Basic Definition of Mystery

Basic Definition of Mystery

•Subgenre of narrative fiction; often thought of as detective fiction

•Usually involves a mysterious death or crime to be solved▫Each suspect must have a credible motive▫Central character is usually a “detective”

who solves a crime

Mystery Genre

• Mystery, crime or puzzle to be solved

• Main detective character sets out to solve a crime

• Suspects and motives

• Overt clues presented

• Hidden evidence

• Suspense

• Foreshadowing

• Red herrings—kind of foreshadowing clue that leads

readers to false conclusions

Mystery Elements•Law enforcement

•Crime

•Weapon (s)

•Settings (i.e. haunted houses, city streets, deserted areas, dark streets, alleys, & warehouses.)

•Mood setters (foggy nights, cemeteries, creaking gates, footsteps, thunder, wind, screams, & blood.)

•Key words (alibi, motive, clues, evidence, victim, sleuth, witness, suspect, & red herrings.)

Sub-Genres•Amateur detective—protagonist is someone

who does not solve crimes for a living

•British-mystery set in England

•Comic—makes you laugh about the crime

•Cozy—amateur detective with a few more rules—no overt violence, very little or no bad language, no overt sex, set in small town, and nothing bad happens to anyone good

Sub-Genres• Amateur detective—protagonist is someone who does

not solve crimes for a living▫ House, M.D. – he’s a doctor not a detective

• British-mystery set in England▫ The New Sherlock

• Comic—makes you laugh about the crime ▫ Castle

• Cozy—amateur detective with a few more rules—no overt violence, very little or no bad language, no overt sex, set in small town, and nothing bad happens to anyone good▫ Monk

•Hard-boiled—criminal tends to be the protagonist rather than the crime fighter. Has lots of bad language, graphic violence, and general examination of society’s underbelly.

•Historical—set in a time period substantially earlier that when first published; often have real people and/or events in the background and may be well researched

Sub-Genres Continued

•Hard-boiled—criminal tends to be the protagonist rather than the crime fighter. Has lots of bad language, graphic violence, and general examination of society’s underbelly.▫Dexter

•Historical—set in a time period substantially earlier that when first published; often have real people and/or events in the background and may be well researched▫Poirot and Mrs. Marple


• Noir—hard-boiled with a few more rules; set in the 1940s or 50s; the men are disenchanted, disillusioned, corrupt or down on their luck; the women are completely loyal, dutiful, loving and plain or completely self-centered, manipulative, mysterious and gorgeous.

• Police Procedural—protagonist is normally a police detective; Urban settings, dark humor, hard working, street-smart police populate these stories. Also includes profilers, medical examiners, forensic anthropologists, etc.


• Noir—hard-boiled with a few more rules; set in the 1940s or 50s; the men are disenchanted, disillusioned, corrupt or down on their luck; the women are completely loyal, dutiful, loving and plain or completely self-centered, manipulative, mysterious and gorgeous.▫James Bond and Columbo

• Police Procedural—protagonist is normally a police detective; Urban settings, dark humor, hard working, street-smart police populate these stories. Also includes profilers, medical examiners, forensic anthropologists, etc.▫Law and Order, Criminal Minds, NCIS, and etc.


• Private Detective—protagonist is a private detective

• Romantic—must have a romantic storyline between the two main characters (not just a “love interest” for the main character) and the romantic storyline must be given page-time roughly equal to the mystery storyline

• Supernatural—anything from ghosts to psychics to time-traveling detectives

• Traditional/Classic—puzzle is presented to the reader at the beginning. The plot follows a fairly straight path, strewn with clues, to the solution of the puzzle


• Private Detective—protagonist is a private detective▫Columbo

• Romantic—must have a romantic storyline between the two main characters (not just a “love interest” for the main character) and the romantic storyline must be given page-time roughly equal to the mystery storyline▫Castle

• Supernatural—anything from ghosts to psychics to time-traveling detectives▫Lost, Avatar-The Last Airbender, Supernatural, and etc.

• Traditional/Classic—puzzle is presented to the reader at the beginning. The plot follows a fairly straight path, strewn with clues, to the solution of the puzzle▫Homeland, 24, Prison Break, and etc.


History

•Edgar Allan Poe introduced fiction’s first fictional detective in 1841 (birth of mystery): Auguste C. Dupin in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” - most famous example of a mystery style known as the locked room (a murder victim is found inside an apparently sealed enclosure and the detective’s challenge is to discover the murderer’s reasoning)

•Acknowledged as the father of the mystery story

Anna Katherine Green

•1878—first woman to write a detective novel—The Leavenworth Case

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle•Sherlock Holmes character had a distinct

style and flair for deducing clues•Reliable sidekick: Dr. Watson

Agatha Christie•Wrote more than 80 novels

•Career spanned more than 50 years

•Probably the best known mystery writer in history

•Wrote novels about her famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot

Penguins•Developed by Allen Lane and his 2 brothers

•During height of Golden Age

•Paperback line issued in 1935 with only 10 titles but quickly grew to 70 titles within a year

•Easily accessible to the public due to their much lower cost and availability in department stores

The Shadow

•1940s

•Radio shows took off and became very popular

•Most famous radio mystery

TV Mysteries ▫Murder, She

Wrote▫Hawaii 5-O▫Kojak▫Hill Street Blues▫Lost ▫The X Files ▫Twin Peaks ▫Columbo▫The Rockford Files▫Law and Order

▫NCIS▫CSI▫Castle▫Criminal Minds ▫Pretty Little Liars ▫Scooby Doo▫Monk ▫Veronica Mars ▫Dexter▫24

Contemporary Authors

•Patricia Cornwell•Tess Gerritsen•Lisa Jackson•Robin Cook•Sue Grafton•Robert B. Parker•James Patterson

Children’s Mysteries

•Nancy Drew•The Hardy Boys•Encyclopedia Brown•The Goosebump Series by R.L. Stine•Scooby Doo

Common Vocabulary• Case—a matter requiring investigation

• Victim—the person negatively affected by a mysterious event or crime

• Clue—something that appears to give information toward solving a crime

• Sleuth-person who investigates a crime or mystery

• Evidence—someone or something that proves who committed a crime or was involved in a mystery

• Suspect—person who appears to have a motive to have committed the crime

• Witness—person who has personal knowledge about the crime or event

• Alibi—evidence offered by a suspect to prove they were not at the scene of the crime

• Deduction—collecting facts and using them to draw a conclusion

• Mood—state of mind or feeling

• Motive—thought or feeling that makes one act

Common Vocabulary Continued

Suspense• Hitchcock says suspense bears no relationship to fear.

Instead, it is the state of waiting for something to happen.

• Crucial to the Hitchcockian thriller is the difference between suspense and surprise. To put it simply, the director said that if you have a scene where two characters are conversing in a cafe, and a bomb suddenly goes off under the table, the audience experiences surprise. On the other hand, if the audience sees the saboteur place the bomb, is told that it will go off at one o'clock, and can see a clock in the scene, the mundane conversation between two cafe patrons now becomes one of intense suspense, as the audience holds its collective breath waiting for the explosion. Fifteen minutes of suspense, as opposed to fifteen seconds of surprise. It was therefore necessary, to Alfred Hitchcock, that the audience be as fully informed as possible

• Based on this principle, the suspense thriller has been loosely defined as a story in which the audience is waiting for something significant to happen. The protagonist's job is to prevent the speeding bus from exploding, or the aliens from eating the crew. The reader experiences a vicarious thrill by identifying with the hero and the danger he faces, becoming a participant in the chase.

• A mystery, on the other hand, is a novel of revelation, with action more mental than physical. A significant event, usually a murder, has just occurred, and the protagonist's job is to discover who committed the crime, and why. The dilemma created for the writer of traditional mysteries is the fact that the villain and the details of the crime must remain unidentified, breaking Hitchcock's rule of keeping the audience informed.

Crime Fiction Requirements

•Must be fiction. Names, places and events may be real, but the plot is fictitious. True crime is not a sub-category.

•Must be a crime

•Must be an investigative process

•Must be a solution for the crime

Detective Fiction

•Typically has a recurring character who is usually the investigator

•Classic example is the Private Eye—normally fall into the sub-genres hard-boiled and soft-boiled

•Cozy is a popular form—normally has a non-professional detective

•Police-procedurals fit in this category too

Arc-of-Suspense

•Suspense drives fiction.

•Arcs stretch suspense.

•An arc-of-suspense is the technique of making the reader aware of what will happen next and teasing him/her with the possibilities.

Types of Arcs

• Secrecy and mystery• Unfinished scene• Time pressure arc (beating the clock)• Arc to the next chapter• Incidental arc• Arc of the bizarre• Hubris arc (extreme ego)• Arc of fate• Arc of justice• Arc of mistaken identity• Arc of one hidden prohibition

Review

•1. Define Mystery…

Review

•1. Define Mystery ▫Comes from Narrative▫Has a mysterious death or crime to be solved

Review

•1. Mysteries involve…

Review

• 1. Mysteries involve…

▫Mystery, crime or puzzle to be solved

▫Main detective character sets out to solve a crime

▫Suspects and motives

▫Overt clues presented

▫Hidden evidence

▫Suspense

▫Foreshadowing

▫Red herrings

Review

•1. Mysteries involve what elements…

Review

• 1. Mysteries involve what elements…

▫Law enforcement

▫Crime

▫Weapon(s)

▫Settings (i.e. haunted houses, city streets, deserted areas, dark streets, alleys, & warehouses.)

▫Mood setters (foggy nights, cemeteries, creaking gates, footsteps, thunder, wind, screams, & blood.)

▫Key words (alibi, motive, clues, evidence, victim, sleuth, witness, suspect, & red herrings.)

Review

•Mystery Sub-Genres

Review

•Mystery Sub-Genres▫Amateur detective▫British▫Comic▫Cozy▫Hard-boiled ▫Historical ▫Noir▫Police Procedural

Review

•Who is the father of Mystery?

Review

•Who is the father of Mystery? ▫Edgar Allen Poe

Review


•Who was the first female Mystery writer?

Review


•Who was the first female Mystery writer? ▫Anna Katherine Green

Review



•What 2 famous characters did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invent?

Review



•What 2 famous characters did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invent? ▫Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

Review




•Who is Agatha Christie?

Review




•Who is Agatha Christie? ▫Female British mystery writer who wrote

over 80 novels in 50 years

Common Vocabulary Review

•Case—


•Case—a matter requiring investigation



•Victim—



•Victim—the person negatively affected by a mysterious event or crime




•Clue—




•Clue—something that appears to give information toward solving a crime





•Sleuth-





•Sleuth-person who investigates a crime or mystery






•Evidence—






•Evidence—someone or something that proves who committed a crime or was involved in a mystery


• Case—a matter requiring investigation





• Suspect—

Common Vocabulary Review • Case—a matter requiring investigation





• Suspect—person who appears to have a motive to have committed the crime

•Witness—


•Witness—person who has personal knowledge about the crime or event



•Alibi—



•Alibi—evidence offered by a suspect to prove they were not at the scene of the crime




•Deduction—




•Deduction—collecting facts and using them to draw a conclusion





•Mood—





•Mood—state of mind or feeling






• Motive—






• Motive—thought or feeling that makes one act


Review Arcs

•Why do we have Mystery Arcs?

Review Arcs

•Why do we have Mystery Arcs?▫Suspense drives fiction. ▫Arcs stretch suspense.

Review Arcs

•Why do we have Mystery Arcs?▫Suspense drives fiction. ▫Arcs stretch suspense.

•Mystery Arc Examples?

Review Arcs • Why do we have Mystery Arcs?

▫Suspense drives fiction. ▫Arcs stretch suspense.

• Mystery Arc Examples? ▫ Secrecy and mystery▫ Unfinished scene▫ Time pressure arc▫ Arc to the next chapter▫ Incidental arc▫ Arc of the bizarre▫ Hubris arc▫ Arc of fate▫ Arc of justice▫ Arc of mistaken identity▫ Arc of one hidden prohibition

Review Arcs • Why do we have Mystery Arcs?

▫Suspense drives fiction. ▫Arcs stretch suspense.

• Mystery Arc Examples? ▫ Secrecy and mystery▫ Unfinished scene▫ Time pressure arc▫ Arc to the next chapter▫ Incidental arc▫ Arc of the bizarre▫ Hubris arc▫ Arc of fate▫ Arc of justice▫ Arc of mistaken identity▫ Arc of one hidden prohibition

Mystery PowerPoint Test-Friday• Definitions • Elements • Genres • Major Players and their contributions • Vocabulary • Arcs• Be prepared for a few discussion questions where you

will have to match and defend mysteries. For example: ▫ What is an example of a Romantic genre mystery? Defend

your example and character. “Moonlighting” is an example of a romantic mystery. The

two leading character , Dave and Maddie work as private detectives. They have a romantic relationship and often flirt with each other. They are jealous when they see the other one on a date. There is tension between the two characters and by the series end, they are together. They work together as private detectives but they also work together as a couple.

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Basic Definition of Mystery