THE GOLDEN AGE OF DETECTIVE FICTION: GENRE CONVENTIONS OF AGATHA CHRISTIE’S COSY MYSTERIES

Farman J. Ramazan

doi:10.23856/4902

Farman J. Ramazan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0319-2418

Keywords: detective fiction, detective stories, Agatha Christie, cozy mysteries, elements of plot structure

Abstract

The article focuses on the investigation of detective fiction in general and detective stories in particular which in this research is understood as a narrative where the plot hinges on a crime that the characters investigate and attempt to solve. The research also deals with various genre types of detective stories, such as police-department procedurals, hardboiled, locked room mysteries, cosy mysteries. Special attention is paid to the genre development of detective stories from a historical perspective. It is worth underlining that the period between World War I and World War II (the 1920s and 1930s) is generally referred to as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The purpose of the study is to highlight the main plot elements of a cosy mystery, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the setting, the crime event, and definite narrative mechanisms involved in a story.

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