History of the Whodunnit
Romance novels might arguably be the best selling form of fiction in the world today, but Murder Mystery novels, in all their forms, are most certainly a close second in popularity!
There are many types of mystery in the genre today, so many choices in fact that most of us just assume that mystery stories have always been around.
Actually, murder mysteries and detective novels are a fairly recent invention, all things considered.
The act and art of detecting, in fact, is also fairly recent. We sit here now in the 21st Century, but we are only a few generations removed from the time when hapless but convenient suspects were tortured until they ‘fessed up to whatever crime the authorities were trying to pin on someone, who could then be conveniently and gruesomely executed to the satisfaction of all. Including the real perpetrator, no doubt! Ta Da! Case solved.
No freaking CSI or even Miss Marple a couple of hundred years ago!
Detective fiction, as we know it today, began in 1841 when Edgar Allen Poe introduced Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin in the short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Two women were brutally murdered and the police are utterly baffled., criminal profiling being about 150 years in the future.
Monsieur Dupin leads his own investigation, and succeeds where the regular authorities have failed…thus spawning the tradition for countless detective fiction stories to come.
The formula requires a brilliant (but unusual or eccentric) detective and a baffling crime that will take superior intelligence or intuition to solve.
Our panoply of fictional detectives now encompass the entire spectrum of human experience…from sweet old ladies, to medieval monks, to Roman citizens, to down and out drunks, to recovering alcoholics, and even pets… all solving bizarre crimes in their own unique fashions.
Up until the mid 1800’s most people led very insular lives and were only aware of what went on in their own immediate environment. With the introduction of the telegraph, however, newspapers began reporting stories from all over the world in nearly real time.
In fact, because of the instantaneous communication we now experience, we now in our lives today have more variety of experience and exposure to new information in one day than our ancestors of 200 years ago saw in an entire year! Think about it…
The first whodunit that rocked the world occurred in June of 1860, in England. Young Francis “Saville” Kent, who was not quite 4 years old, was discovered to be missing from his bed by his nanny.
This was in an upper class, well off gentleman’s family….so keep in mind the incredible class consciousness and prejudices of the time.
The hue and cry immediately went out to find the boy, with a large reward offered. Two men found him tossed into a servant’s outhouse, dead with his throat cut.
The rumor mill immediately went into overdrive. The nanny, who slept in the nursery, was immediately suspected. Perhaps the boy, who was known to be a “tattletale” had caught her with a lover!
The father came under suspicion…the missing boy was a son of his second marriage. He had married the governess after his first wife, who had been emotionally unstable, had died. He had a savage temper and was a known adulterer. Perhaps the boy had caught him with the nanny and paid for it with his life…
Police Detective Whicher was brought in, and he suspected the boy’s 16 year old half sister Constance Kent, a child of the first wife. He was unable to prove a case against her, however, and so the brutal murder went unsolved.
Five years later, Constance confessed to the murder to a Priest. She wished also to tell the authorities. There were some secrets of the case she confessed to her priest that he never divulged.
This case went to trial, and she was condemned to die by hanging. However, perhaps because of her youth, the sentence was commuted to life in prison. She ultimately served 20 years and was released in 1881 at the age of 41. She emigrated to Australia, where she joined her brother William Saville-Kent…who may have been the actual killer all along.
Saville Senior had favored the murdered child, so the elder son may have killed his half-brother in jealousy and fears over inheritance.
Constance may have confessed to either protect him, or over guilt from knowledge of the crime. She was very close to this brother, and maybe they even committed the murder together.
After emigrating, she changed her name, became a nurse, and served a long career. She retired in 1932, and passed away at the age of 100 in 1944 without ever divulging the true story of what had happened that terrible night.
This case titillated the world…and was the beginning of our fascination with true crime and tales of detectives and mysteries!
It was only natural evolution that this fascination would evolve into role playing murder mystery games. These games became fashionable in the 1980’s with the advent of the party game “Clue”.
The Castle Inn is hosting a Murder Mystery Event on October 27, 2012 if you’d like to partake in a real live role playing Murder Mystery!
The evening includes a delicious hot buffet and promises fun and mystery for all participants!
Stephanie Kelley
