Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to explore Mark Twain’s treatment of the detective story. The initial section will deal with some of the external influences upon the author from early in his journalistic career through his years as a sophisticated novelist. It will be established that there were definite events in Twain’s life that led the author to write more than one work in the genre.The stories selected for this study are Simon Wheeler, Detective; Pudd’nhead Wilson; Tom Sawyer, Detective; and “A Double-barreled Detective Story.” These four works cover a range of twenty-five years in the author’s literary career and fairly represent his entire fictional involvement with criminal detection.Each story will be analyzed by essentially the same standards. There will be background information given as to where or why Twain got the idea for the story, and a summary of the plot will follow. Then the stories will be evaluated on the degree of refinement reached in the plot development, characterization, use of the ratiocinative process, and reader involvement. The conclusion to this paper will serve to condense the research and rank the overall quality of the selected works.