The Origins of the American Detective Story

Edgar Allan Poe essentially invented the detective story in 1841 with Murders in the Rue Morgue . In the years that followed, however, detective fiction in America saw no significant progress as a literary genre. Much to the dismay of moral crusaders like Anthony Comstock, dime novels and other sensationalist publications satisfied the public's hunger for a yarn. Things changed as the century waned, and eventually the detective was reborn as a figure of American literature. In part these changes