2. Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction usually involving a
mysterious death or a crime to be solved.
Often with a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is
usually provided with a credible motive and a
reasonable opportunity for committing the crime.
The central character will often be a detective who
eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction
from facts presented to the reader.
4. Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British
writer, who created the character Sherlock Holmes.
Originally a physician, in 1887 he published A Study in Scarlet, the first of
four novels and more than fifty short stories about Holmes and Dr.
Watson.
The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in the
field of crime fiction.
5. 1887: A Study in Scarlet 1890: The Sign of the Four 1891-1892: The Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes
1892-1893: The Memoirs
of Sherlock Holmes
1901-2 (serial): The
Hound of the
Baskervilles
1903-1905: The
Return of Sherlock
Holmes
1908–1913, 1917:
His Last Bow
1914-15: The
Valley of Fear
1921–1927: The
Casebook of
Sherlock Holmes
6. Carolyn Keene
Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew
mystery stories and The Dana Girls mystery stories, both produced by the
Stratemeyer Syndicate.
Perhaps the most well-known real person behind the Carolyn Keene
pseudonym is Mildred (Augustine) Wirt Benson.
Benson was born in Ladora, Iowa, in 1905. From an early age, she knew she
wanted to be a writer, winning a writing contest at age 14 and writing
children's stories as a youngster herself.
It was during her graduate studies that she submitted a manuscript to the
Stratemeyer Syndicate.
She was then hired to write the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the
Old Clock, published in 1930. The work earned her $125.
7. The Secret of
the Old Clock
(1930)
The Hidden
Staircase
(1930)
The Bungalow
Mystery (1930)
The Mystery at
Lilac Inn (1930)
The Secret at
Shadow Ranch
(1931)
The Secret of
Red Gate Farm
(1931)
8. Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different
authors who wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer
Syndicate as well as for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series
published by Grosset & Dunlap.
The first book, The Tower Treasure, originally published in 1927,
was written by Leslie MacFarlane who went on to write 19 more,
including #2 through #16.
In all, there are 58 titles in the original Hardy Boys
Mysteries series published between 1927 and 1979
written by 17 different men and women.
Franklin W. Dixon
10. Dan Brown
Daniel Gerhard Brown is an American author best known
for his thriller novels.
Brown was raised an Episcopalian, and described
hisreligious evolution in a 2009 interview: "I was raised
Episcopalian, and I was very religious as a kid. ... And I
just gravitated away from religion.
11.
12. Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland
Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL, known professionally as
P. D. James, was an English crime writer.
She rose to fame for her series of detective novels
starring police commander and poet Adam
Dalgliesh.
The daughter of a middle-grade civil servant, James
grew up in the university town of Cambridge.
P.D. James
