First book to...

[JSWolf]

What is the first mystery book to gather together the suspects and the detective lays out what happened and who did it (like Hercule Poirot) ?

[ZodWallop]

That's a great question.

I'm currently reading The Man In Lower 10 by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1907). She's known to be the originator of 'the butler did it', from her novel The Door (though that specific phrase isn't in the book).

[Catlady]

Poe's Auguste Dupin? I don't remember the details of the stories well enough, but later fictional detectives were modeled on Dupin.

[Uncle Robin]

These sorts of 'history of the genre' questions are addressed very well in Martin Edwards The Life of Crime, which provides details that challenge/refute many of the widely held assumptions about who or what came first. And also includes the delightful true story about Mary Roberts Rinehart (not Rhinehart), in which her own real life butler actually did it - or tried to

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Poe's Auguste Dupin? I don't remember the details of the stories well enough, but later fictional detectives were modeled on Dupin.

I don't think so. Dupin was the model for detectives but I don't remember that situation in his books.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

These sorts of 'history of the genre' questions are addressed very well in Martin Edwards The Life of Crime, which provides details that challenge/refute many of the widely held assumptions about who or what came first. And also includes the delightful true story about Mary Roberts Rinehart (not Rhinehart), in which her own real life butler actually did it - or tried to

Thank you for the recommendation.

[Quoth]

And Marple is a copy of Miss Silver.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

...Mary Roberts Rinehart (not Rhinehart)...

I did spell it correctly?

...in which her own real life butler actually did it - or tried to

Yeah, that story was something else.

I'm really enjoying my first Rinehart novel (also her first novel). I also really liked the 1959 film version of The Bat (it's in the public domain and has Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead, recommended).

I wonder why she isn't more well known?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

These sorts of 'history of the genre' questions are addressed very well in Martin Edwards The Life of Crime, which provides details that challenge/refute many of the widely held assumptions about who or what came first. And also includes the delightful true story about Mary Roberts Rinehart (not Rhinehart), in which her own real life butler actually did it - or tried to

Thanks. I've just put a reserve on it at the library.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I did spell it correctly?

That was a "note to self" - I had to try 3 times searching Edwards' book to fin her name

[BelleZora]

Life of Crime by Martin Edwards is indeed excellent. After checking it out of the library three times, I bought it. Well worth the $25.

[Bookstooge]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What is the first mystery book to gather together the suspects and the detective lays out what happened and who did it (like Hercule Poirot) ?

That's actually not possible with a mac. Switch to a pc with windows 10.

[booksq12]

The first mystery book to use the "detective gathers the suspects and lays out what happened and who did it" plot device was Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The book, published in 1926, was an instant bestseller and is still considered one of Christie's best works. In the book, Hercule Poirot is called in to solve the murder of wealthy businessman Roger Ackroyd. However, instead of investigating the crime scene, Poirot uses his deductive skills to piece together what happened by interviewing the suspects. By the end of the book, all of the pieces come together and the murderer is revealed. While other mystery novels had used similar plot devices before, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first to bring all of the elements together in such a memorable way. Christie's novel set a new standard for mystery fiction and remains an influential work in the genre today.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by booksq12

The first mystery book to use the "detective gathers the suspects and lays out what happened and who did it" plot device was Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The book, published in 1926,

I don't think it was the first.
Also see 1878 Anna Green's The Leavenworth Case. About 25 of her books are on Gutenberg.
also significant are A.E.W. Mason (Belgian Piorot is slightly based on Hanaud), Hulbert Footner (Mme Storey & Mappin), S.S. Van Dine (Philo Vance), Elizabeth Daly, Patricia Wentworth (Miss Silver copied as Miss Marple & other series), Mary Rinehart, Maurice Leblanc (The conman/thief turned detective, Copied by Leslie Charteris The Saint),
Dorothy Sayers (Wimsey 1 & 2 are 1923 & 1926), Baroness Orczy, L.T. Meade (more famous for school stories), J. Jefferson Farjeon and Freeman Wills Crofts (Railway engineer turned writer in 1919 and started a Writers Association with Agatha Christie, his 1st in 1920 & 6th novel was in 1926).

I think gathering everyone at the end to accuse and explain is a storytelling device rather than a plot element. Christie is famous for it but plenty did a form of it before 1926. Later Hardy Boys stories (house name, various authors) reverse it by having the criminals boast how they did it, often just before someone escapes.


Agatha Christie stories are certainly good, but though sold well she's not particularly original nor maybe the best.

[booksq12]

Thank you for answering me! I didn't expect such a detailed answer, it's very nice! It's true that the books of Agatha Christie are not always good. I just started my "path" in the study of this genre and her books, and I don't know as much as you do.
Some research says: How Christie Wrote - "She spent the majority of time with each book working out all the plot details and clues in her head or her notebooks before she actually started writing... The most everyday events and casual observations could trigger the idea for a new plot. Her second book The Secret Adversary stemmed from a conversation overheard in a tea shop: “Two people were talking at a table nearby, discussing somebody called Jane Fish… That, I thought, would make a good beginning to a story — a name overheard at a tea shop — an unusual name, so that whoever heard it remembered it. A name like Jane Fish, or perhaps Jane Finn would be even better.” Meanwhile, Who is Agatha Christie – the queen of crime says - The Guinness Book of World Records has proclaimed Agatha Christie to be the second best-selling author of all time. She comes in second after the Bard, William Shakespeare. With the honor of being the second best-selling author, Agatha Christie is also known for having the most widely translated number as her books have been translated into as many as 103 languages.
But some people don't like her. Some people do not like the writing style, and some themselves are the topic of her books and the presentation of an idea ...
Perhaps she is praised more, as what she did during the time she was alive and it was a "shift" in the genre of detectives and so on. If you compare it with other authors, it is very difficult. Everything has its advantages and minus. And at the same time, if we compare the plots of modern books, then I will prefer modernity (if we talk about Agatha, and not in general detective classics).