Caveat Academy course · Grades 9 to 12

Mystery, Crime and Detective Fiction: how the genre works

Read the detective story the way its writers built it: Poe's locked room, the many narrators of The Moonstone, the dog that did nothing in the night-time, Christie's misdirection, Chandler's mean streets and the police procedural, then detectives from Tang China to the Navajo Nation. Six modules at your own pace, ending with an analysis of a mystery and a fair plot of your own.

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$19one-time · every device you sign in on
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Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the High school electives library, $119 for 66 items.

6 modules · 18 lessonsabout 13 hours$19

Six modules, eighteen lessons

Each module ends with a practice set that tracks mastery, an explain-it-back prompt, a short written response and a module exam. The final opens when every module is proficient; passing it earns a certificate with a verification code.

  1. Module 1: The birth of the detective story

    Explain how Poe, Collins and Conan Doyle created the detective story and identify the patterns they set: the amateur genius, the companion narrator, the closed setting and the final explanation.

    • Poe and the first detective
    • Victorian police and The Moonstone
    • Sherlock Holmes and the science of deduction
    about 2.1 h

  2. Module 2: How a mystery is built

    Analyze a mystery's structure as two stories, the hidden crime and the investigation, and judge whether its clues, red herrings and narration play fair.

    • The two stories inside every mystery
    • Clues, red herrings and fair play
    • Point of view and the unreliable narrator
    about 2.1 h

  3. Module 3: The Golden Age puzzle

    Compare the Golden Age puzzle, the locked-room mystery and the Detection Club's rules, and use a timetable or alibi to eliminate suspects.

    • Agatha Christie and the puzzle novel
    • Locked rooms and impossible crimes
    • The Detection Club and the rules of the game
    about 2.1 h

  4. Module 4: Hard-boiled streets and police procedurals

    Compare hard-boiled fiction, the police procedural, noir and the inverted story by setting, narration, style and what each ending restores.

    • The hard-boiled private eye
    • The police procedural
    • Noir and the inverted mystery
    about 2.1 h

  5. Module 5: The genre around the world

    Evaluate how crime fiction from other cultures and from writers who widened the genre treats justice, and apply ethical tests to true crime.

    • Detectives across cultures
    • Voices that widened the genre
    • True crime and the ethics of crime stories
    about 2.1 h

  6. Module 6: Reading and writing mysteries

    Write a thesis-driven analysis of a mystery and design an original mystery plot with means, motive and opportunity, a clue map and a fair reveal.

    • Writing a literary analysis of a mystery
    • Plotting your own mystery
    • Writing the scenes that matter
    about 2.1 h

Try it before you start

This is how every lesson works: step through a worked example at your own pace, then answer a check and get the reason right away. Nothing here is saved; the course keeps your progress.

Module 1 · Sherlock Holmes and the science of deduction

Worked example: reasoning like Holmes

  1. Observation: a visitor's right shoe is scuffed on the inside edge, and his left cuff is shiny.

A lesson check from each module

The checks need JavaScript turned on. The course itself works the same way.

What you get

Academics · High School$19 · included with the Academy pass and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A finished literature elective on crime fiction: you can trace the detective story from Poe's Dupin through The Moonstone and Sherlock Holmes, separate any mystery into the hidden story of the crime and the story of the investigation, judge whether its clues, red herrings and narrator play fair, use a timetable to eliminate suspects, compare the Golden Age puzzle with hard-boiled fiction, the police procedural, noir and the inverted story, discuss crime writing from other cultures and from writers who widened the genre, apply ethical tests to true crime, write a thesis-driven analysis and plot an original mystery with a clue map. Passing the final earns a Caveat certificate of completion.
Who it is for
High school students who read mysteries for fun and want to know how they work, students who like puzzles and want a literature course with real structure to analyze, young writers planning a mystery of their own, and homeschool families looking for an English elective. Some novels named in the lessons are written for adults; the lessons themselves describe crimes without graphic detail.
Format
An online self-paced course: 6 modules and 18 lessons with worked examples you reveal step by step, 144 practice and exam items (multiple choice, numeric, fill-in and ordering), an explain-it-back prompt and a rubric-checked short response in every module, module exams with one retake, a 24-question final and a certificate with a verification code. About 13 hours in all; works on a phone or a computer.
Access
$19 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the course opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the High school electives library ($119) and the Academics Suite pass ($149), and 1 more bundle. Progress is saved in this browser on this device, and the certificate page lets you download your record.
Where it lives
The High School space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Access, a receipt, a refund or a correction to the course: team@caveatacademic.com.

How it works

  1. Open the course and start Module 1. Each lesson takes about 25 to 35 minutes; two or three a week finishes the course in about a semester.
  2. Answer the checks as you read. Every answer shows the reason, and a miss links you back to the lesson that covers it.
  3. Finish each module with its practice set and exam. Proficient on every module opens the final; 70 percent passes it.
  4. Print or download your certificate and record from the certificate page.

Start the course

Sources and accuracy

The lessons are original writing by Caveat Academic Services. Facts were checked against these free, open references, which are also good places to read further.

  1. Edgar Allan Poe, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) and "The Purloined Letter," public-domain texts at the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore: eapoe.org
  2. Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet and "Silver Blaze," and Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone, public-domain texts at Project Gutenberg: gutenberg.org
  3. Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), public domain in the United States: gutenberg.org
  4. Library of Congress, research guide to detective fiction and its history: guides.loc.gov
  5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "detective story," for the Golden Age, hard-boiled fiction and the procedural: britannica.com

Mystery, Crime and Detective Fiction is a self-paced literature elective from Caveat Academic Services. It does not replace a school English course and awards no credit. Sample passages are original writing; quotations from public-domain works are kept short, and later novels are described, not quoted. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.