TRIVIA GENIUS Which author is generally credited with writing the first detective story?

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Which author is generally credited with writing the first detective story?

Edgar Allan Poe

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Agatha Christie

Herodotus

Which author is generally credited with writing the first detective story?

Edgar Allan Poe
26%
Correct

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Agatha Christie

Herodotus


Though primarily known as a master of horror, Edgar Allan Poe is also regarded as the author of the first detective story. Published in 1841 in Graham’s Magazine, Poe’s story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue'' follows main character C. Auguste Dupin as he solves the mysterious deaths of two women. Throughout the investigation, Dupin exhibits the now-familiar traits of a fictional sleuth: He’s reclusive and eccentric, with keen powers of observation, and able to solve complex cases using a combination of physical evidence, circumstantial deduction, and imaginative reasoning. Dupin would appear in two more Poe stories, “The Mystery of Marie Roget” and “The Purloined Letter,” and go on to influence the creation of Sherlock Holmes, among other characters. Like Holmes, Dupin often worked at night, smoked a pipe, and had a somewhat dim-witted sidekick.