Inverted detective story
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In an inverted detective story the reader is shown the commission of the crime at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The interest of the story then lies in following the detective's attempt to unravel the mystery. There may also be subsidiary puzzles, such as why the crime was committed, that are cleared up along the way. R Austin Freeman claimed to have invented the inverted detective story in 'The Singing Bone' (1912). The popular television series Columbo used the inverted mystery format.
