Chieh Li

Writing 39b
4-29-2014
Professor Haas

Due to the success of the detective story, Dove, Binyon, Panek, and Prigozy have
invented Formulas that outline the detective stories, and these formulas allow the authors to
agree with each other on the success of the detective genre.
Binyon and Dove had invented their own formulas that describe the structure of the
detective genre, and the formulas allow them to come to an agreement on the basic structure of a
detective story. The Different story, Dove mentions that every detective genre has four
qualities, and one of the qualities is that the story is disciplined. By disciplined, it means that the
story usually follows a similar plot in every story. "Murder Will Out" by T.J Binyon, he also
states that one of the four elements essential for a successful imitation of Doyle convincing
plot .(12) Convincing plot and disciplined are a common point that both author would
agree on, because all the detective story does follow a similar plot; viewers often see a familiar
structure to the story. Both authors would agree that the plot of the story is an essential element
to the success of the detective story. For example in The Sign of Four, the plot always starts in
221 Baker street: Holmes and Watson accepts a case from Miss Mortsan, this case turns out to be
very complex and deep, Holmes solves it at the end. This is portrait by both author which puts
them into conversation. Dove might say that the plot is what draw the readers in and Binyon
would confirm with saying that its plot is one of the reasons that might have contributed it.
Another example ,that showcase this, in The Man With the Twisted Lips by Doyle, Watson
meets Holmes by an accident while he is looking for a person: Watson helps Holmes with the
case, the case turns more complex as they investigate, the case is solved by Holmes. The same
structure and elements are present for almost all of the detective story; Doves and Binyons
formula matches with Doyles story. Perhaps, this might be why the detective genre is still
popular today.















Work Cited:
Binyon, T.J. "Murder Will Out": The Detective in Fiction. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989. Print.
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Sign of the Four. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services,
2013.
Delamater, Jerome and Ruth Prigozy, eds. Theory and Practice of Classic
Detective diction. New York: Praeger, 1997. Print.
Dove, George N. The Reader and the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997. Print.
Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987. Print.
Doyle, Arthur Conan. "Adventure 1: The Man With The Twisted Lip." The Memoirs of
Sherlock Holmes. Lit2Go Edition. 1894. Web. April 29, 2014