Mystery is a type of literature whose story focuses on a confusing crime, situation, or situation that needs to be resolved. The word comes from the Latin mysterium, meaning “secret.” stories can be fictional or non-fiction, and can focus on both supernatural and non-natural topics. Many mysterious stories include the so-called "whodunit" of the situation, meaning that the mystery revolves around the disclosure of a case or criminal.
Like all kinds of fairy tales, Mystery follows a formula, expected by readers. Something to happen: something unexplained. It could be a crime, a disappearance, or an impossibility of the arrival of something or someone. (Gillian Flynn's Girl Gone Gone is exploring several of these boxes.) Once the mystery is revealed, an investigation begins. Clues were collected with witnesses; the suspects appeared. Sometimes, everything will go wrong due to red herrings or last-minute alibis.
Ultimately, the investigation takes a big step forward - whether it is an important indication or confession of torture - and, finally, the mystery is solved. But that is not the end of the story. Once the crime has been committed, the criminal needs to be arrested. If a person disappears, they need to be found. And, of course, all criminals should receive the punishment they deserve.
Mysteries are often told in chronological order from the moment the mystery is discovered immediately until it is solved, but not always. Sometimes, a mystery is solved at the beginning of a novel, and the rest of the story is destroyed in search of a motive or a criminal, as in Tom Rob Smith's Child 44. What are the details of what happened? Why did this happen? If there is something to be punished, is it fair?
History of Mystery
From time immemorial people have been writing things down, writing about crime and punishment - rules of governance and issues of ethics. The Greek catastrophe, Euripides, explores the significance of the murder in Orestes (408 BC). Orestes is facing death after he takes the advice of the god Apollo and kills his mother. Orestes' attempts to escape his deathbed encroach on human free will against the absolute power of the gods. Mystery here: Will politicians capture Orestes, or will they protect the gods? The answer could affect the balance of power and the destructive effects of the planet.
More than 2,200 years later, Edgar Allen Poe's short story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) marks the official beginning of the Mystery genre in literature. The first investigator of the documents, C. Auguste Dupin, investigates two horrific murders by collecting clues and investigating witnesses - tactics that influence every subsequent mystery.
The first detective novel, Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868), soon follows. When an expensive Indian diamond was stolen, the suspects were quickly identified and an investigation was launched. The mystery is not so much who stole it, but how the crime happened.
In 1866 in France, Émile Gaboriau became the first pioneer of a detective novel with his iconic Detective Monsieur Lecoq. The character is based on a real person - a criminal who turned out to be a police officer and started solving a crime he could commit.
Types of Mysteries
The mysterious species is large, with many subtypes (and subspecies) within. Here are the big ones.
Detective Fiction is a category that everyone identifies most with mysteries. This relatively small genre includes detectives like Michael Bennett of James Patterson; experts such as Janet Evanovich's hunter, Stephanie Plum; or amateur sleuths like Nancy Drew, who step into the clues and solve the mystery.
Thriller-driven, full of action, and full of heart-wrenching moments than many other mysteries. Alex Michaelides' Silent Patient is a psychiatrist who follows a psychiatrist down a twisted rabbit hole, as he tries to figure out why his famous, speechless, patient patient, has killed her husband in a disgusting way.
True Crime has been popular for years, thanks to shocking newspaper reports of crime and its aftermath. When Truman Capote In In Cold Blood was published in 1966, it officially made the style of narration popular today. As with Michelle McNamara's I Will Be Dark in the Dark: A One-In-One Search for a Golden Region Murderer, the inspiration for Real Crime is the mystery of real life.
Luxury or Home Mysteries are often solved with amateur sleuths, and crime happens off-page, making them even worse. Unexpected characters help solve crime, such as Koko the cat in Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who Could Read Backwards. Common settings such as bookstores, libraries, and bakeries are also prominent.
Supernatural or Paranormal Mysteries investigates the appearance of ghosts, UFOs, or other mysterious mysteries. In Jess Kidd's Things In Jars, Detective Devine has to find a lost girl with supernatural powers, before others can catch her and sell her first.
Mysteries of History bring your past life and your mysteries. Ellis Peters' A Morbid Taste for Bones, the first in a series of popular Cadfael Chronicles series, follows the 12th-century Benedictine monk of Wales as he tries to resolve a murder case committed against the sacred relics.
Heists and Capers are fun to read because they are almost always told from a criminal point of view. Donald Westlake's song The Hot Rock, an exciting old heist, follows a group of amateur thieves who are determined.
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