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His books were very dry and quite boring because of this. He is more known for these rules than for his novels, which says a lot. Most of the great mystery writ
by sacado2 8y ago
His books were very dry and quite boring because of this. He is more known for these rules than for his novels, which says a lot. Most of the great mystery writers (especially Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr) violated several of these "rules" in each of their novels.
- therealchiko 8y agoThis clarifies my observation. As i was reading down the list of rules, I tried to think if some of the most enjoyable stories I can recall stuck to these guidelines strictly, doesn't appear to be the case. Maybe it's just my taste, but i then tried to recall what masterpieces this author has to his name but no big names came to mind. would be interesting to delve deep into his work then contrast his style with others.
- sacado2 8y agoIn such a masterpiece as "and then there were none", which is by far the most sold mystery book ever, Christie chose to ignore 4 of these rules, at the very least. For instance (I mention this one because this is not a spoiler), there is no detective at all in this novel. Didn't read a lot of books from Van Dine, I just remember they are very dry, because he is fascinated with the mechanics of the detective novel. I didn't like it, but give it a try, his approach might appeal to you.
- jadell 8y agoA good author knows the rules. A great author knows when, why, and how to break them.