They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads them to arrest criminals and enable them to be convicted in court. A detective may work for the police or privately.

Here are a few tips for creating an unforgettable mystery story:

1. Read other mysteries often.
2. Know every detail of the crime.
3. Open with intrigue.
4. Construct convincing characters.
5. Make a list of suspects.
6. Lean into your locations.
7. Let the reader play along.
8. Misdirect your reader.

Most detective stories revolve around a central crime or string of related crimes. Since the crime will be the catalyst of your short story or novel, it should be interesting, memorable, and seemingly unsolvable—that way, readers will be so tantalized by the mystery of it that they’ll need to keep reading.

The traditional elements of the detective story are: (1) the seemingly perfect crime; (2) the wrongly accused suspect at whom circumstantial evidence points; (3) the bungling of dim-witted police; (4) the greater powers of observation and superior mind of the detective; and (5) the startling and unexpected denouement.

The 30 Greatest Literary Detectives Of All Time

1. Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle.
2. Hercule Poirot – Agatha Christie.
3. Miss Marple – Agatha Christie.
4. C Auguste Dupin – Edgar Allan Poe (The Murders in the Rue Morgue and others)
5. Philip Marlowe – Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep and Others)

The six standards most good detective stories follow are:

• The crime must be significant.
• The detective must be memorable.
• The criminal must be a worthy opponent.
• The suspects must appear early in the story.
• The clues must be made available to the reader.
• The solution must be reasonable and possible.

First, the crime must be significant, worthy of the attention it receives. Most stories involve murder, though Conan Doyle tied the majority of his crimes to greed and theft. Finally, at the end of the story, the solution must seem obvious, logical, possible.

Top ten real life detectives

• Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith. In prohibition-era US, Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith were federal police officers who achieved the greatest number of arrests and convictions between 1920–1925.
• Kiran Bedi.
• Jay J Armes.
• Alice Clement.
• Dave Toschi.
• William E Fairbairn.
• Francois Vidocq.
• Allan Pinkerton.

The detective genre began around the same time as speculative fiction and other genre fiction in the mid-nineteenth century and has remained extremely popular, particularly in novels. Some of the most famous heroes of detective fiction include C. Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes, and Hercule Poirot.

Here are some adjectives for detective story: clever, up-to-date, skilful and enthralling, well-planned, logical, genuine, straightforward, wonderful, ongoing, standard hard-boiled, geek-procedural, fast-paced geek-procedural, ridiculous and improbable, ingenious medical, wonderful analytical, intriguing historical.

The top personality traits of detectives are social responsibility and conscientiousness. They also tend to be high on the measure of conscientiousness, which means that they are methodical, reliable, and generally plan out things in advance.

How to Write a Simple Detective Story

1. Work out a crime. Don’t make this in any way mysterious.
2. Now begin to cover it up.
3. Leave three definite and accurate clues.
4. Develop at least three ‘red herrings’ or false clues.
5. Now invent your detective.
6. Invent some other potential culprits.
7. Create a scenario.

1 : a police officer who investigates crimes and catches criminals. 2 : a person whose job is to find information about someone or something. detective.