Section 01
01
The Rules
A form that wrote its own constitution. 4 entries.
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01.1
Knox's decalogue
Ronald Knox set out ten commandments for detective fiction in 1929, and the list is less a rulebook than an argument that the form is a contract with the reader.
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01.2
The Detection Club oath
Members swore their detectives would not solve crimes by Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo-Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence or Act of God.
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01.3
Van Dine's twenty rules
An American list published in 1928, stricter and more literal than the English one, and far more often broken.
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01.4
Sayers on fair play
Dorothy L. Sayers argued the puzzle only works if every clue is on the page and fairly placed, which makes concealment a matter of emphasis rather than omission.
