Dr. Chris McGee's "What's New in Detective Fiction for Young Readers"

What’s New in Detective Fiction for Young Readers

Hello children’s literature scholars!

On March 12, 2020, the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature hosted Dr. Chris McGee for his talk, “What’s New in Detective Fiction for Young Readers.”

Dr. McGee teaches Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, and Film courses at Longwood University in Virginia. He divides his research interests between the two genres that dominated his reading as a child – horror and mystery. He writes on slasher films and contemporary horror featuring teens, but most often about Western detective fiction for young readers. He is the author of the forthcoming book Full of Secrets: Detective Fiction for Young Readers. 

Dr. McGee grew up reading The Hardy Boys, his favorite of the series being Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, and he has always felt drawn to mystery books. His favorite three aspects of kid’s detective fiction are eavesdropping, secrets (especially secret tunnels, rooms, or corridors), and puzzles involving logic and codes. 

He has noticed that all children’s detective fiction mirrors three categories which are also seen in adult detective fiction: the classic Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie puzzle, a gritty and dark mystery about corruption or investigating power, otherwise referred to as a “hard-boiled” mystery, and a metaphysical mystery. The best detective fiction, says McGee, are the ones that closely mimic these three types of detective fiction. Mysteries are written with “backwards construction,” meaning the solution is conceived of and the story is written reverse chronologically.

These three mystery categories, however, are not new concepts, but they are by necessity adaptations from adult mystery novels. The “classic whodunit” is often adult-sanctioned making an adult needed to solve the mystery, the “hard-boiled” is power conscious, and the “meta-physical” is a mystery of or containing philosophy.

Dr. McGee goes more into depth on the meta-physical novel as a stylistic shift more on the questions we ask than the answers we find, such as A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator, a book constantly asking questions and repeating conventions. However, the meta-physical novel does not always pay off, like Chasing Vermeer which promises to be philosophically interesting, but instead is boring and unsolvable by a reader. 

He also argues that the best detective stories--contrary to much children’s literature scholarship that condemns didacticism--are those that are most controlled by adults. Moreso, he says an excellent mystery convinces the reader that they have put all the pieces together themselves, only to be fooled by the author. His view of some of the most excellent mysteries may surprise you: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, with both being full of key clues and secrets which are well laid out, and yet the reader is still completely fooled at the end, especially by one small clue the reader may not have thought to pay attention to.

Dr. McGee highly praises The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin as one of the best mysteries full of children. It is dense with clues and details, respects the game of the mystery story, and finally, the child character solves the mystery not for the fun of it, but because the reader wants to win and crack the case once and for all. He also enjoys mysteries that initially disguise themselves as not being a mystery, like Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a book focused on “uncovering the uncanny forgotten of his town.”

The best children’s mysteries mimic adult detective stories, but authors must be cautious to not patronize the child detective. Mystery solving is not just “cute” or “fun.”

He says the worst mysteries are didactic, condescending, and reduces a mystery down to fact-knowing instead of the sharp skills of a detective. The Red Blazer Girls is one of his examples of one of the worst mystery novels for children that he has ever read. He also does not like a condescending tone which figures child sleuthing as “cute,” as seen in Judy Moody, Girl Detective.

“Counterfeit mysteries” in children’s literature is another genre he does not enjoy. It usually involves adult experts meeting child enthusiasts, and aims to restore authority to authority, but staged as a scavenger hunt. It reinforces the idea of the artist as the sole and inimitable producer of aesthetic value, usually degrading modern art.

Thinking of a mystery novel may immediately bring to mind the classic mystery of Sherlock Holmes, and children’s mystery acknowledges this influence. McGee says the best Sherlock adaptation for children is the Enola Holmes mystery series by Nancy Springer. Springer creates the character Enola as the lesser known sister of the famous Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Enola plays a key role in investigations, as she has ideological access to what her brothers as men cannot see, so she finds and discovers clues only other women would know to look for, and not her brothers or other men.    

Dr. McGee highlights a few novels in which ideological values are confronted via mystery. The following books, though they might appear mediocre, challenge patriarchal norms and take on adult conventions such as murder.

Similarly, he enjoys books shifting perspective, such as When You Reach Me. To understand time travel, he says, the reader must shift their whole perspective, and ultimately the reader creates or discovers a new algorithm to think in new ways. Perhaps this point especially reveals his love of mystery, as this genre works to trick the reader and force them to think in new ways, a skill that should be shown to not just adults but children as well.

Although Dr. McGee was met with some chuckles at this slide, he argues to give rom-mysteries some thought as they initially “seem trashy, but are excellent mysteries.” These rom-mysteries involve the idea of “reading men” and going up institutionally to find out the man’s true motives. Reading men, he argues, turns attention to power in fascinating ways. 

Even if children’s mysteries are not given much attention, he says if authors are willing to do the hard work, these books can be incredibly innovative. What Dr. McGee hopes to see is a true, gritty, detective story for kids, but he is still in search of such a story.

The question and answer section of the talk addressed listener inquiries such as how well “I Can Read!” books (for example: Big Max: The World’s Greatest Detective) handle mystery-solving. Dr. McGee’s scope of research does not extend to readers, but he is eager to check out this beloved book.

Dr. Thomas asked if McGee could foresee an emergence of “writerly” detective novels in which readers are called to make meaning from the book and participate in the telling of the narrative. He notes that many mystery lovers seem to prefer “readerly” books that withhold but eventually provide answers; Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography is one example of a writerly book that could fall into the mystery genre. McGee says he has not necessarily found a writerly detective novel yet. Negation is needed for it to be writerly, as an author and reader cocreate this end result together. 

Referring back to McGee’s earlier comment that the detective genre is overwhelmingly white, a student asked if a potential cause might be the emulation of canonical mystery authors and characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. McGee is disappointed in this gap and is ever-searching for diverse authorship and representation, but acknowledges that fantasy and science-fiction are the most popular contemporary genres. The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson then is “such a treasure” because of how it forces the child detectives to confront matters of race and history.

Another question that arose was about rereadability and aesthetics in this genre. The listener asked what aspects of the detective novel make it compelling to read after the mystery has already been solved. Dr. McGee answered that readers enjoy finding clues that were not noticed on the first read. He says one may be compelled to reread a mystery containing “retroactively high value sentences,” which are sentences that can be reread to find a new clue or meaning.

We truly enjoyed Dr. McGee’s visit to SDSU, and his talk has sparked both of our interests in exploring more mystery books, especially those for children and young adults.

-(SS) & (AN)