Mystery Novels

Mystery Novel

   A work of fiction which should meet all the requirements of any novel, and is additionally expected to include four essential elements:

Crime (usually, but not necessarily, murder)

Detective(s), whether professional (police or private) or amateur

An investigative process and

The identification of the culprit(s)

Some students of the genre have shortened this definition by saying simply that a mystery is "a novel that is about something," or "a novel in which something happens." (These are at least a good description of what many "literary" novels are not.)