REWIND HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1860

REWIND 

HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1860

     Wilkie Collins wrote "The Woman in White" (1860) and it is considered not only the first but one of the best sensational mystery novels ever written. It was hugely popular. Partly, because in the 1860's more people could read than at any other time in history. Plus the average person had more leisure time to read for entertainment. [Remember there were no TV's, I-pods or computers.] Prior to this only the rich upper classes were educated and reading was for the enlightenment of one's mind.

     Collins states in his introduction to the novel: 'the story here presented will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness'.

YOUR INVESTIGATION:  What was the name of Collin's detective in "The Woman in White"?

HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1935

HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1935  

Penguin Paperbacks 

      A new paperback line was issued in 1935. It started with 10 titles and within a year, expanded to 70 titles. The were called Penguins and hugely successful because they were less expensive and sold in department stores where the majority of the people shopped. Paperbacks brought the mystery to the general public.

HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1923

HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1923    

Dorothy Sayers published her first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery in 1923. Wimsey was a new kind of detective. He had style and brains. Readers loved him and Sayers became one of the most popular authors of her time.

HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1920

HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY 1920

By the 1920s British mysteries were popular. One emerged on top of that popularity. It was called the cozy. It was almost always set in a small town. The hero usually had aristocratic family connections. There were a ton of red herrings (false leads) for the hero to follow before they discovered the murderer. The murder weapons were straight out of the game CLUE. Candlesticks, sterling silver letter openers, lead pipes and the occasional poison. The plots of the stories followed a standard plot, but the clues were so complicated that only the very sharp reader could solve the crime before the hero. And again, like the game CLUE, the stories ended with the hero exposing the villain in front of the other players in the story.

YOUR INVESTIGATION: Who was the grand dame of the British cozy?