detective novel
Crime fiction paperback
A detective novel is a work of fiction centered on solving a crime, typically a murder, through investigation and deduction.
The genre follows a detective—professional or amateur—as they gather clues, interview suspects, and unmask the culprit.
Classic examples feature methodical sleuths like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot; hardboiled varieties feature grittier investigators navigating corrupt worlds.
She stayed up all night finishing the detective novel.
- drawing roomFormal reception space
- investigationFormal examination of facts
- dead bodyDeceased person's remains
- sidekickSubordinate adventure partner
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
Agatha Christie · Raymond Chandler · Edgar Allan Poe · locked-room mystery · fair play · unreliable narrator · amateur sleuth · noir fiction · Sherlock Holmes · whodunit · red herrings · false confession · plot twist · alibi · clues · smoking gun · mystery fiction · suspect
- fictionfiction, short story, fairy tales, fables, literary fiction
- crime fictionmurder mystery, whodunit, crime stories, sleuth, crime thriller
- mysteryclue, suspect, clues, sleuth, whodunit
- mystery fictionwhodunit, whodunnit, sleuth, murder mystery, crime fiction
- legal termstrial, legal, appeal, lawsuit, law
detective novelanti-novel
Fiction rejecting traditional structure
experimental fiction · slice of life · literary fiction · experimental novel · thriller
detective noveltrue crime
Genre covering actual offenses
investigative journalism · crime documentary · nonfiction · court transcript · police report
detective novelromance novel
Fiction about romantic love
literary fiction · experimental novel · horror novel · fantasy novel · bildungsroman
novel, detective, novelist, detection, novels, detected, detector, detecting, detectable