Meny

Theme article

History of crime fiction

By: Johan Wopenka

Depending upon how one wishes to define the concept ‘crime fiction’, it is possible to trace its history and roots back in time. When Dorothy L. Sayers compiled her comprehensive three-volume anthology Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror (1928–34) she started with two stories from the Old Testament, and when Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee (alias Ellery Queen) wrote their fundamental The Detective Short Story : A Bibliography (1942), they listed eight Chinese collections of short stories which are believed to have been written down between 600 A.D. and 1800 A.D., some of them containing stories based on an older, oral tradition.

Further reading

Literary figure

Lecoq

Gender: Male

Monsieur Lecoq, whose first name is never mentioned, had some minor crimes on his conscience when he changed sides and instead got a job with La Sûreté in Paris. He is from a fine, but financially ruined, family. He is a small person but with a well-proportioned body and glowing eyes. In five classic novels by Émile Gaboriau, published 1866-68, he solves crimes in a surprisingly modern manner.

Further reading