"The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" - Alexander McCall Smith - Questions.

Essay by hennierUniversity, Bachelor's August 2006

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What is a detective novel?

It is a novel in which the reader is challenged to solve a puzzle before the detective explains it at the end.

What are the characteristics of a detective novel?

One of the characteristics of a detective novel is that nearly every element of the narrative will relate to the investigation and resolution of the crime.

A detective novel has a plot, a beginning, a middle and an end. A crucial element in detective fiction is that the reader identifies both with the detective and the criminal.

In detective fiction, right does triumph and wrong is punished. The problem is solved and this is the difference between crime fiction and detective fiction; and the detective who is a kind of avenging, judgemental figure is always successful.

In modern mysteries, it is less simple because the detectives are becoming much more complicated and more psychologically interesting so that within the detective you get the dark and the light.

He is no longer just a figure representing the good part of man's nature he may have within his personality the seeds of corruption which he undoubtedly does have.

The detective novel has a death at the heart of it, a death which is mysterious. At the end of the book, we know what we didn't know to begin with, that is, who committed the murder. Therefore, one of the prime interests in detective fiction is the solution of the mystery and why it happened. In detective fiction you have justice represented by a detective. The detective novel has a more ordered form and the crime is solved.

The detective is a very private and detached man who uses his job to save himself from involvement with other human beings because of tragedies in his own...