Hard-Boiled Mystery Story Analysis

The detective genre is recognizable by the mystery that it represents or establishes. Every word of a fiction novel is chosen with a purpose, and that purpose on a detective novel is to create suspense. The excerpts from The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, Murder Is My Business by Lynette Prucha, and Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, create an atmosphere of suspense and mystery. Even though they all fit into this category, there are some differences that make each novel unique. The imagery that the authors offer in the excerpts helps the reader to distinguish the similarities and the differences.

A good mystery story needs a hero, a villan and an out of the ordinary storyline. In my opinion the story should have a realistic drama and the right setting, something to drastic will not allow the reader to relate to the story. A narrator may make the story more personal and the reader can really get inside the story to know what the character is feeling and fears, increasing tension. There also should be a range of suspects; some of these characters can be used as red herrings, which can mislead the reader, adding to the shock at the end of the story. In ‘The speckled band’ the suspects are the gypsies, the exotic animals and Dr Roylott, there are some obvious and some not,

Throughout the study of JB Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’, it is easy to identify that there are many points in which this text both conforms and subverts to the conventions of the mystery genre. The author explores the archetypal mystery genre through firstly, the dead body and murder of Eva Smith, as well as the clues and motives that are revealed throughout the investigation. This is further followed by the series of intertwining characters, and the inquiry of their involvement in the death. However, this typical mystery text can be contradicted by the fact that this death was not a murder, but a suicide case, changing the expectations to instead of who killed her, but what were the lead up in events to result in Eva killing herself.

The author shows the readers that today so-called cozy mysteries has no big difference from Golden Age style mystery writing. The story occurs mainly in a small setting, such as part of a closed group, in a manor or a small village. Christie’s works still influence the readers: They still love to read Agatha Christie’s novels today.

Good people are not always rewarded, and people who commit felonies and do wrong are not always punished. Imagine a man who tries to be nice, honest, and friendly. One night police end up at your door and you are suddenly the suspect for your friends’ murder. This is sadly the case for James Driskell (Howe). In September of 1990 his friend, Perry Harder, was shot in the chest several times. A year later James was convicted to a lifetime in prison. The evidence the police had for the crime were 3 hairs on Harder’s chest that apparently belonged to Mr. Driskell. Later tests revealed that those 3 hairs did not

Then he explained to me how often police officers must testify in court. He mentioned that officers who do traffic stops must testify in court 3-5 times a week. They rarely have to appear in jury trials, and simply explain the situation to a judge. As a detective Brassington would have to testify in front of a jury 2-3 times every month. As we learned in chapter 8 relaying what happened to a victim or what was found at a crime scene would make police officers lay witnesses. Which means they explain to a jury the facts and what evidence was found at the scene.

The patented murder mystery, in all its addictive predictability, presents the audience with numerous cliches: a stormy night, a shadowy figure, a sinister butler, and a mysterious phone call. Susan Glaspell's Trifles does not fit this mold. Glaspell's mysterious inquiry into the murder of John Wright presents the reader with only one suspect, Mrs. Wright. Even though the court examiner and sheriff cannot find evidence against Mrs. Wright, the reader can plausibly argue the case against the neglected wife. Glaspell's use of descriptive language and subtle hints established the mood, presents the motive, and uncovers the evidence needed to solve this murder mystery.

Hard-boiled detective fiction sets the scene for a cold and harsh reality. Dashiell Hammett’s, “The Girl with The Silver Eyes” is no exception to this rule. In this short story Hammett paints a picture of a brutally realistic urban center filled with characters that not many people would want to call friends. The realistic qualities of Hammett’s story are drawn from his own life’s experience working as a Pinkerton detective. The detective in “The Girl With The Silver Eyes” works for the Continental Detective Agency and is, therefore, known simply as the Continental Op. In the beginning of the story the Op professes, “a detective, if he is wise, takes pains to make and keep as many friends as possible among transfer company, express

a story that showed how all five suspects knew each other. One can see how Detective

Readers who have never picked up on the Dashiell Hammett detective novel The Maltese Falcon 1930 or seen the classic 1941 film adaptation, which follows the novel almost verbatim, can feel a strong sense of familiarity, faced for the first time in history. In this book, Hammett invented the hard-boiled private eye genre, introducing many of the elements that readers have come to expect from detective stories: mysterious, attractive woman whose love can be a trap , search for exotic icon that people are willing to kill the detective, who plays both sides of the law, to find the truth , but it is ultimately driven by a strong moral code , and shootings and beatings enough for readers to share the feeling of danger Detective . For decades , countless writers have copied the themes and motifs Hammett may rarely come anywhere near him almost perfect blend of cynicism and excitement.

Once again, I got carried away by Agatha Christie's. Everytime I lay my hands across a detective fiction, I'm unstoppable, ready to uncover all the mysteries! As I flip through the pages, my heart beats faster, adrenaline rush through my body as I was slowly taken to the protagonist's world, experiencing terror and fear, while analyzing every single possibilities: who the real murderer is, how to break his perfect alibi, or how to get away unnoticed by him.

William Waegel’s research demonstrates features of the Bureaucratic Matching Game revealing how the larger government organizations focused on efficiency and productivity creates a situation for detectives where they determine who and what should be investigated to keep themselves on par with the goals set forth. While the organization’s drive is for paperwork deadlines and arrests, the detectives are an organization of their own that determines what assumptions should be made based on the demographics of the case, and many times cut corners and fabricate statuses to conform to the larger organizations efficiency and effectiveness goals. Focusing on the detectives, their experiences with the criminal and the larger organization have created

Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Maltese Falcon, is a hard-boiled detective novel; a subset of the mystery genre. Before the appearance of this sub-genre, mystery novels were mainly dominated by unrealistic cases and detectives like Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. As Malmgren states, “The murders in these stories are implausibly motivated, the plots completely artificial, and the characters pathetically two-dimensional, puppets and cardboard lovers, and paper mache villains and detectives of exquisite and impossible gentility.” (Malmgren, 371) On the other hand, Hammett tried to write realistic mystery fiction – the “hard-boiled” genre. In the Maltese Falcon, Hammett uses language, symbolism, and characterization to bring the story closer to

This study will compare and contrast the elements of the crime genre in Winter’s Bone (2010) by Debra Granik and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Winter’s Bone is a story tells the story of Ree Dolly’s (Jennifer Lawrence) struggle to find her missing father through various methods of detective work in her local community. In a similar manner, Raymond Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep defines the criminal investigation of various murders by the detective, Phillip Marlowe. These two plots define the similar use of a protagonist that acts as an investigator seeking to discover the truth of a particular

While American and British authors developed the two distinct schools of detective fiction, known as “hard-boiled and “golden age,” simultaneously, the British works served to continue traditions established by earlier authors while American works formed their own distinct identity. Though a niche category, detective works reflect the morality and culture of the societies their authors lived in. Written in the time period after World War I, Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and “The Gutting of Couffignal”, and Raymond Chandler’s “Trouble Is My Business” adapt their detectives to a new harsh reality of urban life. In “hard-boiled” works, the detective is more realistic than the detective in “golden age” works according to the