Fair-play mystery

A detective story that presents its audience with the clues needed to solve the crime before the detective explains the solution.

Clue: A detail that provides evidence or points toward an explanation. A fair-play mystery must make decisive evidence available rather than conceal it.
Deductive reasoning: Reasoning that derives a conclusion from premises that, if true, guarantee it. The audience uses deductions to connect presented clues to the crime's solution.
Edgar Allan Poe: American writer whose C. Auguste Dupin stories helped establish detective fiction. Poe's stories supplied early models for presenting clues and explaining deductions.
Unreliable narrator: A narrator whose account is compromised by limited knowledge, bias, deception, or error. An unreliable narrator can conceal or distort facts that fair-play convention makes available.
The Hound of the Baskervilles: An 1902 Arthur Conan Doyle novel in which Sherlock Holmes investigates a death linked to a family legend. Its investigation invites attention to physical evidence and the legend's practical explanation.
Red herring: A misleading clue or detail that distracts from the correct explanation. Misleading evidence can divert suspicion without removing the clues needed to solve the crime.
Clue-puzzle: A puzzle in which scattered clues must be combined to infer a hidden answer. A fair-play plot structures its evidence as a puzzle with a recoverable answer.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue: An 1841 short story by Edgar Allan Poe, often recognized as the first modern detective story. Its analytical detective and retrospective solution became foundational genre devices.
Psychological thriller: A thriller driven chiefly by characters' mental states, perceptions, and psychological conflict. Psychological suspense often prioritizes uncertainty and character over a solvable clue puzzle.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A 1926 Agatha Christie novel narrated by Dr. James Sheppard during Hercule Poirot's investigation. Its famous narrative concealment tests the boundary between fair clues and audience expectation.

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