How does the detective protagonist in the crime fiction genre studied enlarge the potential of the narrative? How have the composers used the conventions of the genre in creating him or her? Refer to two prescribed texts and texts of your own choosing.

Just as there can be no detective without a case to solve, there can be no crime fiction mystery without a detective. The two work in tandem and cannot exist without the other. However, there is no singular type of crime fiction detective- each is simply a variation on a theme, a response to the society in which he or she exists. Composers create their detective figure within or beyond the bounds of convention in an effort to comment on some essence of their context. In The Big Sleep, director Howard Hawks moulds his detective figure, Phillip Marlowe, within the bounds of the hard- boiled convention, but subtly adapts him to react to the 1940’s society in which he exists. Writer Tom Stoppard has used his play The Real Inspector Hound to parody the crime fi

In stressing that the detectives are amateurs, the film mocks both private detectives and the police, showing that ordinary people can crack open cases just as successfully.

Tom Stoppard’s play, The Real Inspector Hound, is a witty parody of the traditional English country house murder mystery. It seeks to use the conventions of the genre by mocking them, and uses this mocking of the crime fiction genre as a vehicle for sending up the society of 1960’s England.

Finally, we see another amateur detective in Mignon Eberhart’s 1934 short story, The Calico Dog. Similar to P.D. James’ Cordelia Gray, Susan Dare is a young amateur detective just starting out on her own, filled with a mix of bravado and trepidation about her chosen career path. While set in 1930’s America, the story has strong elements of the English country manor house style of crime fiction. The story is carried by following the process of deduction that Dare undertakes, the convention being that we follow the chain of events through her eyes, watching the saga unfold. Dare is very typical of her time: She’s a young woman of the working class, struggling with the difficulties of earning a living in the great depression. A number of issues regarding class differences appear throughout the story. Eberhart uses the conventions of the best of the Manor House Mysteries to create her own version of the bumbling British detective. Dare is not exactly bumbling, but she’s clearly still finding her way in the man’s world of the private eye. She’s self- conscious, lacks confidence and is eager to please. However, the name ‘Dare’ implies that while she may lack confidence, she’s willing to take a risk, to throw herself over the line to see how far she can go, to see what she’s capable of. This follows in the convention of the American Private Eye, a hardened detective who “takes chances”- like Marlowe. In this instance, Eberhart breaks with convention by mixing the two areas of hard- boiled and manor house crime fiction together in forming her detective figure. She does this against a strong background of class differences, to help emphasise the struggle between rich and poor, old and new and perhaps, the struggle to find a balance as a female detective in a man’s world, as well as a difficult socio- economic climate.

Some topics in this essay:
Inspector Hound, Sternwood’s Hollywood, Private Eye, Reagan Bush, Crime Fiction, Larry Lipton, Susan Dare, Phillip Marlowe, Carol Larry, Comparing Marlowe’s, crime fiction, detective figure, hard- boiled, inspector hound, crime fiction genre, manor house, fiction genre, howard hawks, amateur detective, private eye, murder mystery, convention effort comment, bounds convention effort, effort comment essence, beyond bounds convention,