TYPES OF MYSTERYCAPER•Defined by humorous narration, scrambling action, bumbling but lovable characters, and just fun.

•Protagonists or plots need not be super-realistic, as comedy is the primary goal.

Authors: Works:

Nancy Atherton Aunt Dimity and the Duke (1994)

Aunt Dimity’s Good Deed (1996)

Lawrence Block The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (1994)

Elmore Leonard 52 Pickup (1974)

Freaky Deaky (1988)

Get Shorty (1995)

CLASSIC WHODUNIT•Defined by their plots, which must have a strong puzzle element.

•Protagonist is usually brainy, eccentric, antisocial, possesses quirky areas of knowledge. Usually male.

•Little sex, violence, humor, or physical action – focus on using the brain/intuition.

Authors: Works:

John Dickson Carr The Crooked Hinge (1938)

Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

Andrew M. Greeley Happy are the Meek (1985)

P.D. James Death of an Expert Witness (1977)

Nicholas Meyer The Seven-per-cent Solution (1974)

Ellery Queen QBI: Queen’s Bureau of Investigation (1955)

Dorothy Sayers Whose Body? (1923)

COZY

•Almost entirely a female subgenre

•Usually include an amateur detective, cats, knitting or quilting, cooking, pots of tea, family, friends, and community

•Fans are interested in the emotions and social interactions of ordinary, suburban or small town women of a certain age; fans not interested in sex, violence, or vulgarity

•Somewhat comedic – tone is light, fun, easy reading

Authors: Works:

Nancy Atherton Aunt Dimity’s Death (1992)

Aunt Dimity Digs In (1998)

Agatha Christie Partners in Crime (1929)

Mary Higgins Clark My Gal Sunday (1996)

Carol Higgins Clark Snagged (1993)

ESPIONAGE

•About spies and spying

•British version is usually realistic, nicely written, has little sex or violence

•American version is also know as a “Thriller” and is more action-packed than realistic, often macho, includes gore and seduction

Authors: Works:

Tom Clancy The Hunt for Red October (1984)

Without Remorse (1993)

Nelson DeMille TheGeneral’s Daughter (2002)

Ian Fleming Casino Royale (1953)

Ken Follet Eye of the Needle (1978)

Frederick Forsyth The Day of the Jackal (1971)

The Odessa File (1972)

John LeCarre’ The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)

FORENSIC

•Use crime-solving aspects of pathology, physiology, anthropology or archeology, psychology, and behavioral analysis

•Use trace evidence processing, fingerprinting, DNA, ballistics, document analysis accident reconstruction, bugging, wiretapping, computer technology, etc.

•Has a moderate to extreme gore factor, with or without much actual violence

•Rarely light or humorous in tone

Authors: Works:

Patricia Cornwall Postmortem (1990)

Jeffery Deaver The Bone Collector (1997)

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs (1988)

P.D. James Death of an Expert Witness (1977)

James Patterson Kiss the Girls (1995)

Along Came a Spider (1992)

HARD-BOILED

•Set among criminals rather than crimefighters

•Typical storyline concerns revenge, vigilante justice, or the commission (rather than the detection) of a crime

•Classic narrative style is terse and stripped-down

•Subject matter may include hellish marriages, sexual abuse, drug/alcohol addiction, prison life, or other similar antisocial experiences

•Readers should be prepared for a shocking or offensive experience

•Formerly called “Sleaze”

Authors: Works:

Dashiell Hammett The Continental Op (1930)

Lawrence Block The Specialists (1969)

James M. Cain The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)

Double Indemnity (1935)

Ed McBain Big Bad City (1999)

HISTORICAL

•Set in a previous era, or deals with events which occurred in a previous historical era

•Often feature real persons or events in some form

•Demand a high level of knowledge from both writer and reader

•Can vary widely in tone, style, and realism

Authors: Works:

James Ellroy The Black Dahlia (1987)

Ken Follett Eye of the Needle (1978)

Jack Higgins The Eagle Has Landed (1975)

Walter Mosley Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)

Dorothy Sayers Thrones, Dominations (1998)

LEGAL

•Usually feature a lawyer as the protagonist

•Considerable freedom in the field – prosecutors against defense lawyers, American attorneys and British barristers, small-town generalists to Supreme Court justices, legal mysteries versus legal thrillers

•PI influence led to levels of social commentary and a wider range of investigative actions

Authors: Works:

Erle Stanley Gardner The Case of the Sulky Girl (1933) – Perry Mason

John Grisham The Street Lawyer (1998)

Scott Turow Presumed Innocent (1987)

The Burden of Proof (1990)

Michael Connelly The Lincoln Lawyer (2005)

MILITARY

•Protagonists are from one of the armed services of one of the world’s nations – usually a “superpower”

•Setting may include a war or military conflict, real or imagined

•This background allows for unique crimes, investigative procedures, legal and political issues, training, weapons, social relationships, causes of death, and plot devices.

•Can also be categorized as Thrillers, Espionage, or Police Procedural; they don’t always feature any mystery element.

Authors: Works:

Tom Clancy The Hunt for Red October (1984)

Nelson DeMille The General’s Daughter (1992)

Alistair MacLean Ice Station Zebra (1963)

POLICE PROCEDURAL

•Must be realistic depictions of official investigations

•Emphasize teamwork, methodical pavement-pounding, lucky breaks,administrative hassles, and endless paperwork

•Cultural and clean British detective/inspectors are classified in the Classic Whodunit category

•Until recently, procedurals were strictly American

•Retain a working-class, down-to-earth, close to the streets feel – including lots of profanity, irony, sick humor, and tragedy

Authors: Works:

Patricia Cornwall Hornet’s Nest (1996)

Nelson DeMille Plum Island (1997)

James Ellroy The Black Dahlia (1987)

Ed McBain The Mugger (1956)

Joseph Wambaugh Finnegan’s Week (1993)

POLITICAL

•Have a governmental or public policy setting and focus

•They can vary from assassination novels, to Washington insider farces, to attacks for or against an issue such as capital punishment

Authors: Works:

Tom Clancy Without Remorse (1993)

Richard Condon The Manchurian Candidate (1959)

James Ellroy American Tabloid (1995)

Frederick Forsyth The Day of the Jackal (1971)

The Odessa File (1972)

John Grisham The Street Lawyer (1998)

Scott Turow The Laws of Our Fathers (1996)

PRIVATE EYE

•Defined by a non-police detective, usually a paid professional investigator

•Protagonists should represent a balance between empathy versus cynicism, community versus independence

•Style should be realistic on the surface, but romantic underneath

Authors: Works:

Raymond Chandler The Big Sleep (1939)

Farewell, My Lovely (1940)

Janet Evanovich One for the Money (1994)

Two for the Dough (1996)

Three to Get Deadly (1997)

Sue Grafton C is for Corpse (1986)

N is for Noose (1998)

Dashiell Hammett The Maltese Falcon (1930)

The Thin Man (1933)

P.D. James An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972)

SERIAL KILLER

•Typically have a higher level of random violence, explicit gore, and serious mental illness than any other

•Have somewhat different motivations than other types of mysteries – whether the crimes are committed by a psychopathic stranger or a sociopathic acquaintance, these motives are rarely about winning an inheritance or covering up a misdemeanor

•Serial killer stories can be crosslisted in any subgenre except Cozy

Authors: Works:

Michael Connelly The Poet (1996)

Blood Work (1998)

Patricia Cornwall Postmortem (1990)

Thomas Harris Silence of the Lambs (1988)

Ridley Pearson No Witnesses (1994)

THRILLER

•Among the most loosely used terms in the genre, being applied to any book with even a little action or adventure

•Usually built around a plot device such as a chase, a showdown, a rescue, an act of vigilante justice, or a race against time to prevent a crime from occurring

•Almost all thriller protagonists are male – and not the small, whiny type!

Authors: Works:

John Buchan The 39 Steps (1915)

Richard Condon The Manchurian Candidate (1959)

Ken Follett The Eye of the Needle (1978)

Jack Higgins The Eagle Has Landed (1975)

Elmore Leonard 52 Pickup (1974)

Glitz (1985)