"detective fiction" in the Oxford English Dictionary

Jessy Randall

Last week I delved into the history of the term mystery. A friend pointed out that the term detective fiction was probably first, and this turns out to be true. The OED has examples from the late 19th and early 20th century for the terms detective story, detective fiction, detective novel, and detective film:

1883 A. K. Green (title) XYS, a Detective Story. *

1905 G. K. Chesterton Club of Queer Trades iii. 96 The detectives in the detective stories.

 

1911 C. N. Bennett et al. Handbk. Kinematogr. xiii. 100 Moreover, the bulk of modern motion picture detective films are of the Nick Carter and Sexton Blake variety.

 

1922 'Sapper' Black Gang ii. 28 What I'm going to tell you now..may seem extraordinary and what one would expect in detective fiction.

1928 R. A. Knox Footsteps at Lock iii. 26 The Muse of detective fiction..cannot tell a plain unvarnished tale.

 

1924 19th Cent. May 718 We note that the plot of a detective novel is, in effect, an argument conducted under the guise of fiction.

 

It appears from the OED that the term detective started out as an adjective, not a noun. In the 1840s, one might be a detective policeman or a member of the detective police, the detective service, or the detective force; not until 1850 would one simply be a detective.

 

Oh, and by the way, critics were complaining about mysteries almost as soon as they were written. The OED gives only one example of the term detectivist:

 

1892 W. Wallace in Academy 24 Sept. 261/1 It may be hoped that Dick Donovan is the last of the detectivists in fiction.

 

* the exact title by Green is unclear. The OED calls it XYS; Google Books calls it XYZ; WorldCat calls it XYA.