Live data from Hacker News

Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

whyisthisinteresting.substack.com

21–30 of 46 posts

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#21

The rule "no racial stereotypes" was, in the original > No Chinaman must figure in the story. (The "No Chinaman rule" was a reaction to, and criticism of, racial cliches prevalent in 1920s English writing. Knox explained, "I see no reason in the nature of things why a Chinaman should spoil a detective story. But as a matter of fact, if you are turning over the pages of an unknown romance in a bookstore, and come acro…

This is the original version from 1924 when there were only nine rules. The version from the decalogue (1929) expands a bit on it:

>No Chinaman must figure in the story. Why this should be so I do not know, unless we can find a reason for it in our western habit of assuming that the Celestial is over - equipped in the matter of brains, and under - equipped in the matter of morals. I only offer it as a fact of observation that, if you are turning over the pages of a book and come across some mention of 'the slit - like eyes of Chin Loo', you had best put it down at once; it is bad. The only exception which occurs to my mind - there are probably others - is Lord Ernest Hamilton's Four Tragedies of Memworth.

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#22
To me, one reason that Knox's Decalogue is interesting is that it's venerable enough for there to be stories that deliberately play with it. I'm particularly aware of the visual novels Virtue's Last Reward (which arguably makes a point of violating the letter of each of the rules while preserving their underlying intent) and Umineko When They Cry (which is hard to explain without blatant spoilers except to say that the rules wind up being much more important than they initially seem). I'm curious as to whether there are other examples of this phenomenon.

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#23

Surprised there is no mention of Dashiell Hammett, a contemporary of Christie's. He wrote The Maltese Falcon in 1930, introducing the world to Sam Spade, an interesting contrast to Hercule Poirot. The interwar period certainly was the golden age of detective and mystery novels, whether they were more in line with the Christie formula or followed a more hard-boiled, American style. I wonder to what degree the novels o…

Dashiell Hammett is mentioned just after the list of 10 rules:

> Dame Agatha and the Detection Club’s rules ushered in what’s known as the Golden Age of detective fiction. However, on the other side of the pond, a revolution in form was brewing in the livers of Dashiell Hammett and his successor Raymond Chandler. Hardboiled cop fiction took all Agatha Christie’s rules and blew them straight to hell.

Or was the article edited after your comment? [Edit: apparently the whole URL was changed...]

> Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity are also great explorations of the postwar noir genre

God how I love that movie. It's perfect in every sense of the word. "There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff."

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#24
post #2

If you're an Agatha Christie fan, I highly recommend the 2019 "Knives Out" movie. Writer/Director Rian Johnson is a fan, and the movie does it justice.

The movie is mentioned in the article. I have seen it and did enjoy it -- mostly because it appeared obvious that actors were having a lot of fun. But found it a bit complicated and verbose.

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#25
The 'police procedural' crime drama has become very popular on British TV in recent years. There's probably too of much it to be honest.

The most popular is a BBC series called Line of Duty about corruption in the police force ("bent coppers"). There are seven series (seasons) so far and the plots are far-fetched but entertaining. Every episode features police interviews or interrogations which make up much of the drama.

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#26
In Czechia we have "Hříchy pro pátera Knoxe" (Father Knox's sins) which is detective series (both in book forms and tv series) where the author deliberately breaks these ten rules (one in each story). You have to guess who is culprit and which rule was broken. It's written by Josef Škvorecký.

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#29
post #11

(spoiler, sorry --) > The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow The Murder of Roger Ackroyd breaks that one decisively, no? I find it interesting that Agatha's first classic was already turning the genre on its head. Pretty sure she broke this one too: > The detective must not himself commit the crime. ... but I'l…

[deleted]

Re: Father Knox’s decalogue: the ten rules of Golden Age detective fiction

#30

In Czechia we have "Hříchy pro pátera Knoxe" (Father Knox's sins) which is detective series (both in book forms and tv series) where the author deliberately breaks these ten rules (one in each story). You have to guess who is culprit and which rule was broken. It's written by Josef Škvorecký.

Ooh, I’ll have to find a copy of that in English, I really liked The Engineer Of Human Souls.
Post reply on HN