Modern Detective Novels and World War One: A Symbiotic Relationship

This article discusses the relationship between modern detective fiction and the representation of World War One. While detective fiction is one of the most popular literary genres today, and World War One and its aftermath has become an important setting for American, British and South African crime writers, modern detective fiction set in that period has attracted relatively little critical attention. I argue that modern detective novels that revisit the War and emphasise the importance of the restoration of order constitute a new sub-genre—the Neo-Golden Age detective novel. The War provides a particularly fertile context for examining human motivation and suffering, and for looking at ways of dealing with crime in war and peace. It also demonstrates the importance of order and stability. A concern with violence and morality is here to stay, as is widespread interest in the War, particularly in Britain where the majority of the detective stories on the War are produced.