Inverted detective story

An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning,^[1] usually including the identity of the perpetrator.^[2] The story then describes the detective's attempt to solve the mystery.^[1] There may also be subsidiary puzzles, such as why the crime was committed, and they are explained or resolved during the story.

This format is the opposite of the more typical "whodunit", where all of the details of the perpetrator of the crime are not revealed until the story's climax. The first such story was R. Austin Freeman's The Case of Oskar Brodski published in Pearson's Magazine in 1912.^[3] The television series Columbo is one of the best-known example of this genre.

^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Orlebar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Seigneuret, Jean-Charles (1988). Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 381. ISBN 9780313263965. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
^ Kemp, Sandra; Mitchell, Charlotte; Trotter, David (1997). "Freeman Richard Austin (1862-1943)". Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-19-811760-5. Retrieved 2020-06-26.

[Orlebar-1] Cite error: The named reference Orlebar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] Seigneuret, Jean-Charles (1988). Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 381. ISBN 9780313263965. Retrieved 30 December 2015.

[Kemp-142-3] Kemp, Sandra; Mitchell, Charlotte; Trotter, David (1997). "Freeman Richard Austin (1862-1943)". Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-19-811760-5. Retrieved 2020-06-26.

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