• On of the best ways to learn of the elements of a detective story is to read a few famous stories.Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Detective stories are a type of crime fiction where either an amateur or a professional detective character tries to figure out the culprit who committed a crime. While their are many types of detective stories, most share similar elements and have a set of rules that writers should follow in order to create a good story.
  
  

The Detective

• Without the detective, the detective story would be another crime story. These detectives usually are of higher intelligence than the average reader. He or she is never be portrayed as a fool, lest the story turn into a comedy. The detective does not need to be infallible and can every once and awhile have misjudgements and miscalculations. Sherlock Holmes, a classic fictional detective, does this every now and then. In his case, his miscalculations never are big ordeals nor are they more than a side step in the wrong direction.
  
  

The "Watson"

• Many detective stories have a "Watson." This character has the intelligence of the average reader and is more relatable than the detective. They are never more intelligent than the detective and can sometimes be their total opposite. "Watsons" are often the narrator of the story who intends to be an objective point of view but often misjudges the events that occur.
  
  

The Mystery

• At the heart of every detective story is the mystery. A crime has been committed, and the detective must figure out who did it, how they did it, and when they did it. These crimes are usually murder but can involve other crimes such as theft.
  
  

The Culprit

• Every crime needs the person who committed it. If there is a death in the story, it cannot happen by natural causes, though it can appear to at first. Culprits must have made their appearance in the story in some form or another and should not be merely a random passerby. Each culprit in detective stories has a motive for the act they committed that both the reader and the detective will uncover in the course of the story.
  
  

Clues

• Clues must be placed throughout the story so that the reader has a chance to solve the crime on their own. Many writers, such as S.S. Vane Dine, have stated that the truth of the crime should be available to readers at all times thereby staring them in the face.