A brief History of Mystery

The mystery genre is a genre in which usually involves a mysterious disappearance, crime or murder that is to be solved throughout the progression of the film. The film tends to focus on a closed amount of suspects or people who may be involved, these are usually people of importance such as: Train conductors, a femme fatal and other characters that are discovered at the beginning of the story. The central character, whom is usually a detective, has to solve this of be subject to the same fate him/herself.
1800's
The history of the mystery genre started around the 1800's with many mystery books being written about the many mystery murders by Edgar Allen Poe. These books were part of the first mystery style knows as "Locked Room" these are mysteries similar to the game "Cluedo" in which a dead body is found and then the detective must guess who the murderer if from the select group of people within a mansion or on a train.
Many of these books were influenced by many Charles Dickens stories that included hints of mystery such as "Bleak house" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" which is famous for its unsolved ending due to it being unfinished.
Late 1800's
In the later ends of the 1800's (1887+) there was an increase in literacy rate in which led people to read many books for pleasure, this fuelled many writers leading to the creation of The Sherlock Holmes series of books which added a distinctive style of deducing clues with the aid of Dr. Watson who acted as more of a sidekick to the detective.

1920's
Furthering on through the lifetime of the mystery genre, there was the golden age of mystery in both America and Britain, this led to the many Agatha Christie classics and was fuelled further by the mysteries of London, such as Jack the Ripper.
The 1930's was a unique time for the mystery genre, this is where there were very quirky and eccentric detectives.

This eventually led to the many ideas for mystery on the television in the 40's which proved to be a delight for mass audiences as it provided many enigmas in which could be used to help entertain the audience and provide a satisfaction for them when they correctly guessed many of the plot points or solutions to crimes, even when they wrong, this provided pleasure as a new twist or unexpected change in the story had occurred.
During this time the police crime fiction surfaced in which its style suited the realistic style of the genre. This was due to the real life depictions of real events or the inclusion of real life methods that the police would use.

The mystery genre itself is not limited to just one convention, many films that make you question its plots or it revolves around an enigma, this means it is a very flexible genre whilst also being very inclusive and open to stories.