Oh, I pretty much disagree with the entire list. I agree with in spirit only so far as an author shouldn't be pulling cheap dei ex machina out of nowhere, that leave the reader feeling cheated. But a skilled writer can get away with a lot, as some of the above commentators say re: Rowling. (I won't speak on the subject myself, not having read the books.)
I think it comes down to that if your intent as a writer is to create a work of literature within the detective genre, that you will write it however you need to bring together your themes and motifs in a way which is satisfying. It is only if you see detective fiction as something completely separate from the goals and objectives of literature, an intellectual exercise as Van Dine seems to, that that list makes any sense at all.
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Date: 2006-02-22 12:44 pm (UTC)I think it comes down to that if your intent as a writer is to create a work of literature within the detective genre, that you will write it however you need to bring together your themes and motifs in a way which is satisfying. It is only if you see detective fiction as something completely separate from the goals and objectives of literature, an intellectual exercise as Van Dine seems to, that that list makes any sense at all.