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100-587: The Sittaford Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie , first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of The Murder at Hazelmoor and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 September of the same year under Christie's original title. It is the first Christie novel to be given a different title for the US market. The US edition retailed at $ 2.00 and

200-519: A climax where the titular detective protagonist Ali Khwaja presents evidence from expert witnesses in a court. Gong'an fiction ( 公案小说 , literally："case records of a public law court") is an early genre of Chinese detective fiction. Some well-known stories include the Yuan dynasty story Circle of Chalk (Chinese: 灰 闌 記 ), the Ming dynasty story collection Bao Gong An (Chinese: 包 公 案 ) and

300-401: A "plot formula that's been successful ever since, give or take a few shifting variables." Poe followed with further Auguste Dupin tales: " The Mystery of Marie Rogêt " in 1842 and " The Purloined Letter " in 1844. Poe referred to his stories as "tales of ratiocination ". In stories such as these, the primary concern of the plot is ascertaining truth, and the usual means of obtaining the truth

400-470: A Policeman . Twelve stories were then collated into a volume entitled Recollections of a Detective Police-Officer , published in London in 1856. Literary critic Catherine Ross Nickerson credits Louisa May Alcott with creating the second-oldest work of modern detective fiction, after Poe's Dupin stories, with the 1865 thriller "V.V., or Plots and Counterplots." A short story published anonymously by Alcott,

500-709: A clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary . Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations. A brilliant London-based "consulting detective" residing at 221B Baker Street , Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess and is renowned for his skillful use of astute observation , deductive reasoning , and forensic skills to solve difficult cases . Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories featuring Holmes, and all but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend, assistant, and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson . The interwar period (the 1920s and 1930s)

600-399: A closed environment by one of a limited number of suspects. The most widespread subgenre of the detective novel became the whodunit (or whodunnit, short for "who done it?"). In this subgenre, great ingenuity may be exercised in narrating the crime, usually a homicide, and the subsequent investigation. This objective was to conceal the identity of the criminal from the reader until the end of

700-426: A criminal trial, an alibi is a defence raised by the accused as proof that they could not have committed the crime because they were in some other place at the time the alleged offence was committed. The Criminal Law Deskbook of Criminal Procedure states: "Alibi is different from all of the other defences; it is based upon the premise that the defendant is truly innocent." In some legal jurisdictions there may be

800-529: A detective, Dr. Priestley , who specialised in elaborate technical devices. In the United States, the whodunit subgenre was adopted and extended by Rex Stout and Ellery Queen , along with others. The emphasis on formal rules during the Golden Age produced great works, albeit with highly standardized form. The most successful novels of this time included “an original and exciting plot; distinction in

900-508: A false alibi may be used by the court as actual evidence of guilt, provided certain requirements are met. Specifically: An alibi agency , also called an alibi network , forges explanations for unexcused absences, e.g. due to an extramarital affair or adultery. In other words, alibi agencies are paid to lie for their customers. Originating in 1990s Japan, such services appeared in Europe in 2004, where they were condemned as immoral by

1000-672: A holiday to the West Indies when a chance conversation at a dinner party with a Commander Howe of the Royal Navy and his wife, who had just returned from his being stationed in the Persian Gulf , awakened an interest in her in visiting Baghdad , especially when the Howes pointed out that a part of the journey could be made by the famed Orient Express . The Howes also mentioned that not far from Baghdad, an archaeological expedition

1100-477: A journey back to Baghdad, their car got stuck in the sand. Mallowan was impressed by the way in which Christie, rather than succumbing to panic in the heat and dust, just lay down in the car's shadow to sleep while a Bedouin went off for help. After being reunited with the Woolleys, most of the party made its way by stages to Greece where Christie received telegrams informing her that her daughter Rosalind (who

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1200-574: A late-night rendezvous with Violet Willett; he is Violet's fiancé. He was not in Australia but had returned to England on the same boat with the Willetts. The Willetts' motive for moving into the isolated Sittaford house had no connection with Captain Trevelyan. They wanted to live close to Dartmoor Prison , where Violet's father was imprisoned. His escape from the prison three days after the murder

1300-523: A more ingenious or enthralling plot and her characterisation is of the vivid type which marked The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Murder at the Vicarage . The novel was nominally adapted by Granada Television as a Miss Marple mystery as part of the Agatha Christie's Marple series (set in 1952). It featured Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple, who did not appear in the novel. Apart from

1400-464: A new type of narrative style. Western detective fiction that was translated often emphasized “individuality, equality, and the importance of knowledge”, appealing to China that it was the time for opening their eyes to the rest of the world. This style began China's interest in popular crime fiction , and is what drove Cheng Xiaoqing to write his own crime fiction novel, Sherlock in Shanghai . In

1500-422: A number of ideas that have established in the genre several classic features of the 20th century detective story: Although The Moonstone is usually seen as the first detective novel, there are other contenders for the honor. A number of critics suggest that the lesser known Notting Hill Mystery (1862–63), written by the pseudonymous "Charles Felix" (later identified as Charles Warren Adams ), preceded it by

1600-478: A number of years and first used techniques that would come to define the genre. Literary critics Chris Willis and Kate Watson consider Mary Elizabeth Braddon 's first book, the even earlier The Trail of the Serpent (1861), to be the first British detective novel. The Trail of the Serpent "features an innovative detective figure, Mr. Peters, who is lower class and mute, and who is initially dismissed both by

1700-570: A prize competition offer clues to the villain, who is well concealed." Robert Barnard commented: "Mayhem Parva, sharpened by Dartmoor setting and snow. Many of the usual elements are here, but also escaped convict (out of Baskervilles ), séances, newspaper competitions and amateur investigator – young woman torn (as in Blue Train ) between handsome weakling and hardworking, upright, born-to-success type. Highly entertaining, with adroit clueing." Charles Osborne wrote: "... strongly plotted, and

1800-430: A requirement that the accused disclose an alibi defence prior to the trial. This is to enable the investigators to verify whether or not such a claim is true. This is an exception to the rule that a criminal defendant cannot normally be compelled to furnish information to the prosecution. Since the alibi involves evidence of innocence rather than guilt, the privilege against self-incrimination is not implicated. In Canada,

1900-541: Is 'The Secret Cell', a short story published in September 1837 by William Evans Burton . It has been suggested that this story may have been known to Poe, who worked for Burton in 1839. The story was about a London policeman who solves the mystery of a kidnapped girl. Burton's fictional detective relied on practical methods such as dogged legwork, knowledge of the underworld and undercover surveillance, rather than brilliance of imagination or intellect. Detective fiction in

2000-485: Is a celebrated Bengali detective character who first appeared in the 1965 story Feludar Goyendagiri . His full name is Pradosh Chandra Mitra, and he is often referred to affectionately as Feluda . Feluda is characterized by his keen observational skills, sharp intellect, and a flair for deduction, which he employs to solve intricate mysteries. Feluda is often accompanied by his cousin, who is also his assistant, Tapesh Ranjan Mitter (affectionately called Topshe), who serves as

2100-427: Is a complex and mysterious process combining intuitive logic, astute observation, and perspicacious inference. "Early detective stories tended to follow an investigating protagonist from the first scene to the last, making the unravelling a practical rather than emotional matter." "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" is particularly interesting because it is a barely fictionalized account based on Poe's theory of what happened to

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2200-450: Is a famous Russian writer of historical detective fiction in modern-day Russia. In the United States, detective fiction emerged in the 1920s, and flourished with stories in pulp magazines. The genre gained prominence in later decades, as the detective character was refined, and became familiar through movies. Detective fiction was also a way for authors to bring stories about various subcultures to mainstream audiences. One scholar wrote about

2300-406: Is a fictional Bengali female detective character created by Suchitra Bhattacharya . Colonel Niladri Sarkar is a fictional detective character created by Bengali novelist Syed Mustafa Siraj . Kottayam Pushpanath , a prolific writer, brought to life a vivid array of characters and mysteries. Pushpanath practiced teaching history for several years before becoming a full time writer. It

2400-530: Is a member of the Psychical Research Society , reassembles five of the six original participants for a second séance at Sittaford House, the absent Mr Duke being replaced by Brian Pearson. The séance has scarcely begun, when Inspector Narracott steps in, in the company of Emily and Mr Duke, and charges Major Burnaby with the murder of Captain Trevelyan. Emily explains that Burnaby had lost a lot of money by buying rotten shares ; his motive for

2500-432: Is a statement by a person under suspicion in a crime that they were in a different place when the offence was committed. During a police investigation, all suspects are usually asked to provide details of their whereabouts during the relevant time period, which, where possible, would usually be confirmed by other persons or in other ways (such as by checking phone records, or credit card receipts, use of CCTV , etc.). During

2600-469: Is arrested for murder because he was in Exhampton at the time of the murder, trying unsuccessfully to get a loan from Captain Trevelyan. While the official investigation is led by Inspector Narracott, James Pearson's fiancée Emily Trefusis starts sleuthing herself. She is assisted by Charles Enderby, a Daily Wire journalist who, after the murder, presented a cheque for £5,000 to Major Burnaby for winning

2700-535: Is described as an "' Everyman ' detective meant to challenge the detective-as-superman that Holmes represented." By the late 1920s, Al Capone and the American mafia inspired not only fear, but piqued mainstream curiosity about the American criminal underworld . Popular pulp fiction magazines like Black Mask capitalized on this, as authors such as Carrol John Daly published violent stories that focused on

2800-584: Is generally referred to as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction . During this period, a number of very popular writers emerged, including mostly British but also a notable subset of American and New Zealand writers. Female writers constituted a major portion of notable Golden Age writers. Agatha Christie , Dorothy L. Sayers , Josephine Tey , Margery Allingham , and Ngaio Marsh were particularly famous female writers of this time. Apart from Marsh (a New Zealander), they were all British. Various conventions of

2900-476: Is generated through multiple plot twists that occur as the story progressed. With these characteristics this may be considered an archetype for detective fiction. It anticipates the use of reverse chronology in modern detective fiction, where the story begins with a crime before presenting a gradual reconstruction of the past. The main difference between Ja'far ("The Three Apples") and later fictional detectives, such as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot ,

3000-528: Is investigated by Inspector Bucket of the Metropolitan police force. Numerous characters appeared on the staircase leading to Tulkinghorn's office that night, some of them in disguise, and Inspector Bucket must penetrate these mysteries to identify the murderer. Dickens also left a novel unfinished at his death, The Mystery of Edwin Drood . Dickens's protégé, Wilkie Collins (1824–1889)—sometimes called

3100-493: Is one of the most iconic characters in Indian detective fiction. First appearing in the story Pother Kanta in 1932, Byomkesh, who refers to himself as a "truth-seeker" or Satyanweshi, is known for his acute observational skills and logical reasoning abilities. His adventures typically unfold against the backdrop of Calcutta , tackling a range of crimes, from intricate murder mysteries to drug trafficking, reflecting societal issues of

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3200-412: Is that Ja'far has no desire to solve the case. The whodunit mystery is solved when the murderer himself confessed his crime. This in turn leads to another assignment in which Ja'far has to find the culprit who instigated the murder within three days or else be executed. Ja'far again fails to find the culprit before the deadline, but owing to chance, he discovers a key item. In the end, he manages to solve

3300-583: Is the first major detective fiction in Persian , written by Kazim Musta'an al-Sultan (Houshi Daryan). It was first published in 1925. There was no biographical account of the author of the book for over 70 years until being identified after the book was reprinted in 2017. Edogawa Rampo is the first major Japanese modern mystery writer and the founder of the Detective Story Club in Japan . Rampo

3400-475: Is up to her usual high standard and compares favourably with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd , one of the best she ever did." They went on to comment that, "Miss Trefusis is one of the sharpest and most likeable detectives of recent moons." Finally they summarised, "An excellent book to take away for week-end reading." In a short review of 23 October 1931, the Daily Mirror said that, "A pair of snow shoes and

3500-653: The One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ). In this story, a fisherman discovers a heavy, locked chest along the Tigris river, which he then sells to the Abbasid Caliph , Harun al-Rashid . When Harun breaks open the chest, he discovers the body of a young woman who has been cut into pieces. Harun then orders his vizier , Ja'far ibn Yahya , to solve the crime and to find the murderer within three days, or be executed if he fails in his assignment. Suspense

3600-628: The Conservative Jewish community of Massachusetts ; Walter Mosley , whose Easy Rawlins books are set in the African American community of 1950s Los Angeles ; and Sara Paretsky , whose V. I. Warshawski books have explored the various subcultures of Chicago . Martin Hewitt, created by British author Arthur Morrison in 1894, is one of the first examples of the modern style of fictional private detective . This character

3700-615: The Literary Inquisitions and the wars in ancient China. In traditional Chinese culture, this genre was not prestigious, and was therefore considered less worthy of preservation than works of philosophy or poetry. One of the earliest examples of detective fiction in Western literature is Voltaire 's Zadig (1748), which features a main character who performs feats of analysis. Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794) by William Godwin portrays

3800-474: The "grandfather of English detective fiction"—is credited with the first great mystery novel, The Woman in White . T. S. Eliot called Collins's novel The Moonstone (1868) "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels... in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe", and Dorothy L. Sayers called it "probably the very finest detective story ever written". The Moonstone contains

3900-637: The "social school" (社会派 shakai ha ) within the genre, which emphasized social realism , described crimes in an ordinary setting and sets motives within a wider context of social injustice and political corruption. Since the 1980s, a " new orthodox school " (新本格派 shin honkaku ha ) has surfaced. It demands restoration of the classic rules of detective fiction and the use of more self-reflective elements. Famous authors of this movement include Soji Shimada , Yukito Ayatsuji , Rintaro Norizuki , Alice Arisugawa , Kaoru Kitamura and Taku Ashibe . Created by famous Bengali novelist Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay , Byomkesh

4000-463: The 18th century Di Gong An (Chinese: 狄 公 案 ) story collection. The latter was translated into English as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Dutch sinologist Robert Van Gulik , who then used the style and characters to write the original Judge Dee series. The hero/detective of these novels was typically a traditional judge or similar official based on historical personages such as Judge Bao ( Bao Qingtian ) or Judge Dee ( Di Renjie ). Although

4100-521: The Captain's safety in Exhampton, Major Burnaby says that he intends to walk the 6 mi (9.7 km) there. There is a thick layer of snow on the ground and further heavy snowfall is forecast for later that evening. There is no telephone in Sittaford, and cars cannot manoeuvre in these conditions. Two and a half hours later, just before 8 pm, in the middle of a blizzard, Major Burnaby is trudging up

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4200-526: The Detective . In short, it is difficult to establish who was the first to write the English-language detective novel, as various authors were exploring the theme simultaneously. Anna Katharine Green , in her 1878 debut The Leavenworth Case and other works, popularized the genre among middle-class readers and helped to shape the genre into its classic form as well as developed the concept of

4300-531: The English-language literature is considered to have begun in 1841 with the publication of Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", featuring "the first fictional detective, the eccentric and brilliant C. Auguste Dupin ". When the character first appeared, the word detective had not yet been used in English; however, the character's name, "Dupin", originated from the English word dupe or deception. Poe devised

4400-481: The Golden Age were written by Agatha Christie. She produced long series of books featuring detective characters like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple , among others. Her use of basing her stories on complex puzzles, “combined with her stereotyped characters and picturesque middle-class settings”, is credited for her success. Christie's best-known works include Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Death on

4500-604: The Nile (1937), Three Blind Mice (1950) and And Then There Were None (1939). Through China's Golden Age of crime fiction (1900–1949), translations of Western classics, and native Chinese detective fictions circulated within the country. Cheng Xiaoqing had first encountered Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's highly popular stories as an adolescent. In the ensuing years, he played a major role in rendering them first into classical and later into vernacular Chinese . Cheng Xiaoqing's translated works from Conan Doyle introduced China to

4600-643: The Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders (the Protestant Bible locates this story within the apocrypha ), the account told by two witnesses broke down when Daniel cross-examines them. In response, author Julian Symons has argued that "those who search for fragments of detection in the Bible and Herodotus are looking only for puzzles" and that these puzzles are not detective stories. In

4700-614: The Philip Marlowe character. James Hadley Chase wrote a few novels with private eyes as the main heroes, including Blonde's Requiem (1945), Lay Her Among the Lilies (1950), and Figure It Out for Yourself (1950). The heroes of these novels are typical private eyes, very similar to or plagiarizing Raymond Chandler's work. Alibi An alibi ( / ˈ æ l ə b aɪ / , from the Latin , alibī , meaning "somewhere else")

4800-531: The UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6). Mrs Willett and her daughter host an evening of " table-turning " (a séance ) on a snowy winter's evening in Dartmoor. The spirit tells them that Captain Trevelyan is dead. The roads being impassable to vehicles, Major Burnaby announces his intention to go to the village on foot to check on his friend, where he appears to find the prediction has come true. Emily Trefusis, engaged to Trevelyan's nephew, uncovers

4900-740: The UK on 30 April 2006. The novel was also adapted as a 2018 episode of Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie . SonyLIV , in association with Agatha Christie Limited released Charlie Chopra , a Hindi web series based on the novel, in July 2023. A five-part radio adaptation was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990 featuring Melinda Walker as Emily Trefusis, Stephen Tompkinson as Charles Enderby, John Moffatt as Mr Rycroft and Geoffrey Whitehead as Inspector Narracott. Detective fiction Some scholars, such as R. H. Pfeiffer, have suggested that certain ancient and religious texts bear similarities to what would later be called detective fiction. In

5000-585: The book, when the method and culprit are both revealed. According to scholars Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman , "The golden age of detective fiction began with high-class amateur detectives sniffing out murderers lurking in rose gardens, down country lanes, and in picturesque villages. Many conventions of the detective-fiction genre evolved in this era, as numerous writers—from populist entertainers to respected poets—tried their hands at mystery stories." John Dickson Carr —who also wrote as Carter Dickson—used

5100-481: The case through reasoning in order to prevent his own execution. On the other hand, two other Arabian Nights stories, "The Merchant and the Thief" and "Ali Khwaja", contain two of the earliest fictional detectives , who uncover clues and present evidence to catch or convict a criminal known to the audience, with the story unfolding in normal chronology and the criminal already known to the audience. The latter involves

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5200-434: The central characteristics and formal elements of the detective story, including a mystery surrounding a murder, a closed circle of suspects, and the gradual uncovering of a hidden past." One Thousand and One Nights contains several of the earliest detective stories, anticipating modern detective fiction. The oldest known example of a detective story was " The Three Apples ", one of the tales narrated by Scheherazade in

5300-461: The chief of secret service and his companions. After his death many other writers accepted Ali Imran character and wrote spy novels. Another popular spy novel writer was Ishtiaq Ahmad who wrote Inspector Jamsheed, Inspector Kamran Mirza and Shooki brother's series of spy novels. Stories about robbers and detectives were very popular in Russia since old times. A famous hero in the eighteenth century

5400-434: The defence must disclose an alibi defence with sufficient time for the authorities to investigate the alibi, and with sufficient particularization to allow for a meaningful investigation. Failure to comply with the two requirements will result in the court making an adverse inference against the alibi defence (but will not result in the exclusion of the alibi defence). Conversely, some judges in other jurisdictions have held

5500-476: The detective genre were standardized during the Golden Age, and in 1929, some of them were codified by the English Catholic priest and author of detective stories Ronald Knox in his 'Decalogue' of rules for detective fiction. One of his rules was to avoid supernatural elements so that the focus remained on the mystery itself. Knox has contended that a detective story "must have as its main interest

5600-482: The detective novels of Tony Hillerman , set among the Native American population around New Mexico , "many American readers have probably gotten more insight into traditional Navajo culture from his detective stories than from any other recent books." Other notable writers who have explored regional and ethnic communities in their detective novels are Harry Kemelman , whose Rabbi Small series were set in

5700-444: The distance in about 10 minutes. He killed Captain Trevelyan at about a quarter to six. Then he cleaned his skis and put them in the cupboard. He hid Trevelyan's ski boots in the chimney to prevent the police seeing them, and thus possibly realising how quickly a person on skis could have travelled between Sittaford and Exhampton. Major Burnaby hoped that the second pair of skis, of a different size, would pass unnoticed. Mr Rycroft, who

5800-552: The fringe of Dartmoor , probably deeper than anywhere. Mrs Willett, the winter tenant in Captain Trevelyan's country house, was, with her daughter Violet, giving a party. Finally they decided to do a little table rapping and after the usual number of inconsequential messages from the 'other side', suddenly the table announced that Captain Trevelyan was dead. His oldest friend, Captain Burnaby, was disturbed. He quickly left

5900-542: The genre is significant, as he represents a sophisticated blend of intellect and charm, setting a high standard for detective fiction in India. Hemendra Kumar Roy was an Indian Bengali writer noted for his contribution to the early development of the genre with his ' Jayanta-Manik ' and adventurist ' Bimal-Kumar ' stories, dealing with the exploits of Jayanta, his assistant Manik, and police inspector Sunderbabu. Mitin Masi

6000-478: The genre were women, inventing a subgenre of domestic detective fiction that flourished for several generations. These included Metta Fuller Victor 's two detective novels The Dead Letter (1867) and The Figure Eight (1869). The Dead Letter is noteworthy as the first full-length work of American crime fiction. Émile Gaboriau was a pioneer of the detective fiction genre in France. In Monsieur Lecoq (1868),

6100-545: The historical characters may have lived in an earlier period (such as the Song or Tang dynasty ) most stories are written in the later Ming or Qing dynasty period. These novels differ from the Western tradition in several points as described by Van Gulik: Van Gulik chose Di Gong An to translate because in his view it was closer to the Western literary style and more likely to appeal to non-Chinese readers. A number of Gong An works may have been lost or destroyed during

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6200-418: The house and tramped six miles of snowy roads to Exhampton. There was no sign of life in Trevelyan's house. A back window was broken in and the light was burning – and there, on the floor, was the body of Trevelyan. Inspector Narracott took the case in hand, and after wandering through a maze of false clues and suspects, he ultimately discovered the murderer of Captain Trevelyan. Mrs. Christie has never formulated

6300-478: The late 1910s, Cheng began writing detective fiction inspired by Conan Doyle's style, with Bao as the Watson-like narrator; a rare instance of such a direct appropriation from foreign fiction. Famed as the “Oriental Sherlock Holmes”, the duo Huo Sang and Bao Lang become counterparts to Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson characters. "Sadiq Mamquli, The Sherlock Holmes of Iran, The Sherriff of Isfahan"

6400-523: The law as protecting the murderer and destroying the innocent. Thomas Skinner Sturr 's anonymous Richmond, or stories in the life of a Bow Street officer was published in London in 1827; the Danish crime story The Rector of Veilbye by Steen Steensen Blicher was written in 1829; and the Norwegian crime novel Mordet paa Maskinbygger Roolfsen ("The Murder of Engine Maker Roolfsen") by Maurits Hansen

6500-400: The mayhem and injustice surrounding the criminals, not the circumstances behind the crime. Very often, no actual mystery even existed: the books simply revolved around justice being served to those who deserved harsh treatment, which was described in explicit detail." The overall theme these writers portrayed reflected "the changing face of America itself." In the 1930s, the private eye genre

6600-551: The murder was to keep the cheque for £5,000. He had received the letter notifying him of the win on the morning of the day of the murder, contrary to what he told Enderby. Captain Trevelyan had won the competition but used Burnaby's name to send in competition solutions. In the final chapter Emily turns down a marriage proposal by Enderby – who has fallen in love with her during the investigation – because she still loves her fiancé James. The New York Times Book Review ' s issue of 16 August 1931 posited that "Mrs. Agatha Christie's latest

6700-500: The mystery along with the police. The novel was well received, with praise for the character Miss Emily Trefusis. The references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , no longer alive when the book was published, and the elements of the setting that hearken to The Hound of the Baskervilles (published in 1902) were also noted and appreciated. Sittaford is a tiny village on the fringe of Dartmoor . Mrs Willett and her daughter Violet are

6800-479: The mystery in Hazelmoor after finding Captain Trevelyan's ski boots hidden in the chimney, and two pairs of skis in different sizes. Major Burnaby is the killer. He engineered the table movements during the séance to make the spirit convey the message that Captain Trevelyan had been murdered. Instead of walking the six miles in two and a half hours after the séance, he went to his own house to put on skis, and skied

6900-565: The name. The physical location of her fictional settlement of Sittaford closely matches that of Belstone , but its description also evokes Throwleigh where Christie owned a house. In the US the novel was serialised in Good Housekeeping magazine in six instalments from March (Volume XCII, Number 3) to August 1931 (Volume XCIII, Number 2) under the title The Murder at Hazelmoor with illustrations by W. Smithson Broadhead. The book's dedication reads: "To M.E.M. With whom I discussed

7000-458: The names of some characters and locations, the plot bears little resemblance to the original story and a number of anachronistic themes are added. It guest-starred Timothy Dalton as Trevelyan, Patricia Hodge as Mrs Evadne Willett, Carey Mulligan as Violet Willett, Laurence Fox as Jim Pearson, Zoe Telford as Emily Trefusis, James Murray as Charles Burnaby, Mel Smith as John Enderby and Rita Tushingham as Elizabeth Percehouse. It aired in

7100-477: The narrator of the stories and his friend Jatayu . , The trio embarks on various adventures that blend mystery with elements of Bengali culture and tradition. The stories often include a touch of humor, engaging dialogues, and philosophical musings, making them appealing to a wide audience. Ray's Feluda series not only captivated readers in literary form but also inspired numerous adaptations in film and television, showcasing Ray’s cinematic genius. Feluda’s impact on

7200-463: The newly installed tenants of Sittaford House, a residence owned by Trevelyan, a retired Navy captain. They invite four people to tea on Friday afternoon: Captain Trevelyan's long-standing friend, Major Burnaby, Mr Rycroft, Mr Ronnie Garfield, and Mr Duke. At the suggestion of Mr Garfield, the six of them decide to play a game of table-turning . During this séance , at 5.25 pm, a spirit announces that Captain Trevelyan has just been murdered. Concerned for

7300-442: The newspaper's football competition in Exhampton. Emily and Charles stay with Mr and Mrs Curtis in Sittaford, searching for clues. Mr Dacres, James Pearson's solicitor, tells Emily that things look much worse than they already imagined. James has "borrowed" money from his firm to speculate in stocks without the knowledge of the firm. There are several red herrings . Brian Pearson came under suspicion when Enderby discovered him making

7400-409: The opinion that the mandatory early disclosure of alibis is unfair, possibly even unconstitutional. The giving of a false alibi, beside resulting in possible subsequent criminal offences ( obstruction of justice , perjury , etc.), may, in some jurisdictions, result in negative ramifications for the trial itself, as it may be considered evidence of consciousness of guilt . In Canada, the giving of

7500-418: The path to the front door of Hazelmoor, the house in Exhampton where Captain Trevelyan now lives. When nobody answers the door, he fetches the local police and a doctor. They enter the house through the open study window at the back, and find Captain Trevelyan's dead body on the floor. Dr Warren estimates the time of death at between 5 and 6 pm. A fracture of the base of the skull is the cause of death. The weapon

7600-460: The play Oedipus Rex by Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles , Oedipus investigates the unsolved murder of King Laius and discovers the truth after questioning various witnesses that he himself is the culprit. Although "Oedipus's enquiry is based on supernatural, pre-rational methods that are evident in most narratives of crime until the development of Enlightenment thought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries", this narrative has "all of

7700-408: The plot of this book to the alarm of those around us." The subject of this dedication is Christie's second husband, Max Mallowan (1904–1978) and is one of four books dedicated to him, either singly or jointly, the others being Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Come Tell Me How You Live (1946) and Christie's final written work, Postern of Fate (1973). In 1928, Christie had been planning

7800-464: The real-life Mary Cecilia Rogers . William Russell (1806–1876) was among the first English authors to write fictitious 'police memoirs', contributing an irregular series of stories (under the pseudonym 'Waters') to Chambers's Edinburgh Journal between 1849 and 1852. Unauthorised collections of his stories were published in New York City in 1852 and 1853, entitled The Recollections of

7900-416: The series detective. In 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes , arguably the most famous of all fictional detectives. Although Sherlock Holmes is not the first fictional detective (he was influenced by Poe's Dupin and Gaboriau's Lecoq ), his name has become synonymous for the part. Conan Doyle stated that the character of Holmes was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell , for whom Doyle had worked as

8000-442: The solution to its puzzles are not likely to be arrived at by deduction on the reader's part. It is also one of Mrs. Christie's most entertaining crime novels, and her use of the Dartmoor background is masterly." The Sittaford Mystery contains several references to The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle . 'Exhampton' is readily recognisable as Okehampton . There is a Sittaford Tor on Dartmoor, which gave Christie

8100-419: The story concerns a Scottish aristocrat who tries to prove that a mysterious woman has killed his fiancée and cousin. The detective on the case, Antoine Dupres, is a parody of Auguste Dupin who is less concerned with solving the crime than he is in setting up a way to reveal the solution with a dramatic flourish. Ross Nickerson notes that many of the American writers who experimented with Poe's established rules of

8200-402: The text and its characters." Braddon's later and better-remembered work, Aurora Floyd (printed in 1863 novel form, but serialized in 1862–63 ), also features a compelling detective in the person of Detective Grimstone of Scotland Yard. Tom Taylor 's melodrama The Ticket-of-Leave Man , an adaptation of Léonard by Édouard Brisbarre and Eugène Nus, appeared in 1863, introducing Hawkshaw

8300-413: The time. Accompanied by his loyal friend and chronicler, Ajit Kumar Banerjee, the stories are written in a blend of formal and colloquial Bengali, making them accessible to a wide audience. The character's legacy continues to influence contemporary detective fiction in India, highlighting the genre's evolution and its cultural significance. Feluda , created by renowned filmmaker and author Satyajit Ray ,

8400-401: The title character is adept at disguise, a key characteristic of detectives. Gaboriau's writing is also considered to contain the first example of a detective minutely examining a crime scene for clues. Another early example of a whodunit is a subplot in the novel Bleak House (1853) by Charles Dickens . The conniving lawyer Tulkinghorn is killed in his office late one night, and the crime

8500-548: The unemotional eyes of new hero-detectives, these stories were an American phenomenon." In the late 1930s, Raymond Chandler updated the form with his private detective Philip Marlowe , who brought a more intimate voice to the detective than the more distanced "operative's report" style of Hammett's Continental Op stories. Chandler's stories were noted for their evokations of the American criminal underworld, including dark alleys and tough thugs, rich women and powerful men. Several feature and television movies have been made about

8600-419: The unravelling of a mystery; a mystery whose elements are clearly presented to the reader at an early stage in the proceedings, and whose nature is such as to arouse curiosity, a curiosity which is gratified at the end." Another common convention in Golden Age detective stories involved an outsider–sometimes a salaried investigator or a police officer, but often a gifted amateur—investigating a murder committed in

8700-418: The writing, a vivid sense of place, a memorable and compelling hero and the ability to draw the reader into their comforting and highly individual world.” Agatha Christie is not only the most famous Golden Age writer, but also considered one of the most famous authors of all genres of all time. At the time of her death in 1976, “she was the best-selling novelist in history.” Many of the most popular books of

8800-414: The “puzzle” approach in his writing which was characterized by including a complex puzzle for the reader to try to unravel. He created ingenious and seemingly impossible plots and is regarded as the master of the " locked room mystery ". Two of Carr's most famous works are The Case of Constant Suicides (1941) and The Hollow Man (1935). Another author, Cecil Street —who also wrote as John Rhode—wrote of

8900-701: Was Ivan Osipov (1718–after 1756), nicknamed Ivan Kain. Other examples of early Russian detective stories include: "Bitter Fate" (1789) by M. D. Chulkov (1743–1792), "The Finger Ring" (1831) by Yevgeny Baratynsky , "The White Ghost" (1834) by Mikhail Zagoskin , Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880) by Fyodor Dostoevsky . Detective fiction in modern Russian literature with clear detective plots started with The Garin Death Ray (1926–1927) and The Black Gold (1931) by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy , Mess-Mend by Marietta Shaginyan , The Investigator's Notes by Lev Sheinin . Boris Akunin

9000-404: Was a green baize tube full of sand. Captain Trevelyan's will states that, apart from £100 for his servant Evans, his property is to be equally divided among four people: his sister Jennifer Gardner, his nephew James Pearson, his niece Sylvia Dering, and his nephew Brian Pearson (the three children of his other, deceased sister). Each of these four will inherit approximately £20,000. James Pearson

9100-434: Was adopted wholeheartedly by American writers. One of the primary contributors to this style was Dashiell Hammett with his famous private investigator character, Sam Spade . His style of crime fiction came to be known as " hardboiled ", a genre that "usually deals with criminal activity in a modern urban environment, a world of disconnected signs and anonymous strangers." "Told in stark and sometimes elegant language through

9200-432: Was also opposed, supposedly due to mistrust of his new 'uncle'. As The Sittaford Mystery was written during this period, it is probable that this opposition is what the dedication refers to. The blurb on the inside flap of the dustjacket of the first edition (which is also repeated opposite the title page) reads: It was a typical Dickens Christmas; deep snow everywhere, and down in the little village of Sittaford on

9300-468: Was an admirer of western mystery writers. He gained his fame in the early 1920s, when he began to bring to the genre many bizarre, erotic and even fantastic elements. This is partly because of the social tension before World War II . In 1957, Seicho Matsumoto received the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for his short story The Face ( 顔 kao ). The Face and Matsumoto's subsequent works began

9400-457: Was engineered by Brian Pearson. He and Brian would live with the Willetts as their manservants until the danger passed, but the prisoner was recaptured. Martin Dering created a false alibi because his wife Sylvia was watching him for divorce proceedings. Sylvia is Mr Rycroft's niece; Jennifer Gardner is Mr Garfield's godmother; and Mr Duke is an ex-Chief-Inspector of Scotland Yard . Emily solves

9500-596: Was in the care of her sister at Abney Hall ), was seriously ill with pneumonia . Christie set off for home by a four-day train journey with Max accompanying her. Getting to know her on the journey, he made up his mind to propose marriage and, after a few more meetings, that is what he did to Christie's great shock. Christie accepted and in doing so was warned to be cautious by her brother-in-law James Watts (1878?–1957) and vehemently opposed in her plans by his wife (Christie's sister) Madge (1879–1950). Their son, Jack Watts (1903–1961) who had been at New College, Oxford with Max

9600-412: Was in the last 1960s that he made his literary debut with Chuvanna Manushyan . Pushpanath authored more than 350 detective novels. Ibn-e-Safi is the most popular Urdo detective fiction writer. He started writing his famous Jasoosi Dunya Series spy stories in 1952 with Col. Fareedi & Captain. Hameed as main characters. In 1955 he started writing Imran Series spy novels with Ali Imran as X2

9700-475: Was published in December 1839. " Das Fräulein von Scuderi " is an 1819 short story by E. T. A. Hoffmann , in which Mlle de Scudery establishes the innocence of the police's favorite suspect in the murder of a jeweller. This story is sometimes cited as the first detective story and as a direct influence on Edgar Allan Poe 's " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " (1841). Also suggested as a possible influence on Poe

9800-488: Was the last thing she wanted. Desperate to escape she travelled to Ur and made the acquaintance of the archaeological expedition's leader, Leonard Woolley (1880–1960) and his wife, Katharine (1888–1945). Visitors to the dig were usually discouraged but Katharine Woolley was a great admirer of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and, being an imperious and difficult woman who always got her way in things large and small ( Gertrude Bell described Katherine as "dangerous"), Christie

9900-584: Was treated as an honoured guest. In 1929, Christie gave the Woolleys the temporary use of her then residence in Cresswell Place in London and they, in turn, invited her back to the dig at the end of the season. Arriving back there in February 1930, she met Max Mallowan, who had been away ill with appendicitis . Katharine 'ordered' him to take Christie on a tour of the local sights. They visited Nippur , Diwaniyah , Nejeif, Ukhaidir, and Kerbela and on

10000-485: Was uncovering the remains of the ancient city of Ur , about which Christie had been reading with avid interest in The Illustrated London News . Entranced by the thought of such a journey, she changed her tickets at Thomas Cook's and set off for the orient. On the journey, she found herself in the company of a tedious Englishwoman who was determined to take Christie "under her wing", although that

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