1841- Edgar Allan Poe published the first mystery story. 'The murders in the rue morgue', introducing a brand new genre.
1887- Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 'A study in scarlet' in the strand magazine.
1903- The first narrative movie was made. A silent film called The Great Train Robbery.
1927- Frank and Joe hardy embarked on there crime fighting careers with publication of The Tower Treasure. Nancy Drew followed in 1930.
1930- The first weekly radio detective show, Sherlock Holmes. It was also one of the country's first radio dramas of any sort.
1939- Batman debuts in 'The Case of the Chemical Syndicate' in detective comics. This introduced the mystery genre to a brand new audience of children and adults of all ages.
1945- Mystery Writers of America (MWA). An organisation established to promote the intrest and welfare of mystery writers and increase recognition of the genre was founded in New York City.
1946- MWA introduces the Edgar Allan Poe Awards to recognise excellence in mystery dramas of any sort.
1957- The television show Perry Mason debuts, this ran untill 1966. Many more followed this until 1993 and further.
1972- Murder Ink, the worlds famous mystery bookstore opens in Manhattan's Upper West Side. By 1999 there were over 150 worldwide .
1995- The first online mystery network, MysteryNet was made. By 1999 over 500,000 people had visited the site and orders from it.
1998- According to variety, 14 of the top 50 grossing movies of 1998 were mysteries. They included Rush hour, Leathal weapon, Enemy of the state and many others.
1999- In the past few decades, mystery books came second only to romance in units sold. Over 60million mystery detective books were purchased by consumers in 1997, representing 11.3% of the popular fiction books purchased for the year.
A bit better now, but these later ones still look a bit empty - keep going, George!
ReplyDeleteMiss Wells