HSE Publishing House

The monograph examines the questions of the theory of the detective genre, some little-known chapters in its history, successful and not so successful examples of how film adaptations of detective stories compete with their literary source. The book shows how a detective story can be mainly a puzzle but at the same time a work of art. Some popular myths about detective fiction are dispelled, namely, that a detective story can be used as a “wrapping” for a “serious realistic novel”; that there exist “genrevarieties” with in detective fiction, etc. The book explores the question of affinity of detective fiction to different types of poetics; develops a hypothesis about the relationship between the detective fiction genre and a Christian mindset; shows at what price the detective novella has become the detective novel, and how the classics of this genre tried to turn the detective fiction inside out and why these attempts have not had significant consequences for the history of the genre.
The book is designed for anyone interested in the theory and history of the detective story.