I was absentmindedly googling this evening and came across an interesting article on The Evolution of the British Crime Novel, which included Father Knox's Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction. http://www.fortunecity.co.uk/library/whodunnit/1/thirkill.html

For those, like me, who have not seen them before, I post them here or your amusement (If you're writing a crime novel, then the article in the link is worth reading in it's entirety).

I. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow. II. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course. III. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable. IV. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end. V. No Chinaman must figure in the story. To understand why, one should refer to the following section of the Detection Club's Oath: "Do you promise to observe a seemly moderation in the use of Gangs, Conspiracies, Death-Rays, Ghosts, Hypnotism, Trap-Doors, Chinamen, Super-Criminals and Lunatics; and utterly and for ever to forswear Mysterious Poisons unknown to Science?" VI. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right. VII. The detective must not himself commit the crime. VIII.The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader. IX. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader. X. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

- NaomiM

Very good, Naomi. I'm frantically checking my current wip. I think I'm okay! Though I might have to get rid of the Chinaman.

Naomi, this is brilliant - thank you so much for posting, it's really made me smile!

Jo

Glad you liked it Jo.

Roger, it was your post about the Ellis Peter's award which led me to this website. I was tempted to make a joke about the Chinaman on your thread but managed to restain myself just in time.


- NaomiM

Naomi, it doesn't say anything about Russians. Perhaps that's the unwritten rule - and where I went wrong?!

Wouldn't it be a challenge to write a novel that breaks ALL those rules though...

Thanks Naomi - really interesting! But I think ghosts and lunatics should be allowed.

Yep, thanks for posting this. I'm liking the idea of breaking all these rules. You write it, Steerpike's Sister, and I'd love to read it!

That's brilliant, thanks for posting that. Classical detective fiction must be the tightest form of all the genres: I always associate it with the evolution of crosswords and all the other puzzles in the newspaper in the 20s and 30s.

And though it seems very specific, some of them are actually generally applicable. I remember an agent saying to me, 'You're only allowed one coincidence per novel,' on much the same grounds.

Emma

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But this:

VI. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

seems to me the one that's broken alllllll the time, especially in TV detective drama

Yes, Emma, I can't see Morse ever finding the bad guy without breaking that rule.

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What about Mongolians Roger? - borderline Russian/Chinese. Have you got any of them in your novels?