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95-578: Steve Brewer (born February 2, 1957) is an American author of mystery , detective and crime novels. His novel Lonely Street was made into the Hollywood film of the same name , starring Robert Patrick , Jay Mohr and Joe Mantegna . Brewer was a journalist for 22 years, writing for the Arkansas Gazette , Associated Press , and Albuquerque Journal . He continued to write a weekly syndicated humor column for 10 more years, many of them collected in

190-646: A story within a story within a story.) Cardillac tells Olivier how an experience involving a sumptuous diamond necklace (the necklace was worn by a Spanish actor with whom she later had an adulterous affair) that his mother had while she was pregnant with him had marked him for life with a love of fine jewelry. This love caused him to steal jewelry as a child and later led him to become a goldsmith. An "inborn drive," Cardillac told Olivier, forced him to create his renowned works but led him also again and again to take them back from his customers in thefts that often involved murder. Olivier tells de Scudéri that Cardillac stored

285-438: A supernatural mystery in which the solution does not have to be logical and even in which there is no crime involved. This usage was common in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, whose titles such as Dime Mystery , Thrilling Mystery , and Spicy Mystery offered what were then described as complicated to solve and weird stories: supernatural horror in the vein of Grand Guignol . That contrasted with parallel titles of

380-458: A crime scene with no indication as to how the intruder could have entered or left, i.e., a locked room. Following other conventions of classic detective fiction, the reader is normally presented with the puzzle and all of the clues, and is encouraged to solve the mystery before the solution is revealed in a dramatic climax. Mademoiselle de Scuderi The 1819 edition was an immediate commercial and critical success and led to Hoffmann's becoming

475-516: A crime story, the criminal's identity is known from the start, and the interest lies in observing his psychology and his attempts to escape justice ..." Alewyn argues that with Mademoiselle de Scudéri Hoffmann created not only the first German detective story, but the first detective study in any language (it appeared before Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841). He writes that In this story we find, in addition to several subordinate motifs,

570-406: A division of Crosstown Publications. The detective fiction author Ellery Queen ( pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee ) is also credited with continuing interest in mystery fiction. Interest in mystery fiction continues to this day partly because of various television shows which have used mystery themes and the many juvenile and adult novels which continue to be published. There

665-425: A false path, e.g., in cases in which proof of guilt rested on artificially intertwined pieces of evidence or on the assessment of dubious frames of mind. In these areas he occasionally fell into constellations that reflected more his ingenuity and fantasy than a process of calm deliberation. ... His presentations of the facts, however, were always impeccable and of a precision that cannot be praised enough. Perhaps it

760-618: A meeting with Olivier in her house. The mademoiselle is filled with foreboding but nevertheless decides to obey the higher powers that had marked her for the solution of some terrible mystery. Olivier is brought to her house, and while guards wait outside he falls on his knees and tells her his story: Olivier tells the mademoiselle that he is the son of the impoverished young woman, Anne, whom de Scudéri had lovingly raised as her own daughter and from whom she has not heard since she married an industrious and skilled young watchmaker who took her and Olivier to Geneva to seek their fortune. Because of

855-414: A member of International Thriller Writers and SouthWest Writers. Mystery fiction Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character

950-402: A most loathsome trial. Would La Régnie, who scents crime everywhere, immediately believe me if I accused the honest Cardillac, the very embodiment of complete piety and virtue, of attempted murder?" Miossens refuses to consider Olivier innocent, accusing him instead of being Cardillac's accomplice. Under a pledge of secrecy, Miossens repeats his testimony to d'Andilly, and with this information

1045-512: A mystery to be solved, clues , red herrings , some plot twists along the way and a detective denouement , but differs on several points. Most of the Sherlock Holmes stories feature no suspects at all, while mystery fiction, in contrast, features a large number of them. As noted, detective stories feature professional and retired detectives, while mystery fiction almost exclusively features amateur detectives. Finally, detective stories focus on

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1140-595: A new angle on the investigation, so as to bring about a final outcome different from the one originally devised by the investigators. In the legal thriller, court proceedings play a very active, if not to say decisive part in a case reaching its ultimate solution. Erle Stanley Gardner popularized the courtroom novel in the 20th century with his Perry Mason series. Contemporary authors of legal thrillers include Michael Connelly , Linda Fairstein , John Grisham , John Lescroart , Paul Levine , Lisa Scottoline and Scott Turow . Many detective stories have police officers as

1235-418: A night watchman at best. Naturally, the constable would be aware of every individual in the town, and crimes were either solved quickly or left unsolved entirely. As people began to crowd into cities, police forces became institutionalized, and the need for detectives was realized – thus the mystery novel arose. An early work of modern mystery fiction, Das Fräulein von Scuderi by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1819),

1330-455: A popular and well-paid author. Mademoiselle de Scuderi is regarded as one of Hoffmann's best, not only because of its exciting, suspenseful plot and interesting descriptions of life, places, and people in late 17th-century Paris but also because of the many different levels of interpretation that it allows. The action takes place in Paris during the reign of King Louis XIV of France . The city

1425-450: A sociological bent, exploring the meaning of his characters' places in society and the impact society had on people. Full of commentary and clipped prose, his books were more intimate than those of his predecessors, dramatizing that crime can happen in one's own living room. The PI novel was a male-dominated field in which female authors seldom found publication until Marcia Muller , Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton were finally published in

1520-455: A solution achieved by intellect or intuition rather than police procedure, with order restored in the end, honorable characters, and a setting in a closed community. The murders are often committed by less violent tools such as poison and the wounds inflicted are rarely if ever used as clues. The writers who innovated and popularized the genre include Agatha Christie , Dorothy L. Sayers and Elizabeth Daly . The legal thriller or courtroom novel

1615-477: A system of absolute rather than constitutional monarchy. Hoffmann appears to favor a legal system based not on pure rationality, but instead a humanism based on intuition and empathy. From a psychological standpoint, Cardillac seems much more interesting than de Scudéri. Perhaps this is why Hindemith named his opera (1926) and Reitz his film (1968) Cardillac rather than Mademoiselle de Scudéri. Dissociation Tölle contends that Mademoiselle de Scudéri contains

1710-463: A woman from a most distinguished noble family and world famous for her virtue, great intelligence, and multilingualism." Kent and Knight write that Madeleine de Scudéri (1607–1701) came to Paris in 1630 and became connected with the salon of Mme. de Rambouillet ( Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet ). Later she formed a literary circle of her own. ... Highly artificial, poorly constructed, flawed by pointless dialogue, her works were popular at

1805-475: A young man bangs on the door of de Scudéri's house and pleads urgently with her maid to be granted entrance. The maid finally lets him in but denies him access to her mistress, whose life she fears is in danger. The young man eventually flees at the sound of the approach of the mounted police, but leaves behind a small jewelry box he begs the maid to deliver to the Mademoiselle. The next morning, de Scudéri opens

1900-400: Is a detective, she is an inept one. Her attempts at solving the mystery by deduction fail. It is not expert detective work but the confession of Miossens that eventually reveals to the authorities it was Cardillac who committed the many murders and jewelry thefts in Paris. de Scudéri is helpful in freeing the innocent Olivier because of her humanity, nobility of character, sympathy, and access to

1995-447: Is also related to detective fiction. The system of justice itself is always a major part of these works, at times almost functioning as one of the characters. In this way, the legal system provides the framework for the legal thriller as much as the system of modern police work does for the police procedural. The legal thriller usually starts its business with the court proceedings following the closure of an investigation, often resulting in

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2090-406: Is carried forward by sharp, realistic descriptions of people and events rather than by the seemingly irrational occurrences generally associated with Hoffmann's writing in particular and Romanticism in general. Against this realism, however, the relationship between Olivier and Madelon seems stylized and idealistic. This aspect of the plot of the story is certainly its most romantic in the sense of

2185-449: Is issued. Mademoiselle de Scudéri makes a number of attempts to save Olivier, including writing a letter to La Régnie, but she is unsuccessful. She even wants to plead his case before the King himself, but a famous lawyer by the name of d'Andilly, whom she has consulted, convinces her that at this stage in his case this would not be in the young man's best interest. Unexpectedly, an officer in

2280-471: Is often a detective (such as Sherlock Holmes ), who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction . Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit . Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism. Mystery fiction can involve

2375-595: Is one of the first examples of the modern style of fictional private detective. This character is described as an "'Everyman' detective meant to challenge the detective-as-superman that Holmes represented." By the late 1920s, Al Capone and the Mob were inspiring not only fear, but piquing mainstream curiosity about the American crime underworld. Popular pulp fiction magazines like Black Mask capitalized on this, as authors such as Carrol John Daly published violent stories that focused on

2470-423: Is one of the most respected citizens of Paris but at the same time a serial killer. Tölle finds it remarkable that Hoffmann had no model for this dissociative behavior and concludes that it must have been of his own invention. As he notes, what the author described can often be observed in ordinary life: for example, lady during the day, prostitute at night; husband during the day, criminal at night; loving father on

2565-486: Is presented, counters jokingly with the following verse: Un amant, qui craint les voleurs, N'est point digne d'amour. A lover who is afraid of thieves Is not worthy of love. The elderly de Scudéri is a well-known poetess who lives in a modest house in Paris on the rue Saint Honoré by the grace of King Louis and his lover, the Marquise de Maintenon (the historical Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon ). One night,

2660-625: Is returned to the rightful owners who still are living. The rest becomes the property of the Church of St. Eustace . Hoffmann got the idea for his tale from the seventh chapter of Johann Christoph Wagenseil 's chronicle of the city of Nuremberg titled Johann Christof Wagenseil's Book on the Gracious Art of the Meistersingers [ Johann Christof Wagenseils Buch von der Meister-Singer Holdseligen Kunst ]. This report attributes to Mademoiselle de Scudéri

2755-422: Is some overlap with "thriller" or "suspense" novels and authors in those genres may consider themselves mystery novelists. Comic books and graphic novels have carried on the tradition, and film adaptations or the even-more-recent web-based detective series, have helped to re-popularize the genre in recent times. Though the origins of the genre date back to ancient literature and One Thousand and One Nights ,

2850-440: Is under siege by what is presumed to be an organized band of thieves whose members rob citizens of costly jewelry in their homes or on the street. Some of the street victims are simply rendered unconscious by a blow to the head, but most are killed instantly by a deliberate dagger thrust to the heart. The murder victims are mostly wealthy lovers who are on their way to meet their mistresses with gifts of fine jewelry. These are not

2945-580: The English Renaissance and, as people began to read over time, they became more individualistic in their thinking. As people became more individualistic in their thinking, they developed a respect for human reason and the ability to solve problems. Perhaps a reason that mystery fiction was unheard of before the 19th century was due in part to the lack of true police forces. Before the Industrial Revolution , many towns would have constables and

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3040-504: The Pont Neuf when a young man forces his way through the crowd and throws a letter into the coach. The letter adjures the Mademoiselle to find whatever pretense necessary but to return the jewelry to Cardillac at once. If she does not, the letter warns, her life is in danger. She is overcome by feelings that she is surrounded by "strange events and dark mysteries" but decides to heed the letter writer's appeal. Two days later, she travels to

3135-409: The "deduction" of Sherlock Holmes, who was disparagingly included in some Lupin stories under obvious pseudonyms. The genre began to expand near the turn of the century with the development of dime novels and pulp magazines . Books were especially helpful to the genre, with many authors writing in the genre in the 1920s. An important contribution to mystery fiction in the 1920s was the development of

3230-484: The 19th-century literary movement. For Hoffmann (perhaps the arch romantic of German literature), it may have been impossible to write about love in any other way. As Kaiser has pointed out, In its apparent simplicity, [ Mademoiselle de Scudéri ] contradistinguishes itself from those works in which Hoffmann himself was able to view the pinnacle of his aesthetic achievement ( The Golden Pot [ Der goldne Topf ] and Tomcat Murr [ Kater Murr ], for example). Nevertheless,

3325-633: The Capital and from within France under the Consular Government [ Briefe aus der Hauptstadt und dem Innern Frankreichs unter der Consular-Regierung ] (Tübingen, 1802), Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann's Paris as It Was and as It Is [ Paris wie es war und wie es ist ] (Leipzig, 1805), and a translation of Voltaire's Times of Louis XIV [ Siècle de Louis XIV ] (Dresden, 1778). It seems certain that Hoffmann also referred to Friedrich Schulzen's Of Paris and

3420-593: The Cardillac character was inspired by an autobiographical account by the Italian goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini , where he writes of the cold-hearted way in which he contemplated and carried out murders during his time in Paris: When certain decisions of the court were sent me by those lawyers, and I perceived that my cause had been unjustly lost, I had recourse to a great dagger I carried. ... The first man I attacked

3515-425: The King's Guard by the name of Miossens visits her and reveals that he is the person who, in self-defense, stabbed and killed Cardillac. The astonished Mademoiselle says to him "And you have said nothing? You have not made a statement to the authorities regarding what happened?" Miossens defends himself by stating "Allow me to remark that such a statement, even if it did not cause my ruin, would at least involve me in

3610-403: The Mademoiselle tries to intercede on his behalf with La Régnie. He receives her graciously but is unmoved and presents her with circumstantial evidence that in his view proves that Olivier is the murderer. The Mademoiselle hears the evidence but cannot convince herself of the young man's guilt. La Régnie grants her permission to speak with Olivier, but when she meets him in prison she recognizes

3705-477: The Mademoiselle. To prevent this, Olivier relates, he threw the letter into de Scudéri's coach, imploring her to return the jewelry as soon as possible. Two days later, because he was afraid that his master was about to attack Mademoiselle de Scudéri, Olivier secretly followed him when he left the house under cover of darkness. Instead of the mademoiselle, Cardillac attacked an officer, who stabbed Cardillac with his dagger and then fled. Olivier brought Cardillac and

3800-594: The Midwest Writers Workshop, SouthWest Writers, and the Tony Hillerman Writers Seminar, and regularly speaks at mystery conventions. In 2018, Brewer opened Organic Books, an independent bookstore in Albuquerque, NM , with his wife Kelly and sons Max and Seth. Brewer served two years on the national board of Mystery Writers of America and twice served as an Edgar Awards judge. He is also

3895-621: The Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), and the world's best-selling mystery And Then There Were None (1939). The massive popularity of pulp magazines in the 1930s and 1940s increased interest in mystery fiction. Pulp magazines decreased in popularity in the 1950s with the rise of television , so much that the numerous titles available then are reduced to two today: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine —both now published by Dell Magazines ,

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3990-465: The Parisians [ Über Paris und die Pariser ] (Berlin, 1791). The realism created by Hoffmann's thorough descriptions of historical events, persons, and places helps ensure the believability of the plot and the characters of the story. With the exception of the Mademoiselle, the King, and the Marquise de Maintenon, however, the characters of the novella appear to be Hoffmann's inventions. It is possible that

4085-434: The author's soul: firstly, Cardillac is the artist who can never satisfy himself; secondly, he is both guilty and innocent, his fate having been sealed even before he was born by the unholy demon that drives him from one crime to another. Equal to the powerful impression made by the character René Cardillac is that created by the compelling structure of Hoffmann's story. He has Cardillac appear only once in living form; most of

4180-419: The beginning of the story until the final resolution of the crimes and the exoneration of Olivier, the reader is held in eerie suspense. In his introduction to one of the earliest complete editions of Hoffmann's works, Ellinger presents a cogent analysis of the plot of Mademoiselle de Scudéri : [Hoffmann's first goal was to remove] Wagenseil's report from the realm of the anecdotal. The unusual step taken by

4275-436: The best-selling author Michael Connelly,"Chandler credited Hammett with taking the mystery out of the drawing-room and putting it out on the street where it belongs." In the late 1930s, Raymond Chandler updated the form with his private detective Philip Marlowe , who brought a more intimate voice to the detective than the more distanced "operative's report" style of Hammett's Continental Op stories. Despite struggling through

4370-518: The book Trophy Husband . Brewer switched to fiction with the publication of his first novel, Lonely Street in 1994. He has published 34 books, including three under the pen name Max Austin. Ten of his novels, including Lonely Street , feature bumbling Albuquerque private eye Bubba Mabry. Brewer teaches writing at the Honors College of the University of New Mexico . He has also taught classes at

4465-414: The box and finds exquisite jewelry and a note in which the band of jewel thieves thanks her for her support in the form of the verse quoted above. Mademoiselle de Scudéri is distraught by the contents of the jewelry box and seeks the advice of her friend de Maintenon. The Marquise immediately recognizes the jewelry as the work of the goldsmith René Cardillac. Cardillac is known not only in Paris but around

4560-441: The court, primarily because of their anecdotes about public personages. They served the parvenu well. For his description of Olivier's legal proceedings, the jurist Hoffmann drew on his extensive knowledge of and experience with the law. A colleague wrote that Hoffman's professional activities were without fault, but also commented Only in a few areas of his criminal work could it ever be said that he allowed himself to be led down

4655-443: The crime scene. The genre was established in the 19th century. Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) is considered the first locked-room mystery; since then, other authors have used the scheme. John Dickson Carr was recognized as a master of the genre and his The Hollow Man was recognized by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers as the best locked-room mystery of all time in 1981. The crime in question typically involves

4750-410: The crime. In the 1940s the police procedural evolved as a new style of detective fiction. Unlike the heroes of Christie, Chandler, and Spillane, the police detective was subject to error and was constrained by rules and regulations. As Gary Huasladen says in his book Places for Dead Bodies , "not all the clients were insatiable bombshells, and invariably there was life outside the job." The detective in

4845-460: The criminal is not known from the beginning. In fact, at least a third of the novella takes place after his death. The reader's interest centers on whether Olivier will be exonerated and reunited with his fiancée, not whether the murderer or murderers of so many Parisians will be discovered and brought to justice. As Miossens's behavior clearly indicates, the Chambre ardente hinders more than facilitates

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4940-522: The detective and how the crime was solved, while mystery fiction concentrates on the identity of the culprit and how the crime was committed, a distinction that separated And Then There Were None from other works of Agatha Christie . A common subgenre of detective fiction is the Whodunit . Whodunits experienced an increase in popularity during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction of the 1920s-1940s, when it

5035-455: The detective's attempt to solve the mystery. There may also be subsidiary puzzles, such as why the crime was committed, and they are explained or resolved during the story. This format is the inversion of the more typical "whodunit", where all of the details of the perpetrator of the crime are not revealed until the story's climax. Martin Hewitt , created by British author Arthur Morrison in 1894,

5130-418: The earliest description of a double life in the sense of the abnormal psychological phenomenon known as dissociation (segregation of a group of mental processes from the rest of a person's usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, perception, and motor behavior). This, the researcher points out, is by no means the same thing as the disorder commonly known as a "split personality." Goldsmith Cardillac

5225-493: The earliest in German literature . Crime fiction generally is divided into two main categories: the detective story and the crime story. In the detective story, as defined by The Oxford Companion to English Literature , "a crime (generally, though not necessarily, a murder) is committed [...]; the puzzle of the criminal's identity is finally solved through a process of investigation, observation, and deduction by an expert detective. In

5320-422: The early 20th century, many credit Ellis Peters 's The Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994) for popularizing what would become known as the historical mystery. The locked-room mystery is a subgenre of detective fiction. The crime—almost always murder—is committed in circumstances under which it was seemingly impossible for the perpetrator to commit the crime and/or evade detection in the course of getting in and out of

5415-404: The evildoing, and in his blind zeal and frustration he is seduced to commit acts of terror and brutality. Because of his failures and cruelty, he quickly earns the hatred of those he was appointed to protect. In a poem exalting the King, the lovers of Paris exhort him to do something for their safety. Mademoiselle de Scudéri (the historical Madeleine de Scudéry ), who is present when this appeal

5510-485: The forefront, the overall impression retained by the reader is determined for the most part by ... the shadow cast by the terrible personage and the cruel fate of René Cardillac. It is precisely before this dark background that the purely human, endearing qualities represented by Mademoiselle de Scudéri and the young couple are made to stand out. Mademoiselle de Scudéri is less dreamlike and surreal in its construction than most of Hoffmann's other stories. The plot generally

5605-483: The form again with his detective Lew Archer . Archer, like Hammett's fictional heroes, was a camera eye, with hardly any known past. "Turn Archer sideways, and he disappears," one reviewer wrote. Two of Macdonald's strengths were his use of psychology and his beautiful prose, which was full of imagery. Like other 'hardboiled' writers, Macdonald aimed to give an impression of realism in his work through violence, sex and confrontation. The 1966 movie Harper starring Paul Newman

5700-423: The genre. True crime is a literary genre that recounts real crimes committed by real people, almost half focusing on serial killers . Criticized by many as being insensitive to those personally acquainted with the incidents, it is often categorized as trash culture . Having basis on reality, it shares more similarities with docufiction than the mystery genre. Unlike fiction of the kind, it does not focus much on

5795-478: The goldsmith's house, only to arrive just as his corpse is being carried away. Cardillac has been murdered, and Olivier Brusson, Cardillac's assistant, has been arrested for the crime. Cardillac's daughter Madelon, who is betrothed to Olivier, protests his innocence. Because of Madelon's suffering and utter despair, Mademoiselle de Scudéri takes pity on her and takes her to her house to look after her. Touched by and believing Madelon's avowals of Olivier's innocence,

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5890-725: The house because he and Cardillac's daughter, Madelon, had fallen in love. In his desperation and longing, Olivier went one night to Cardillac's house in the hope of catching a glimpse of his beloved. Instead, he saw Cardillac slip out of the house through a secret entrance and not far away attack and kill a man by thrusting a dagger into his heart. Cardillac, who knows that Olivier has seen the murder, invites him to return to his workshop and offers him his daughter in marriage. Olivier's silence had been bought, he confesses to de Scudéri, but he relates how from then on he lived with intense pangs of guilt. One evening, Olivier tells de Scudéri, Cardillac told Olivier his own story. (The plot here becomes

5985-572: The identity of the culprit and has no red herrings or clues, but often emphasizes how the culprit was caught and their motivations behind their actions. Cozy mysteries began in the late 20th century as a reinvention of the Golden Age whodunit; these novels generally shy away from violence and suspense and frequently feature female amateur detectives. Modern cozy mysteries are frequently, though not necessarily in either case, humorous and thematic. This genre features minimal violence, sex and social relevance,

6080-462: The jealousy of others in his profession, Olivier relates, his father was not able to establish himself in Geneva, and both he and his wife later died there in poverty. Olivier, who had apprenticed himself to a goldsmith, eventually became so skilled in his profession that he was hired as an assistant by René Cardillac in Paris. All went well, Olivier tells the Mademoiselle, until Cardillac threw him out of

6175-526: The juvenile mystery by Edward Stratemeyer . Stratemeyer originally developed and wrote the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries written under the Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene pseudonyms respectively (and were later written by his daughter, Harriet Adams , and other authors). The 1920s also gave rise to one of the most popular mystery authors of all time, Agatha Christie , whose works include Murder on

6270-454: The king, not because of her ability to investigate, reason, and draw conclusions from evidence. A case can be made that Mademoiselle de Scudéri is an example of crime fiction as defined above, but this thesis is also weak. The story does briefly deal with the psychology of the criminal (revealed in Olivier's back-story), but Cardillac's pathology plays only a minor role in the plot. Furthermore,

6365-438: The late 1970s and early 1980s. Each author's detective, also female, was brainy and physical and could hold her own. Their acceptance, and success, caused publishers to seek out other female authors. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves the solving of a mystery or crime (usually murder). Though works combining these genres have existed since at least

6460-483: The lawyer is able to have Olivier's torture postponed. Subsequently, de Scudéri is successful in getting the King to review the case once again. After a month of uncertainty, he reveals to the Mademoiselle that Olivier has been freed, that he will be allowed to marry his beloved Madelon, and that he will receive 1,000 louis d'or as a dowery under the condition that they leave Paris. Olivier and Madelon move to Geneva, where they live happily. The jewelry stolen by Cardillac

6555-422: The lovers of Paris to appeal directly to the King for protection had to be motivated by an ominous supernatural force, i.e., something that lay completely outside the sphere of ordinary events. While Hoffmann was engaged in this train of thought, the personage of René Cardillac appeared to him. The powerful impression that this character creates can be attributed, in part, to qualities that reflect basic elements of

6650-447: The main characters. These stories may take a variety of forms, but many authors try to realistically depict the routine activities of a group of police officers who are frequently working on more than one case simultaneously, providing a stark contrast to the detective-as-superhero archetype of Sherlock Holmes. Some of these stories are whodunits; in others, the criminal is known, and the police must gather enough evidence to charge them with

6745-453: The mayhem and injustice surrounding the criminals, not the circumstances behind the crime. Very often, no actual mystery even existed: the books simply revolved around justice being served to those who deserved harsh treatment, which was described in explicit detail." The overall theme these writers portrayed reflected "the changing face of America itself." In the 1930s, the private eye genre was adopted wholeheartedly by American writers. One of

6840-516: The modern detective story as it is known today was invented by Edgar Allan Poe in the mid-19th century through his short story, " The Murders in the Rue Morgue ", which featured arguably the world's first fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin . However, detective fiction was popularized only later, in the late 19th century, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes stories, considered milestones in crime fiction . The detective story shares some similarities with mystery fiction in that it also has

6935-410: The murder weapon back to his house, where the master died of his injuries. Olivier was arrested and charged with the murder. His intention, he states, is to die for the murder if he must in order to spare his beloved Madelon the sorrow of learning the truth about her father. With this, Olivier ends his story and is returned to prison. Because he continues to refuse to confess, an order for his torture

7030-456: The novella takes place after his death. The plot is carried forth by completely different characters, primarily the betrothed couple Olivier and Madelon. The reader's involvement turns around the question of whether Olivier will be successful in proving his innocence in Cardillac's murder. Even though the author uses his story-telling ability to awaken the reader's interest in these characters and that of Mademoiselle de Scudéri, which now stand in

7125-507: The one hand and despotic boss on the other (or the reverse). The artist as prostitute Safranski points out that the artist Cardillac finds it impossible to see his works, in which he has invested everything that he loves and everything that he is capable of, in the hands of strangers who have no other use for them than to indulge their vanity, satisfy their love of glitter, and further their amorous adventures. Ritter Gluck, in Hoffmann's work by

7220-459: The only terrible crimes plaguing Paris (a series of bizarre poisonings is described in detail), and to combat them the King establishes a special court, the Chambre Ardente , whose sole purpose is to investigate them and punish their perpetrators. The president of the Chambre, La Régnie (probably based on Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie ), however, is consistently thwarted in his attempts to stop

7315-417: The police procedural does the things police officers do to catch a criminal. Writers of the genre include Ed McBain , P. D. James and Bartholomew Gill . An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a plot structure of murder mystery fiction in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The story then describes

7410-499: The primary contributors to this style was Dashiell Hammett with his famous private investigator character, Sam Spade . His style of crime fiction came to be known as "hardboiled", which is described as a genre that "usually deals with criminal activity in a modern urban environment, a world of disconnected signs and anonymous strangers." "Told in stark and sometimes elegant language through the unemotional eyes of new hero-detectives, these stories were an American phenomenon." According to

7505-404: The reader knows, the case is completely groundless. It is only de Scudéri's sensitivity and inner voice which leads her to believe in Olivier's innocence again. The positive outcome results almost solely from her friendship with the King. This aspect of Hoffmann's novella has been interpreted as a sharp critique of the legal institutions of France during the reign of Louis XIV and, by extension, of

7600-518: The reforms to the Prussian legal system of his own time. These reforms (and their accompanying police practices) had as their goal the abolition of the absolute right of the monarch to rule as he saw fit in all legal matters. Before the reforms, the king stood completely above and outside the law. This interpretation sees Hoffmann as legitimatizing to some extent (using the Ancien Régime as an allegory)

7695-407: The request a chance to re-establish contact with the woman who had loved and cared for him when he was a child and to reveal to her his unfortunate situation. He was able to deliver the jewel box but was not able to meet with the Mademoiselle. Some time later, Cardillac again was overcome by his evil star, and it is clear to Olivier that he wanted to retrieve by force the jewelry that he had given to

7790-411: The retrieved pieces, which were labeled with the names of their rightful owners, in a secret, locked chamber in his house. Eventually, Olivier informs the mademoiselle, Cardillac decided to give Mademoiselle de Scudéri some of his best work in thanks for the verse that she had quoted to the King in response to the appeal from the threatened lovers. He asked Olivier to present the gift, and Olivier saw in

7885-406: The same names which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of "mystery" in that sense was by Dime Mystery , which started out as an ordinary crime fiction magazine but switched to " weird menace " during the later part of 1933. The genre of mystery novels is a young form of literature that has developed since the early 19th century. The rise of literacy began in the years of

7980-438: The solving of the mysterious series of crimes plaguing Paris. Indeed, La Régnie and his henchmen spread as much terror as the criminal who strikes under the cover of night and leaves no trace of himself. At first, the seemingly airtight case the Chambre builds against Olivier, including a suspicion of Madelon's complicity, convinces even Mademoiselle de Scudéri and the skeptical lawyer d'Andilly of his guilt in Cardillac's murder. As

8075-729: The task of plotting a story, his cadenced dialogue and cryptic narrations were musical, evoking the dark alleys and tough thugs, rich women and powerful men about whom he wrote. Several feature and television movies have been made about the Philip Marlowe character. James Hadley Chase wrote a few novels with private eyes as the main heroes, including Blonde's Requiem (1945), Lay Her Among the Lilies (1950), and Figure It Out for Yourself (1950). The heroes of these novels are typical private eyes, very similar to or plagiarizing Raymond Chandler's work. Ross Macdonald, pseudonym of Kenneth Millar , updated

8170-422: The three elements that constitute a detective novel: first, the murder, actually, a series of murders, takes place at the beginning and is resolved at the end; second, there is the innocent suspect and the unsuspected guilty party; and third, the detection, not by the police but by an outsider, an elderly poetess. If on first reading Alwyn's thesis seems plausible, Conrad argues it is weak. If Madmoiselle de Scudéri

8265-543: The two-line stanza quoted above: A lover who is afraid of thieves Is not worthy of love. Using Wagenseil's brief account as a starting point, Hoffmann did extensive research to ensure that his depictions of Paris at the time of Louis XIV would be accurate in the minutest detail. A short letter from the author dated March 28, 1818, to a lending librarian in Berlin requests works that likely provided him with historical material for his novella: Friedrich Lorenz Meyers's Letters from

8360-405: The various interpretations that the story has inspired—as deserving of criticism as each may be in and of itself—have shown that, beneath the surface of a tightly organized text, the novella is truly a multilayered work. Some of these interpretations are reviewed below. The most frequently encountered interpretation of Hoffmann's novella holds that it is an early example of crime fiction , perhaps

8455-407: The world as the best artist in his field. He is also famous, however, for a strange attribute: he creates the most beautiful pieces of jewelry but then does not want to part with them. Only after much delay does he finally deliver a piece to the customer who commissioned it, and then only under (sometimes violent) protest. Several months later, Mademoiselle de Scudéri is riding in a glass coach over

8550-436: The young man who had thrown the warning letter into her coach and falls to the ground unconscious. She now is uncertain of Olivier's innocence and is torn inwardly. She curses the destiny that had made her believe in truth and virtue but now has destroyed the beautiful image she had made for her life. In the hope that Olivier will confess, Desgrais, de Scudéri's friend and an officer in the mounted police, offers to arrange for

8645-424: Was Hoffmann's tendency to lean towards the ingenious and fantastic, even in his professional life, that allowed him to write the intriguing psychological tale of crime that is Mademoiselle de Scudéri. For many reasons, Mademoiselle de Scudéri is considered one of Hoffmann's greatest novellas, not the least of which is its splendid and exciting plot. From the midnight knock on the door of the Mademoiselle's house at

8740-427: Was a plaintiff who had sued me; one evening I wounded him ... so severely that I deprived him of the use of both his legs. Hoffmann knew of this account from Goethe 's translation of Cellini's Vita (1558). It is likely Hoffmann drew on Chapter 1 of Wagenseil's chronicle for the characteristics he ascribes to the heroine of the title. Wagenseil reports he "had the honor of visiting Mademoiselle Magdalena de Scudery,

8835-581: Was an influence on The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe (1841) as may have been Voltaire 's Zadig (1747). Wilkie Collins ' novel The Woman in White was published in 1860, while The Moonstone (1868) is often thought to be his masterpiece. In 1887 Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes , whose mysteries are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge popularity in this genre. In 1901 Maurice Leblanc created gentleman burglar, Arsène Lupin , whose creative imagination rivaled

8930-527: Was based on the first Lew Archer story The Moving Target (1949). Newman reprised the role in The Drowning Pool in 1976. Michael Collins, pseudonym of Dennis Lynds , is generally considered the author who led the form into the Modern Age. His private investigator, Dan Fortune, was consistently involved in the same sort of David-and-Goliath stories that Hammett, Chandler, and Macdonald wrote, but Collins took

9025-399: Was the primary style of detective fiction. This subgenre is classified as a detective story where the reader is given clues throughout as to who the culprit is, giving the reader the opportunity to solve the crime before it is revealed. During the Golden Age, whodunits were written primarily by women, however Wilkie Collins ' The Moonstone is often recognized as one of the first examples of

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