Line #63 Main/MysteryFiction


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7	->'''Albert Wiles:''' If it's murder, who done it?\
8	'''Sam Marlowe:''' Who ''did'' it. \
9	'''Albert Wiles:''' ...That's what they say, 'Whodunnit.'
10	-->-- ''Film/TheTroubleWithHarry''
11
12	Also known as a "mystery story" or simply a "mystery", Mystery Fiction is a genre where the plot revolves around a mysterious happening that acts as the DrivingQuestion.
13
14	In a standard mystery, the explanation for the mystery is gradually revealed by the investigative process of the protagonists. This is accomplished through a mixture of intelligence, ingenuity, the logical interpretation of evidence, and sometimes sheer luck.
15
16	DetectiveDrama is a type of Mystery Fiction that focuses on a detective solving a crime, and the term is often treated as synonymous with Mystery Fiction.
17
18	'''Basic Classes of Mystery'''
19	* The FairPlayWhodunnit: You know what the detective knows, and if you're smart enough, at a certain point, you can solve it ahead of him without being Genre Savvy.
20	* The CluelessMystery: The author doesn't provide enough clues for the audience to figure it out.
21	* The ReverseWhodunnit: The reader knows who, what, where, when, and why, perhaps in more detail than the detective will ever know. For the reader, the question is: How will the detective solve what appears to be a perfect crime?
22	'''Subgenres of Mystery Fiction'''
23	* AmateurSleuth: A character with no formal connection to law enforcement regularly solves crimes, but does not get paid for it.
24	* CozyMystery: Sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. The detectives in such stories are nearly always amateurs and frequently women. They are typically well-educated, intuitive, and often hold jobs that bring them into constant contact with other residents of their town and the surrounding region. This frequently features the LittleOldLadyInvestigates, and may or may not contain paranormal elements.
25	* GreatDetective: The classic GreatDetective relies on his personal powers of deduction, education and insight to solve crimes.
26	* HardboiledDetective: A tough, cynical guy with a gun and a lot of {{Street Smart}}s, who solves mysteries with dogged persistence rather than astounding insight, the Hardboiled Detective was America's Darker and Edgier response to the classic ideal of the GreatDetective. This type of Mystery Fiction is often associated with FilmNoir.
27	* HistoricalDetectiveFiction: Detective and mystery stories set in the past.
28	* OccultDetective: A detective investigates supernatural cases. Said detective may or may not be supernatural themselves.
29	* ParanormalInvestigation: Based on the investigation of actual or alleged paranormal activity, this subgenre by its very nature tends to be less realistic than the others.
30	* PoliceProcedural: The emphasis is on realistic or at least semi-realistic depictions of modern police investigative techniques.
31	* TourGuideDetective: Solving a mystery is used as a way to explore a setting.
32	* For just a few of the other ways of classifying mysteries, see [[http://www.booksnbytes.com/genres_mystery.html here]] and [[http://mysteriousmatters.typepad.com/mysterious_matters_myster/2009/03/the-subgenres-love-em-or-leave-em.html here]].
33
34	'''For a brief history of Mystery Fiction, see the [[Analysis/MysteryFiction Analysis page]].'''
35	----
36	!!Examples:
37	[[index]]
38	[[foldercontrol]]
39
40	[[folder:'''Categories''']]
41	[[AC:Also see]]
42	* MysteryStoryCreatorIndex
43	\
44	[[AC:By medium]]
45	* [[MysteryAndDetectiveAnimeAndManga Anime & Manga]]
46	* [[MysteryLiterature Literature]]
47	* [[{{MysteryFiction/Film}} Live-Action Films]]
48	** MysteryAndDetectiveFilms
49	\
50	[[AC:By subgenre]]
51	* DetectiveDrama
52	** [[CrimeAndPunishmentSeries/DetectiveDrama Live-Action TV]]
53	* HistoricalDetectiveFiction
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Multimedia Franchises & Adaptations]]
57	* ''Franchise/AceAttorney''
58	* ''{{Franchise/Clue}}''
59	* ''Franchise/TheHardyBoys''
60	** ''Franchise/NancyDrew''
61	* ''Franchise/HerculePoirot''
62	* ''{{Franchise/Monk}}''
63	* ''Franchise/PerryMason''
64	* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''
65	* ''DerivativeWorks/SherlockHolmes''
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Audio Plays]]
69	* ''AudioPlay/{{Ruffled}}''
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Comic Books]]
73	* ''ComicBook/CyrusPerkinsAndTheHauntedTaxiCab''
74	* ''ComicBook/TheGoodAsian''
75	* ''ComicBook/GreenManor''
76	* ''ComicBook/KidSherlock''
77	* ''ComicBook/TheRedTen''
78	* ''ComicBook/{{Stumptown}}''
79	* ''ComicBook/WatsonAndHolmes''
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
83	* ''ComicStrip/MaxFinderMystery''
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Magazines]]
87	* ''Magazine/ElleryQueensMysteryMagazine''
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Pinball]]
91	* ''Pinball/WhoDunnit1995'' by Creator/WilliamsElectronics, which casts the player as a HardboiledDetective who must solve a series of murders at a hotel and casino.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
95	* ''{{TabletopGame/Clue}}''
96	* ''TabletopGame/ClueVCRMysteryGame''
97	* ''TabletopGame/{{Gumshoe}}''
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Theatre]]
101	* ''Theatre/The39Steps''
102	* ''Theatre/TheMousetrap''
103	* ''Theatre/ThePajamaPartyMurders''
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Video Games]]
107	* ''VideoGame/SixtyFourthStreetADetectiveStory'': Sort of, except the detective backstory is one of the flimsiest excuses ever as set-up for a video game where the player goes around beating up mooks.
108	* ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark2024'': A FantasticNoir SurvivalHorror mystery game.
109	* ''Videogame/CaperInTheCastro'': An LGBT first-person whodunnit adventure.
110	* ''VideoGame/CrimeOClock'' focuses on TimePolice solving anomalous crimes by going back and forth in time to find and track suspects.
111	* ''VideoGame/{{Deadline}}'' from Creator/{{Infocom}} is an InteractiveFiction game where the player has 12 (in-game) hours to solve a LockedRoomMystery.
112	* ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachu'': a mystery AdventureGame set in the Franchise/{{Pokemon}} universe.
113	** ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachuReturns''
114	* ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' combines this trope with Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series, casting the player as a citizen who becomes a detective because of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality.
115	* ''VideoGame/FoxHunt''
116	* ''VideoGame/{{Insanity\|Uri}}'': Combined with ExplorerHorror; a group of teens enter a supposedly haunted mansion and must uncover its tragic past to escape.
117	* ''VideoGame/InvestiGatorTheCaseOfTheBigCrime'' is a parody of detective stories starring the eponymous Investi-Gator, a CluelessDetective alligator who can't understand that most of the crimes he investigates are being committed by his ObviouslyEvil brother, Insti-Gator.
118	* ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'' has an ex-defense attorney named Takayuki Yagami who's forced to leave his job and be a private eye after his client, gotten acquitted of a previous criminal charge, was accused as the main suspect in the death of his girlfriend. He suspects that someone blamed his client for being a murderer.
119	** ''VideoGame/LostJudgment''
120	* ''VideoGame/TheKidsWeWere''
121	* ''VideoGame/{{Kona}}'' is kicked off by PrivateInvestigator Carl Faubret being hired by rich industrialist William Hamilton to investigate several cases of vandalism that have occurred on his property.
122	* ''VideoGame/LuciferWithinUs'' is a short {{Cyberpunk}} investigation game, starring a digital exorcist that must solve crimes and purge viral daemons from the culprits' minds.
123	* ''VideoGame/MurderedSoulSuspect'' is about the ghost of a detective trying to investigate his own murder.
124	* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'' is about an amnesiac KidDetective solving crimes with the help of a mysterious ghost.
125	* ''VideoGame/ThePainscreekKillings'' is a puzzle-heavy EnvironmentalNarrativeGame in which a journalist tries to solve a number of unsolved murders which took place in a now-empty town a few years prior. Most of the clues are found in old letters and journals, and you can make a guess as to who did it on the basis of these -- but to reveal the whole story, you need to find [[spoiler:the murderer, who never actually left]].
126	* ''VideoGame/ParadiseKiller'' is set in a psychically-powered alternate future, and you're tasked with finding (or rather, deciding) who killed "Paradise" island by murdering its Council.
127	* ''VideoGame/Pedestal2021'' centers on Aoi Ooe and her investigation to discover the truth behind the death of SchoolIdol Shiori Natsume, who ''[[NeverSuicide supposedly]]'' committed suicide. She does this by piecing together details of Shiori's life and relationships.
128	* ''VideoGame/Persona4'' follows a group attempting to find the one who is killing people by throwing them into a unknown realm inside the television.
129	* ''VideoGame/TheRaven'' is about a police constable looking into the titular GentlemanThief and his theft of two valuable rubies.
130	* ''VideoGame/ReadOnlyMemories'': A retraux LGBT first-person adventure.
131	* ''VideoGame/ReCall'' is a mystery adventure game in which multiple characters, primarily a detective named Bruno Gallagher, are able to [[RealityWarper mold reality via their recollections]] in order to find a serial killer.
132	* ''VideoGame/ReturnOfTheObraDinn'': A murder mystery.
133	* ''VideoGame/{{Unheard}}'' is a series of investigations with minimal visual clues, making the player rely on listening carefully to the voices of suspects in the moments leading up to each crime.
134	* ''VideoGame/WhyAmIDeadAtSea'', the loose sequel to flash game ''Why Am I Dead?''; similar to ''Murdered: Soul Suspect'', the story is about a ghost that was murdered on a cruise ship that must uncover who killed them, and why, by possessing various passengers and uncovering dark secrets.
135	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfHorror'' centers on a seaside town in Japan in the 1980s in the middle of an economic boom where cults and serial killers roam the streets while monsters and Old Gods are about to come out of the woodwork.
136	* ''VideoGame/YIIKAPostModernRPG'' tells the story about a group of friends wanting to learn the truth behind the circumstances of a woman's disappearance inside an elevator after witnessing an otherworldly force abduct her. Their search leads them to discovering a conspiracy, one that puts the fate of the world at stake.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
140	* ''VisualNovel/ChronoBox''
141	* ''VideoGame/ClosedNightmare''
142	* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': Sixteen students get trapped within a unprecedented location and their only choice of escape is to commit the [[ThePerfectCrime perfect murder]] without being discovered. The protagonist of each game must find the culprit of each killing, as well unravel the truth behind the location of where the killing games occurs.
143	* ''VisualNovel/{{Imabikiso}}'', partially since the hero is trying to investigate where the drug Vision is being made from.
144	* ''VisualNovel/{{Misericorde}}''
145	* ''VisualNovel/ProcessOfElimination''
146	* ''VisualNovel/SeaBed'' is billed as a [[{{YuriGenre}} yuri-themed]] mystery, focusing on trying to figure out what happened that caused the two main characters, Takako and Sachiko, to drift apart.
147	* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''
148	* ''VisualNovel/War13thDay'' first challenges you to solve the mystery of what happened to the sun. Later, you're tasked with piecing together the truth between two {{unreliable narrator}}s. The True End gives you the biggest mystery of all: [[spoiler:who are you?]]
149	[[/folder]]
150
151	[[folder:Webcomics]]
152	* ''Webcomic/WhiteRooms''
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Web Originals]]
156	* ''Literature/ACaseInBucksville''
157	* ''WebVideo/ThePainter''
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder:Western Animation]]
161	* ''WesternAnimation/AceVenturaPetDetective''
162	* ''WebAnimation/{{Boxtown}}''
163	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}''
164	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''
165	* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow''
166	* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain''
167	* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated''
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[/index]]

Context Main / MysteryFiction