first find out who he is fighting, then confront the evildoer, determine the punishment, and see that carried out. He is a private investigator, the PI . There were other magazines, usually cheaply produced, through the 1940s.

Black Mask began by publishing stories of John Carrol Daly�s Race Williams, a brutal character who lives an action-filled life that made him popular. He is seen as an antecedent of Mickey Spillane�s Mike Hammer. Dashiell Hammett�s Continental Op appeared soon after Race Williams. In 1929 Hammett completed The Maltese Falcon, with detective Sam Spade. It is familiar to movie goers, the film version starring Humphrey Bogart, like the story, is an American classic. Hammet is the exception among the mostly forgotten writers for the magazine; his five novels are highly respected and read world-wide.

A second famous proponent of the Hard-boiled school was Raymond Chandler, whose first story was in the Black Mask in 1933 and his first novel The Big Sleep came out in 1939. He created a famous detective, Philip Marlowe.� A third writer of novels with a PI of note was Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar) who published his first Lew Archer mystery in 1949. Comparing the four most noted hard-boiled detectives reveals interesting distinctions.

As characters, the Op, Spade, Marlowe and Archer are in the same mold, that is, in the American tradition of the gunman going to set things right, the lonely figure on the prairie or in the forest, gun in hand, ready to take up a cause and fight for what he perceives is right. The detectives never fail to live up to their moral codes. The detectives as characters also differ. The Op and Spade are more similar to the detectives in the pulp magazines. The Op is older, a professional whose job is hunting criminals. In his approach he is like the hired killer. Spade adheres to a strong code of loyalty, he seems to have little feeling otherwise. Marlowe is a more complex figure, he is truthful, has a sense of humor, and feelings for the unhappy people in terrible situations. Lew Archer, named after Spade�s partner, possesses a sense of compassion like Marlowe. Archer as a character draws on a deep well of pity which makes him probably the most appealing to readers. All these detectives work in dingy settings in cities. The contrast to the characters and settings of the cozy tradition is great.

In 1944 Philip Chandler published a stinging critique of the cozy tradition that continues to be quoted. The Atlantic Monthly printed the essay titled �The Simple Act of Murder.� Chandler criticizes the detective who is �an insouciant amateur,� who has a �cheery eye� and pleasant living arrangements. Chandler said that this detective enters the scene when the local police lose their way. They endure the interference, but Chandler wrote, �I shudder to think what the boys down at the Homicide Bureau in my city would do��

In his book The World of Mystery Fiction (1990) Elliot Gilbert presents two sides of the dispute between proponents of the PI and those of the cozy detective. He admits that some of the cozy sleuths are implausible, and that there are some absurdities in a novel such as A.A. Milne�s The Red House Mystery(1922).

On the other hand, Elliot points out the difficulties within Chandler�s argument, especially that �the idea that reality is to be defined as whatever may seem real at any given time to a Los Angeles policeman� and the �notion that for a work of art to be successful it must limit itself strictly to that reality.� Other critics have questioned Chandler�s picture of the private eye going out to solve a murder as a knight in a romantic tale.

Ross Macdonald, who did not begin writing until after Black Mask was out of publication, wrote a defense of Chandler and the tough PI. Macdonald states in �The Writer as Detective Hero� that the �tender and romantic sensibility� possessed by Chandler would likely be found unrealistic by a Los Angeles cop.

The question of reality in literature is always difficult, because fiction is not intended to be real, the events and characters are constructed in the author�s mind. Even when the intent is to seem real, the story is a fiction. Elliot points out that the strength of the Black Mask detective fiction is in the creation of an exciting, authentic world that has its own reasons for being. The lonely figure of the detective taking on a dangerous mission as a savior reminds readers that detective fiction can have a mythic quality.

Whether readers would want to read about the real lives of private detectives in contemporary times, for instance, in Florida, is questionable. In a Gainesville Sun article dated February 24, 1997 David Greenberg reported that there is �more diligence than danger in the lives of Gainesville�s private detectives.� The full time private detectives in the area are mostly retired law enforcement personnel About 98% of their business is referrals from attorneys. Private detectives are licensed and monitored by the Florida Department of State, although an attorney can have an in-house investigator who would not necessarily be licensed.

One detective said that he went into the work because there is some adventure to it. Much of the work is checking records and talking to people to get information. Florida�s public record and Sunshine laws make obtaining papers fairly easy. However, a detective can go on a routine assignment and have a way out-of-the-he ordinary experience. However, drugs and guns are dangerous combinations. One story two detectives told was about a paranoid man who was high and had a gun. He was convinced one of the detectives was wearing a wire to record the conversation. They had to agree to strip and prove they were not. The strip search was useful, the man calmed down and gave them some important information.

The detectives interviewed told other stories about finding out that an accused person was innocent. One told of working for three months to prove that four �eyeball witnesses� had identified the wrong man. Finally, the detective was able to convince the Gainesville police detectives and the State�s Attorney�s office that the man was innocent. Later, they found the guilty party. The detective said witnesses can have their own agendas. The man who was proven innocent went to Miami and started a business with the name �Come Clean Auto Detailing.�

The question about detective story validity remains, although most readers of crime fiction probably do not ask many questions about validity. The crime fiction genre, however, cannot interest readers if the detectives in the stories are perceived to be unable to solve the puzzling crimes they encounter. Detectives of cozies and hard-boiled novels have to be perceived as capable of detection. Modern fiction detectives come from a huge variety of backgrounds, their skills must meet the test of current appraisal.

The novels of two writers indicate the continued interest of American authors in the classic mystery novel. Erle Stanley Gardner�s long series of novels featuring attorney Perry Mason with his faithful secretary Della Street show meticulous care to detail. Language, style, plot, all lead to a courtroom where Perry wins the cases. Gardner explains in a foreword to The Case of the Waylaid Wife (1952) that Perry stands for �unswerving loyalty to his clients, a devotion to the cause of justice, and an indomitable fighting spirit.� Gardner respects the great majority of lawyers in the nation, who understand their responsibilities, and the courts that protect the good. There is humor in the Gardner novels, but the overall tone is one of respect. Rex Stout�s series of Nero Wolfe novels depict an eccentric, brilliant, overweight detective who raises orchids, dines on epicurean foods, and almost never leaves his New York home. Archie Goodwin, who works for Wolfe, tells the tales in a smart style suited to a young, strong New Yorker. Wolfe sends Archie Goodwin out to do the actions needed for a case, but it is always Nero Wolfe, himself, whose great brain solves the mystery. Wolfe and Goodwin are necessary irritants to the police who need their help but are resentful. In the spirit of the detective, Wolfe has little use for women, while Archie, who is younger gets along well with females but has never married.

The cozy and the American PI continued, but the genre of the mystery extended as the century went on.