Genre - Mystery and Crime Thriller

Defining the genre

1. A definition

Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term that is often used as a synonym of all mystery/detective/spy fiction.

A simple definition is therefore a story in which a detective (either professional or amateur) solves a crime.

The term "mystery fiction" is sometimes limited to the subset of detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle and its logical solution ( aka the whodunit), as a contrast to hardboiled detective stories which focus on action and gritty realism.

In more general usage, "mystery" may be used to describe any form of crime fiction, even if there is no mystery to be solved.

For example, the 'Mystery Writers of America' describes itself as "the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre."

2. Detective fiction

Detective fiction is a branch of mystery/crime fiction that centers upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. Detective fiction is the most popular form of both mystery fiction and hardboiled crime fiction.

Commonly in detective fiction, the investigator has some source of income other than detective work and some undesirable eccentricities or striking characteristics. He or she frequently has a less able assistant, or foil, who acts as an audience surrogate for the explanation of the mystery at the end of the story.

a. Classic features of detective fiction

 

i. A country house robbery

 

ii. An "inside job"

 

iii. A celebrated investigator

 

iv. Bungling local constabulary

v. Detective enquiries

vi. False suspects

vii. The "least likely suspect"

 

viii. A rudimentary "locked room" murder

 

ix. A reconstruction of the crime

 

x. A final twist in the plot

 

xi. The inverted detective story

b. Common sub-genre

 

i. The private eye novel

The detective is a professional but not part of the police force.

 

ii. Police procedural

Typically a specialist within the police force. The antagonist is discovered by clever police work.

 

iii. "Cosy mysteries"

Shies away from violence and suspense and frequently feature female amateur detectives.

 

iv. Serial killer mystery

The protagonist is a serial killer and is typically found through clever police work and psychology is used.

 

v. The whodunit

A mystery is to be solved

 

vi. Locked room mystery

How did the crime take place?

 

vii. The inverted detective story or "howcatchem"

The criminal is revealed in the beginning and we find out how the detective solves the mystery.

 

viii. The legal thriller

The protagnist is from the legal profession.

 

ix. The spy novel

The protagonist is a spy.

 

x. The psychological suspense novel

It's all in the mind.

 

xi. The criminal novel

Here the novel is told from the point of view of criminals.

3. Thrillers

Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villains. Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings, and cliffhangers are used extensively.

Thrillers often take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" accustomed to danger: law enforcement officers, spies, soldiers, seamen, or aviators. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women have become increasingly common.

Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories, but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy, rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others. In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.

In recent years, when thrillers have been increasingly influenced by horror or psychological-horror exposure in pop culture, an ominous or monstrous element has become common to heighten tension. The monster could be anything, even an inferior physical force made superior only by their intellect, a supernatural entity, aliens, serial killers or even microbes or chemical agents.

a. Sub-genres

 

i. Action thriller

In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. They usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place.

 

ii. Conspiracy thriller

In which the hero confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he recognises.

iii. Crime thriller

This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman.

Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients.

 

iv. Disaster thriller

In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or artificial disasters as a nuclear meltdown.

 

v. Drama thriller

In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama. These are usually slower paced and involve a great deal of character development along with plot twists.

 

vi. Eco-thriller

In which the protagonist must avert or rectify an environmental or biological calamity - often in addition to dealing with the usual types of enemies or obstacles present in other thriller genres. This environmental component often forms a central message or theme of the story.

 

vii. Erotic thriller

In which it consists of erotica and thriller.

 

viii. Horror thriller

In which conflict between the main characters are mental, emotional, and physical.

What sets the horror thriller apart is the main element of fear throughout the story. The main character is not only up against a superior force, but they are or will soon become the victims themselves and directly feel the fear that comes by attracting the monster's attention.

 

ix. Legal thriller

In which the lawyer heroe confronts enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives.

 

x. Medical thriller

In which the hero is a doctor or medical personnel working to solve an expanding medical problem.

 

xi. Political thriller

In which the hero must ensure the stability of the government that employs him.

 

xii. Psychological thriller

In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.

 

xiii. Spy thriller (also a subgenre of spy fiction)

In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists.

 

xiv. Supernatural thriller

In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers.

This type of thriller combines tension of the regular thriller with such basic horror oriented ingredients as ghosts, the occult, and psychic phenomenon; the supernatural thriller combines these with a frightening but often restrained tone. They also generally eschew the more graphic elements of the horror genre in favor of sustaining a mood of menace and unpredictability; supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling a malevolent paranormal force or trapped in a situation seemingly influenced or controlled by an other-worldly entity beyond their comprehension.

 

xv. Techno-thriller

A work that usually focuses upon military action, in which technology (usually military technology) is described in detail and made essential to the reader's/viewer's understanding of the plot. Tom Clancy defined and popularized the genre.

 

Most thrillers are formed in some combination of the above, with horror, conspiracy, and psychological tricks used most commonly to heighten tension. Combinations are highly diverse and often cut across other genre e.g. factasy, sci-fi.

4. Spy fiction

The genre of spy fiction is sometimes called political thriller or spy thriller (or sometimes shortened simply to spy-fi). It arose before World War I at about the same time that the first modern intelligence agencies were formed. Seldom has this literary field met with critical acclaim.

At the same time, it has enjoyed great popular success. Readership waned only in the lull following the end of the Cold War (the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989). The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States reignited interest and have reversed that trend.

5. Conspiracy fiction

The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a subgenre of the thriller. A common theme in such works is that characters discover a secretive conspiracy and may be unable to tell what is true about the conspiracy, or even what is real: rumors, lies, propaganda, and counter-propaganda build upon one another until what is conspiracy and what is coincidence becomes an undecidable question.

The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves (often inadvertently) pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes "all the way to the top".

Because of their dramatic potential, conspiracies are a popular theme in thrillers and science fiction. The subtle shades and complexities of historical fact are recast as a morality play in which bad people cause bad events, and good people identify and defeat them.

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