Abstract

"Only A Detective Story"
Krutch, Joseph Wood | November 25, 1944 issue

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Discreet inquiry among, friends and acquaintances soon revealed, however, a very different state of affairs. It is read either aggressively or shame facedly by nearly everyone, and it must be, at the present moment, the most popular of all literary forms. "Only a detective story" is now an apologetic and depreciatory phrase which has taken the place of that "only a novel" which once moved writer Jane Austen to unaccustomed indignation. Many a best-selling novel of the sort commonly regarded as respectable is read from mixed motives.

See Also:

LITERARY form; DETECTIVE & mystery stories; FICTION; AUSTEN, Jane, 1775-1817; AUTHORS; LITERATURE
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