According to the English crime writer PD James (1920-) “for a book to be described as a detective story there must be a central mystery and one which by the end of the book is solved satisfactorily and logically, not by luck or intuition, but by intelligent deduction from honestly if deceptively presented clues. (James. 2009: 16). This is traditionally conducted through a detective; a figure inserted within the narrative structure «whose occupation is to investigate crimes» (Oxford. 2006: 202). The detective novel therefore represents an enigma, a puzzle to be solved through an intriguing series of events and clues presented by the writer to his audience; who are taken on a journey through a process of reasoning, elimination and conclusion to solve a mystery. The narrative formula allows the audience to engage in an exploration of self-discovery as "the solution to the mystery provides a temporary sense of self through which the reader is offered an apparatus for negotiating the boundaries that define identity." (McCracken. 1998: 50). Crime fiction can be defined and placed into several different categories; “One is taxonomic… relating it to other types of popular literature… westerns, science fiction, spy stories, and so on. John G. Cawelti (Adventure) grouped these types into broader categories called "archetypes" which are useful for making an initial distinction between two main types of detective fiction, "Mystery" and "Adventure". (Rzepka. 2005: 9). This raises the question of how crime fiction appeals to audiences past and present and its position as part of a mass market publication in contemporary society. To answer this question it is important to briefly summarize the birth of...... half of the newspaper......http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Detective_Fiction_(Bookshelf). [Accessed 20 April 2012]Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory. (2007) Detective Fiction, Herman, D. Jahn, M. & Ryan, M. [Online] Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wWNnBndF9uEC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=generic +conventions+of+detective+fiction&source=bl&ots=nN3XjelCQo&sig=w_epfgfc-_S9UUZhgH65xBIxMbY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=p7KfT-H_GafE4gTW_-y2Aw&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=generic%20conventions% 20of%20detective%20fiction&f=false. [Accessed 19 April 2012]Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Literary Summer. (2000) The official website of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's literary estate. [Online] Available from: http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/. [Accessed 20 April 2012]The Sherlock Holmes Company, (2010). [Online] Available from: http://www.sherlockholmes.com/. [Accessed 21 April 2012]