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Marc Orbe
Professor Haas
Writing 37
10 December 2014
The Detective Genres Structure
The Detective Genre has been around since the Victorian Era, captivating the middle
class readers of that time. Its uprising was mainly due to the fact that everyone in the Victorian
was allured to its unique structure. Literary scholar T.J. Binyon suggests the detective genre
follows a formula in which all detective novels and short stories start and end the same way. The
same formula can be seen in Sir Arthur Conan Doyles A The Hound of the Baskervilles, A study
in Scarlet, and The Red Headed League. Because of this formula, people treat the novel as some
puzzle that they need to solve. According to scholars like T.J Binyon, Leroy Panek, and George
N. Dove, the detective genre's formulaic structure is one of the reasons for its rise in popularity
during the Victorian Era.
One aspect of Doyles stories that scholars point to as a defining convention of the genre
is narrative structure. All of Doyles detective stories follow a formulaic plot structure; this
structure becomes familiar to readers, which provides them a stress free experience. According
to Literary scholar T.J. Binyon, Doyles stories usually start with Holmes at 221 B. Baker street,
and ends in 221 B. Baker Street (11). In The Hound of the Baskervilles, written by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, Holmes is conversing with Watson about their next client (Loc.852). Within this
particular scene, Holmes and Watson are inside of their apartment. They are visited by their new
client, and subsequently given a case to solve. But by the end of the novel, Holmes gives Watson
an explanation for the solution to the case in 221 B. Baker street. Readers of the detective genre

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are given a set structure to follow. The beginning and outcome of every detective novel is seen as
something expected. Leroy Panek, an Edgar Award winning scholar, agrees that within
apartment 221 B.almost all of the Holmes stories begin, not with a crime, but with a curtain
raiser in which Holmes demonstrates his powers of observation and analytical skill(Panek 84).
This curtain raiser is also portrayed in The Hound of the Baskervilles, where Watson and
Holmes start to deduce their client through the cane they left in the apartment. Holmes deduces
that their client is a country doctor who owns a dog (loc.917). Both scholars agree that the
structure of the detective genre follows in a formulaic process, and this in return gives readers no
surprises, because they are also guaranteed a solution to the case. Because of the structure the
genre follows, the readers of the Victorian era found it easy to follow and as a result it became
popular.
The detective genres structure has a similar beginning that transcends through every
detective novel, but also accompanied by a given solution. Literary scholar George N. Dove, in
his book-length study of the genre, The Different Story, claims that detective stories contains a
guaranteed solution. This follows the formulaic structure that T.J. Binyon stated in his book,
Murder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction, where every Sherlock Holmes novel starts in his
apartment, a client arrives, Holmes deduces things about the client from an object or the person
him or herself, the problem is outlined, Holmes and Watson discuss the case when the client is
gone, the investigation begins, Holmes identifies what happened, and Holmes explains it all to
Watson back at Baker Street (Binyon). The Red Headed League, one of Doyles short stories,
follows this same structure. Professor Nils Clausson, suggests that Holmes solves the mystery by
realizing that what had appeared to be a complex case is actually simple(Clausson 68). In the
Red Headed League, all it took for Holmes was to realize the Leagues job advertisement was

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too good to be true, and that there was an ulterior motive. George N. Dove adds to Claussons
claim, and compares the conclusion of the detective genre to that of a magic trick (Dove 5). Just
like a magic trick, Holmes as the magician explains all the events in the book. Following the
structure of the Detective Genre, readers are satisfied with the outcome of the story and are
allowed to move on to the next short story. Due to the structure of the Detective genre and the
guaranteed solution, readers of the detective genre easily read through a worry free environment.
Due to the detective genres structure, readers are left with a fun leisurely activity.
Because the detective genre provides a solution, readers dont have to worry about whether or
not the case will be solved, and instead they try to solve the crime themselves. According to
George N. Dove, readers can compare the detective genre to that of a cross word puzzle (5). He
also includes that detective novel are free of stress, and that both the genre and crossword puzzle
offers the reader a task that has no goal beyond itself. Readers witness this through all of Doyles
novels, and they manage to allure readers by challenging them to pick up the pieces and solve the
mystery for themselves. Just like when a person is done answering a cross word puzzle, the
person wouldnt want to go and redo it. Instead the person would want to move on to a different
puzzle.
The structure of the Detective genre follows a simple formulaic structure, that gives
readers a chance to try and solve the case themselves. Its structured in a way that benefits the
readers and provides them with a cushion of leisure. With readers paying closer attention to the
structure of the detective genre, they get a better understanding of how to enjoy reading it. Conan
Doyles detective stories are still popular today, due to the fact that it teaches others to pay closer
attention to detail.

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Works Cited:
Clausson, Nils. "Fin-de-Siecle Gothic and the Science of Detection: Arthur Conan Doyle's The
Hound of the Baskervilles and the Emergence of the Modern Detective Story" Journal of
Narrative Theory 35.1 (Winter 2005): 60-87. PDF File.
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sharon, MA: Higher Read, LLC 20143.
Kindle eBook. Online.
Dove, George N. The Different Story. The Reader and the Detective Story. Bowling Green,
OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997. PDF File
Doyle, Arthur Conan. "Adventure 2: The Red-Headed League." The Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes. Lit2Go Edition. 1892. Web.
Panek, Leroy. Doyle. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling
Green State University Popular Press, 1987. PDF File.