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Elements Of A Mystery Novel

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Elements of a mystery novel is similar to other genre of novels since they all include characters, settings, problems and solutions with necessary descriptions and suspense throughout. In a mystery novel, the protagonist is usually the sleuth where they figure out the puzzle and as Christopher Boone, narrator of the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, states, “If it is a good puzzle you can sometimes work out the answer before the end of the book” (5). This is referring to the clues the author provides which can also be a distraction known as a red herring. In relation to this, the most valuable information is typically gained throughout the process of the investigation rather than the solution itself. Although the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time isn’t classified as a detective story, the plot still goes through an investigation and shares elements of a mystery novel. The mystery within the story that keeps the novel going is to find the killer of Mrs. Shears’ poodle, Wellington and in turn, shapes the ending where we see the development of the protagonist after he learns the crazy reality of life.
The novel begins with Christopher stumbling upon dead Wellington and gets blamed as the killer which is what initiated the investigation. If this occurrence did not happen, then Christopher would not have wanted to find the real killer since death is never a drawback for him. In fact, Christopher views death as an inevitable event so
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