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detective story
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Engraving of Sherlock Holmes standing and holding a pipe while explaining his deductions to Dr. Watson, who is seated beside a table. The Maltese Falcon
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detective story summary
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British actor Basil Rathbone, as Detective Sherlock Holmes who he portrayed in several movies based on the detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle.
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Engraving of Sherlock Holmes standing and holding a pipe while explaining his deductions to Dr. Watson, who is seated beside a table.
Illustration of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson Sherlock Holmes (right) explaining to Dr. Watson what he has deduced from a pipe left behind by a visitor; illustration by Sidney Paget for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's “The Adventure of the Yellow Face,” The Strand Magazine, 1893.

detective story

narrative genre
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detective story, type of popular literature in which a crime is introduced and investigated and the culprit is revealed. The traditional elements of the detective story are: (1) the seemingly perfect crime; (2) the wrongly accused suspect at whom circumstantial evidence points; (3) the bungling of dim-witted police; (4) the greater powers of observation and superior mind of the detective; and (5) the startling and unexpected denouement, in which the detective reveals how the identity...

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