Poe called them "Tales of Ratiocination" - conscious and deliberate reasoning - and they have also been called "whodunits", but, whatever they are known as, 19th century detective stories are incredibly good reads and will keep the reader turning pages until the dead of night.
Detective fiction originated in ancient Arabia and 18th century China but came into its own in the mid to late 19th century when literary greats such as Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tackled the question of whether the butler did it. Poe is credited with having invented the detective genre in 1841 with his short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", which introduced the quintessential detective C Auguste Dupin. He followed up on his success with, among other stories, "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and thus firmly established his mastery over all things mystery.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales introduced to the reading public that greatest and most well known of detective duos: Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick, Watson. Modern adaptations of the Holmes stories continue to this very day, but there is a special thrill in reading the originals and getting to know Holmes' methods just as well as Watson does. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "A Scandal in Bohemia" are two of the best detective stories ever written, and the series serves to introduce readers to such wonderful characters as Holmes' older - and brighter - brother, Mycroft, and "the woman", Irene Adler.
Gaston Leroux can be credited with launching the career of that iconic tragic hero, The Phantom of the Opera, with his story of the same name, but he was also responsible for several other detective stories and novels including his series on the adventures of Joseph Rouletabille, Reporter and Amateur Detective. Leroux is said to have invented the "locked room mystery" genre in his account of Rouletabille's first adventure, "The Mystery of the Yellow Room".
Those who thought that Louisa May Alcott wrote only for children or young adults should read her earlier novels, where her heroines are wayward and restless and their situations improbably exciting. There is also Emile Gaboriau whose hero, the fictional detective Monsieur Lecoq, strutted the international stage in several novels even before Sherlock Holmes was created.
Hume, Allan, Zangwill and Green are just a few of the many other authors whose superb 19th century detective fiction should be explored.
