Vincent Ho Professor Lynda Haas Writing 37: Intensive Writing 2 February 2014 Mystery Genre Convention: Never Jump

to a Conclusion People go to watch a horror movie for a good scare, to a comedy act for a laugh, or read a romantic novel to stir up some passionate emotions. Within all these different types of genres horror, comedy and romance, there are certain things that are expected from each genre known as conventions. A genre convention for a romance novel is two people falling in love with each other while a convention for a horror movie is usually a gory death of a victim. In a mystery text, one important genre convention is that a detective makes a conclusion based on facts and evidence. This convention is supported by S.S. Van Dine in the article Twenty rules for writing detective stories: The method of murder, and the means of detecting it, must be rational and scientific. This mystery genre convention is also seen in Sir Arthur Conan Doyles second novel of his Sherlock Holmes series, The Sign of the Four, published by Lippincotts Monthly Magazine in 1890. In the story, the detective Sherlock Holmes assists his client, Mary Morstan, in solving the mystery of her fathers disappearance. During that process, Holmes meets Thaddeus Sholto, the son of Major Sholto, who reveals that Miss Morstans father had died from a heart attack, leaving behind the treasure he got from India when he was serving there. Then, Holmes encounters the death of Thaddeus' brother, Bartholomew, and examines the evidence from the crime scene to trace down the intruder Jonathan Small and his companion Tonga.

Ho 2 Holmes scientific, evidence-based approach to criminology is seen in his process of uncovering the murderer of Bartholomew. Holmes approaches the case of Bartholomews death in a scientific way by observing the facts of the crime scene. By observing the facts of a crime scene, Holmes can put together theories about what actually happened at the scene. When Holmes discovered Bartholomew dead in a room, Holmes noticed that there was a poisonous thorn in Bartholomew described as long, sharp, and black, with a glazed look near the point as though some gummy substance had dried upon it. The blunt end had been trimmed and rounded off with a knife (Doyle 40). The thorn was not an English thorn from Holmes observation. From here, Holmes knows that the device used to kill Bartholomew was a native device. This fact remains important to Holmes because he is an investigating detective with extraordinary reasoning powers (PBS), as he continues to put together facts and evidence before he reaches his final conclusion. Aside from observing the facts, Holmes also show his scientific approach to criminology by looking for clues. By looking for clues, Holmes will take all the evidence of the crime scene into account so that no information will be left out when Holmes makes his final conclusion. Unlike the police detective Athelney Jones, who accused Thaddeus of killing his own brother, Holmes takes into account a key clue that hes found. Holmes found a print in the room: You see here on the sill is the boot-mark, a heavy boot with the broad metal heel, and beside it is the mark of the timber-toe (Doyle 36). This wooden stump clue that Holmes found is a crucial piece of evidence in which Detective Jones ignored because the clue revealed that there was a wooden-legged man in the room on the night that Bartholomew died. By observing the facts and the clues of a crime scene, Holmes is able to make an evidence-based conclusion on the mystery behind a crime scene.

Ho 3 Holmes scientific, evidence-based approach to criminology serves as a foundational convention to the mystery genre because the goal to a mystery is to solve it. In order to solve the mystery correctly, one cannot assume but must take all evidence and clues into account to come up with the most reasonable conclusion. This mystery genre convention is important to how readers read a mystery genre text because the readers should use the evidence and clues given to them to foreshadow the solution to the mystery instead of settling for a false conclusion. The readers can also experience the mystery genre better knowing that there can be false suspects. Since the creation of Sherlock Holmes during the Victorian Era, to today, the 21st century, the mystery genre convention of Holmes scientific approach is still seen in texts such as the television series Elementary, where modern-day Sherlock Holmes still has a scientific approach to every single case.

Ho 4 Works Cited Dine, S.S. Van. ""Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories"" Gaslight. Mount Royal College, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2014. Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir. The Sign of the Four. London: Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, 1890. Sherlock Holmes. Kindle. "Masterpiece Theatre." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2014.