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Luis Mendoza
88424135
Professor Haas
Writing 37
6 November, 2014
Structure: The detective Genre
When we hear or think about a detective story, Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes pops
into our heads, but why is that? What has made this fictional detective widely popular? And
foremost why are his adventures still popular today? An example would be, Doyles Silver Blaze
which was published in the early 1890s Victorian era and was a huge hit with the masses. The
story is centered on the mystery of how a famous winning horse went missing and how his
trainer ended up dead. Even though the mystery seems complex to solve, Holmes through his
superior detective skills manages to give the reader a detailed solution. None of Conan Doyles
text are novels, they are all short stories, and just like that the mystery starts and ends within a
short reading. The quick read of the stories made them popular with the emerging Victorian
middle class, which had no time to read novels, but had enough time to read a short story for
their entertainment. Due to their popularity many scholars and writers have debated what led to
the popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and have concluded or at least to some extent
that the stories unique structure, is what led to their popularity in the late Victorian period. They
conclude that the Four qualities of the tale of literary detection set it apart, in the opinion of
critics past and present, from other popular fiction: the detective story is transitory, without longrange goals or purposes ; it is fundamentally an intellectual undertaking; it is recreational,

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intended primarily to relax. (Different story 2) Although, writers and scholars alike accept those
four qualities giving the unique structure, some scholars such as George Dove also add that the
connection with the reader made the stories popular.
The first unique feature of the detective genre is that its transitory, meaning that its
brief and to the point. The Holmes stories "create a mystery for the sole purpose of its effortless
dissipation (Grossvogel quoted in Different Story 2). The purpose of the Holmes stories was not
to teach the audience, but rather to amuse and distract them from their everyday lives. The hard
working people of the Victorian era needed this distraction, and so they demanded more
Sherlock Holmes stories. During the Victorian era a new middle class was forming, the middle
- class male reader who long ago has the ability, but not the time, to read fiction (Beginnings 9).
They were educated and literate, but they lacked the time to read novels for amusement, thats
why the simplicity and shortness of the Holmes novels appealed to the growing middle class.
Shortness in length without a doubt was an asset to the Holmes stories, the complexity and yet
simplistic nature of its mysteries proved alluring.
Every one of the Holmes novels has gained fame for its complex and mind baffling
mysteries. A mystery as complex as in Silver Blaze, where a horse is stolen and its trainer is
found dead, and as we read we are given the clues to solve it. The plot is double because the
story is first narrated as it appears to the bewildered bystanders who observe the crime and are to
some extent threatened by it but who cannot arrive at its solution (Delamater 1). The stories are
designed such that the role of the reader is both recreational and intellectual; the reader
voluntarily accepts the limits (agrees to the rules), in order to permit the game to be played.
(Dove 4) Readers are given the choice to solve the mystery, if they can. But the readers dont
need to solve the mystery as they are reassured of a solution to the mystery (Dove 10). Going

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back to the complex case in Silver Blaze, a stolen horse that is found and its dead horse trainer,
the readers are given the same clues as Holmes. And when Holmes explains how he solved the
mystery we are perplexed, as to how he did it. Holmes concluded that the trainer stole the horse
in order to injure it t prevent it from winning the race, and when the horse felt it was in danger he
kicked the trainer in the head, killing him. As scholarly writer Panek states and quotes Doyle
the stories depend on the ingenuity and dramatic quality of the solution. (Doyle quoted in
Doyle 91) And in the busy Victorian era its readers where looking for entertainment but also for
a means to relax.
The recreational value of detective fiction has always been recognized by the reading
public, and a veteran reader can testify to the pleasure of curling up (Different Story 2). What
makes the Holmes stories as unique as that they are structured to relax the reader. The stories, do
not aim at teaching a lesson to the reader, they just are intended to help the reader unwind. The
stories, both the crossword puzzle and the detective novel are free of stress, each offers the
reader a task or set of related tasks, both are shaped by convention, and neither has any goal
beyond itself. (Different story 3) The story is simple it is intended to challenge the readers
thinking capability but in a fun and unpressured way. As stated by writer George Dove, the role
of the reader is both recreational and intellectual; the reader voluntarily accepts the limits (agrees
to the rules), in order to permit the game to be played. (Different Story 4) Scholarly writer
Panek agrees that Doyle created the stories as a mean to relax and entertain his audience, Doyle
came to realize, by accident or choice, the detective story can profit from a combination of nonserious, comic, and playful with the serious, tragic, and human implications of crime (Doyle 93)
Conon Doyles Sherlock Holmes stories are so popular they are synonymous with the word
detective genre. Doyles unique structure in his detective stories, his creative way to entertain

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and relax his audience through his short stories led to the popularity of the detective genre. Doyle
was able to give the hard working Victorian middle class what they desired of a book. Even to
this day we read his stories and many adaptations and receive the same pleasure and
entertainment, as those in the Victorian era. As it is expressed by scholar Delamater, The
universally popular detective has assumed great cultural significance as modern civilization has
become increasingly complex. (Delamater 1) Our modern times might be different than the late
Victorian era, but we are still a working middle class majority. We still look for simple ways to
entertain ourselves, to let our mind drift from our problems with the problems of others, in this
case with the problems faced by the characters in the stories. That is why the Sherlock Holmes
stories have maintained there popularity, because there shortness and unique structure, make it so
that any reader can find pleasure in them.