A mystery is simply an unsolved question and the attempt to answer it. In literature, this mystery is often a crime, but anything unexplainable can inspire a great mystery novel. Like all genre fiction, Mystery follows a formula, one that readers expect. The thing that must happen: something unexplainable.

Solving the unexplainable is a tale as old as time.

Mystery Fiction is a genre all its own, like Romance or Science Fiction. It has a well-defined story arc, heroes, villains, and plenty of excitement. Here’s how we define Mystery Fiction, a look at its history, and some popular types.

A mystery is simply an unsolved question and the attempt to answer it. In literature, this mystery is often a crime, but anything unexplainable can inspire a great mystery novel.

Like all genre fiction, Mystery follows a formula, one that readers expect. The thing that must happen: something unexplainable. It could be a crime, a disappearance, or the impossible arrival of something or someone. (Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl checks several of these boxes.) Once the mystery is declared, an investigation begins. Clues and witnesses are gathered; suspects emerge. At some point, everything will go off the rails thanks to red herrings or last-minute alibis.

Eventually, the investigation takes a giant leap forward — whether it’s a crucial clue or a tortured confession — and, at last, the mystery is solved. But that’s not necessarily the end of the story. If a crime has been committed, the criminal needs to be caught. If someone disappeared, they need to be found. And, of course, all villains should receive the punishment they deserve.

 

For example, there are many works on unsolved crimes, unexplainable disappearances of people or groups of people, strange sightings like Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster, and UFOs, or mysterious places that seem to be haunted.