"Who done it?" The persistent quest for bringing a perpetrator of a vile crime (usually involving murder) to justice has become the definition of the detective story. The question of "who done it" keeps challenging all kinds of detectives in novels, stories, and films, not to mention their audience, proving to be one of the most enduring, and most popular genres of fiction ever created. All eyes are on the detective, the main protagonist, through whom the story is told either as a first-person narrator or in the third person as portrayed by the author. We depend on him to guide us through this puzzling journey; but not all detectives use the same routes. This can be supported by comparing Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (a classic detective story) with Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and Jake Gittes in Chinatown (both considered hard-boiled). Even though the detectives above differed in style, the stories they're in seemed to contain certain common elements!

that are found in both classic and hard-boiled detective stories. (1) the seemingly perfect crime; (2) the wrongly accused suspect at who circumstantial evidence points; (3) the unskilled and clumsy style

Undoubtedly the greatest classical detective, and, indeed, the most recognized today, is Sherlock Holmes. Supporting deductive reasoning, logic, keen powers of observation, disguise, and a general knowledge of the world, this great detective with his loyal and "reflector-type" sidekick Dr. John Watson, solved seemingly impossible cases. Holmes is a mind reader who lives in an orderly universe, a genius whose contempt for the police matches his own exalted sense of superiority. He viewed life as being reasonable and logical. He states in the story that "The more unusual something is, the more likely it is to being a clue." He is also a bundle of oddities and eccentricities. He takes cocaine, plays the fiddle, and is subject to long periods of fatigue from which he is desperate to escape. Solving mysteries is a means to overcome the boredom to which he is prone. With his fits of melancholia, Holmes has all the traits of a romantic rebel.

of dim-witted police; (4) the greater powers of observation and superior mind of the detective; and (5) the startling and unexpected conclusion, in which the detective reveals how the identity of the culprit was ascertained.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Where Spade and Gittes differ from Holmes is that they cannot see the world as reasonable, due to their past, the world did not make sense. Life was not a reasonable affair and they would not act reasonably. The Hound of the Baskervilles ended the way mos

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gittes Chinatown, John Watson, Detective Story, Falcon Spade, Hound Baskervilles, Jack Gittes, Mulwray Chinatown, Maltese Falcon, Holmes Supporting, Gittes Holmes, detective story, maltese falcon, hard-boiled detective, sam spade, hound baskervilles classic, powers observation, detective stories, life reasonable, jake gittes, sherlock holmes, gittes chinatown, baskervilles classic detective, jake gittes chinatown,
Approximate Word count = 1010
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)