detective novel

Variant of detective story

detective story definition

detective story

a mystery involving a crime and the gradual discovery of who committed it, esp. a highly formalized one in which a detective, often a private detective, solves a crime, usually a murder, by means of careful observation and logical reasoning
also detective novel

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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