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# A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accident]] or a [[NeverSuicide suicide]].
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# A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident [[AccidentNotMurder accident]] or a [[NeverSuicide suicide]].
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# The culprit must be determined by logical deductions --- not by [[LuckBasedSearchTechnique accident]] or [[BatDeduction coincidence]] or [[HeelRealization unmotivated confession]].
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# The culprit must be determined by logical deductions --- -- not by [[LuckBasedSearchTechnique accident]] or [[BatDeduction coincidence]] or [[HeelRealization unmotivated confession]].
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# The truth of the problem must [[RewatchBonus at all times be apparent]] --- provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it.
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# The truth of the problem must [[RewatchBonus at all times be apparent]] --- -- provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it.
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# A professional criminal must never be shouldered with the guilt of a crime in a detective story.
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# A professional criminal must never be [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone shouldered with the guilt guilt]] of a crime in a detective story.
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# Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al., have no place in a detective story. It is going too far to grant him a secret society [[DiabolusExMachina to fall back on]].
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# [[GreaterScopeVillain Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al., ]], have no place in a detective story. It To be sure, the murderer in a detective novel should be given a sporting chance; but it is going too far to grant him a secret society [[DiabolusExMachina to fall back on]].
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! Van Dine's Commandments
Creator/WillardHuntingtonWright under the pen name "S. S. Van Dine" has published "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories", which can be treated as an extension of Knox's Decalogue:
# The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described.
# No willful tricks or deceptions may be placed [[UnreliableNarrator on the reader]] other than those played legitimately by the criminal on the detective himself.
# There must be [[RomanticPlotTumor no love interest]].
# The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should [[DetectiveMole never turn out to be the culprit]].
# The culprit must be determined by logical deductions --- not by [[LuckBasedSearchTechnique accident]] or [[BatDeduction coincidence]] or [[HeelRealization unmotivated confession]].
# The detective novel must have a detective in it; and a detective is not a detective unless he detects. His function is to gather clues that will eventually lead to the person who did the dirty work in the first chapter;
# There simply [[AlwaysMurder must be a corpse]] in a detective novel, and [[KilledOffForReal the deader]] the corpse [[FakingTheDead the better]].
# The problem of the crime must be solved by [[AWizardDidIt strictly naturalistic means]].
# There [[RotatingProtagonist must be]] but one detective.
# The culprit must turn out to be a person who [[ChekhovsGunman has played a more or less prominent part in the story]] -- that is, a person with whom the reader is familiar and in whom he takes an interest.
# [[TheButlerDidIt A servant]] must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. It is a too easy solution.
# There must be but [[BigBad one culprit]], no matter how many murders are committed. The culprit may, of course, [[TheDragon have a minor helper or co-plotter]]; but the entire onus must rest on one pair of shoulders.
# Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al., have no place in a detective story. It is going too far to grant him a secret society [[DiabolusExMachina to fall back on]].
# The method of murder, and the means of detecting it, [[AppliedPhlebotinum must be rational and scientific]].
# The truth of the problem must [[RewatchBonus at all times be apparent]] --- provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it.
# A detective novel should contain no [[{{Infodump}} long descriptive passages]], no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no "atmospheric" preoccupations.
# A professional criminal must never be shouldered with the guilt of a crime in a detective story.
# A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accident]] or a [[NeverSuicide suicide]].
# The [[FreudianExcuse motives]] for all crimes in detective stories should be [[ItsPersonal personal]].
# A few of the [[PlotDevice devices]] which no self-respecting detective story writer will now avail himself of. They have been employed [[DeadHorseTrope too often]].
Creator/WillardHuntingtonWright under the pen name "S. S. Van Dine" has published "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories", which can be treated as an extension of Knox's Decalogue:
# The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described.
# No willful tricks or deceptions may be placed [[UnreliableNarrator on the reader]] other than those played legitimately by the criminal on the detective himself.
# There must be [[RomanticPlotTumor no love interest]].
# The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should [[DetectiveMole never turn out to be the culprit]].
# The culprit must be determined by logical deductions --- not by [[LuckBasedSearchTechnique accident]] or [[BatDeduction coincidence]] or [[HeelRealization unmotivated confession]].
# The detective novel must have a detective in it; and a detective is not a detective unless he detects. His function is to gather clues that will eventually lead to the person who did the dirty work in the first chapter;
# There simply [[AlwaysMurder must be a corpse]] in a detective novel, and [[KilledOffForReal the deader]] the corpse [[FakingTheDead the better]].
# The problem of the crime must be solved by [[AWizardDidIt strictly naturalistic means]].
# There [[RotatingProtagonist must be]] but one detective.
# The culprit must turn out to be a person who [[ChekhovsGunman has played a more or less prominent part in the story]] -- that is, a person with whom the reader is familiar and in whom he takes an interest.
# [[TheButlerDidIt A servant]] must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. It is a too easy solution.
# There must be but [[BigBad one culprit]], no matter how many murders are committed. The culprit may, of course, [[TheDragon have a minor helper or co-plotter]]; but the entire onus must rest on one pair of shoulders.
# Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al., have no place in a detective story. It is going too far to grant him a secret society [[DiabolusExMachina to fall back on]].
# The method of murder, and the means of detecting it, [[AppliedPhlebotinum must be rational and scientific]].
# The truth of the problem must [[RewatchBonus at all times be apparent]] --- provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it.
# A detective novel should contain no [[{{Infodump}} long descriptive passages]], no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no "atmospheric" preoccupations.
# A professional criminal must never be shouldered with the guilt of a crime in a detective story.
# A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident accident]] or a [[NeverSuicide suicide]].
# The [[FreudianExcuse motives]] for all crimes in detective stories should be [[ItsPersonal personal]].
# A few of the [[PlotDevice devices]] which no self-respecting detective story writer will now avail himself of. They have been employed [[DeadHorseTrope too often]].
